As I stated last week, in order to file a Petition to Remove the Conditions on your Conditional Residence, you must have both the husband and wife sign it and it must be filed within the 90-day period before your two-year Green Card expires.   If you cannot file within that time period, you need a waiver.   If you file late, you need to show that you had good cause to file late — forgetting to file is not “good cause”.  You do NOT want to file late — it is difficult to establish good cause.

If you are divorced you can request a waiver of the requirement for joint filing by showing that you are divorced and it was not your fault.  It is not too difficult to establish this reason for a waiver unless you really were to blame.   They generally do not call in your ex-spouse to testify against you, but they could if they thought that you were lying.  If you are divorced, as stated above, you will need to be sure to provide plenty of evidence that your intention when you got married was to have a genuine life together.

If you are not divorced, but your spouse will not cooperate with you and refuses to sign the petition, then you need to request a wavier claiming that you will suffer exceptional hardship if you are forced to leave the U.S.   This is a difficult situation.  It is not easy to establish that you will suffer exceptional hardship.   But, unfortunately, this is the only option for a person who is going through marital difficulty but wants to try to reconcile and does not want a divorce.   This rule actually punishes people who do not want a divorce because getting a divorce makes it easier to get a wavier than if you stay married.

I hope this is interesting and helpful.   Remember that this is not legal advice.  It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation.   I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.

Gunnar Armstrong