Two years after receiving your conditional Green Card card -- the first you will receive after marrying a U.S. citizen -- you must apply to have its conditions removed, using form I-751. If you do not do this, you will not be allowed to live legally in the United States. If you do, and you're successful in your application -- meaning, your marriage is not ruled to be a fraud, entered into only to circumvent immigration laws -- you will be rewarded with a 10 year Green Card.
Can you guess how much it costs to file the I-751?
$545.
That includes $80 for a biometric finger-print.
Please, do not write USDHS on your personal check or money order. Write it out in full: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Some of you may say this is perfectly fine. You choose to marry a foreigner, you pay the price. But we do not parse out the costs of the nation in this way with other things. We all pay for the military. We all contribute to Social Security, MediCare, etcetera. Yes, homeowners support education. But do only drivers support the cost of building and maintaining new roads? Etcetera, etcetera.
For a previous entry on the Foreigner Tax see here.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Cost of Marriage (Part Two)
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4 Comments:
My wife and I are going through the same thing- she just had her condition removed a few weeks ago. At this point we are nearly 5 grand in the hole from biometrics, interviews and various absurd application costs. The best part is having to get notarized letters from your friends attesting to "genuine romantic involvement."
Yes, and then sending along those photographs of you and her in front of the Christmas tree, in front of This Landmark, in front of That Landmark From Another City, in front of another Christmas tree -- all to show you really are legitimate. Then the questions: Do we show us kissing? Or just laughing? Where do we cross the line, and them?
Did you notice this report.
GREENVILLE - A Fort Bragg soldier, a former soldier and a woman from Kazakhstan pleaded guilty in federal court this week to their involvement in a scam in which the three soldiers fraudulently married three Eurasian immigrants.
The third soldier was court-martialed in February on Fort Bragg and convicted for his involvement. One of the wives, from Ukraine, pleaded guilty in August.
According to indictments and other court papers, the women married the soldiers in 2005 and 2006. With American spouses, the women were allowed to stay in the United States. With spouses, the soldiers were allowed to move out of the Fort Bragg barracks into civilian housing and collect housing allowance money from the Army.
It does sound harsh to those of you that are in loving marriages. You just have to keep fighting for the right to be together!
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