USCIS Policy Alert, PA-2023-33, dated December 12, 2023
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20231212-Family-BasedCPRs.pdf

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding family-based conditional permanent residents.

The update clarifies what noncitizens must do to change the basis of filing in cases of waivers based on battery or extreme cruelty. It also clarifies that if a noncitizen’s conditional permanent resident status is terminated for failing to timely file Form I-751, they may be eligible to adjust permanent resident status on a new basis. This is true even if USCIS issues a notice of termination of conditional permanent resident status before the noncitizen files Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Under the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986, a noncitizen obtains permanent resident status on a conditional basis for two years if:

• They obtain permanent resident status based on marriage; and
• That marriage began less than two years before they obtain that status.

To remove the conditions on their permanent resident status, conditional permanent residents generally must file Form I-751 within the 90-day period before the two-year anniversary of when they obtained conditional permanent resident status.

The new guidance, Volume 6 of the Policy Manual, is effective immediately and applies prospectively to applications filed on or after December 12, 2023. On that date, this policy update will supersede the guidance found in Chapter 25.1 of the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM), related AFM appendices, and related policy memoranda. The guidance contained in the Policy Manual is controlling and supersedes any related prior guidance on the topic.

Citation: Volume 6: Immigrants, Part I, Family-Based Conditional Permanent Residents [6 USCIS-PM I] (Chapters 1-7).