Permanent residence vs conditional residence

[JORAUGA]

I am a little confused about when permanent residence begins, particularly with respect to citizenship. I had planned to submit an I-130 for my wife in August when we will be married for about one year. I believe that if she is approved to immigrate after our two year anniversary she will be awarded permanent residency on arrival but if she immigrates before the two year anniversary of our marriage, she will receive a conditional residence stamp on arrival and we will need to apply for adjustment of status a full two years after the arrival date.

My question relates to US citizenship down the road. As a spouse of a US citizen I understand that she will be eligible for naturalization after three years as a permanent resident. Will the two years prior to an AOS apply to the three year time to citizenship eligibility or does the three year clock only start ticking after the AOS is approved?

[immihelp]

3 years from the date the person becomes permanent resident, that is green card approved.

[JORAUGA]

3 years from the date the person becomes permanent resident, that is green card approved.

So based on your reply, it would seem that since we have been married for one year, there is a large incentive to wait out the two years before immigrating to the US. It can't be but if we were to arrive today, she would be looking at a full 5 years to possible citizenship (2 plus 3) while if we wait overseas one more year, she can apply for citizenship four years from now (1 past plus 1 more plus 3 in the US) and avoid the whole hassle of Adjustment of Status. The worst case would be to arrive with just under two years of marriage. It seems somewhat backwards but I guess it is the government after all.

[aaydrian]

Permanent residence starts the day your DO NOT OPEN ENVELOPE gets in the hand of a CBP officer or the day you are approved for an Adjustment of Status. So for example, if your wife comes to America on an immigrant visa on June 4, 2013, after she's been processed she will have her GC sent to her via mail. That GC could take up to 2 months to arrive but regardless her Permanent resident status on the card will state June 4, 2013 as the date your wife became a LPR.

Now if you've been married for less than 2 years when the CBP officer processed your wife, she'll get a 2 yr conditional GC. After 2 years of being a LPR, your wife will have to Remove Conditions so she can get a 10 yr GC. After this is done & another year passes she is eligible for citizenship (June 2016). On the other hand if on June 4, 2013 your wife has been married for 2 yrs or more when she is processed by the CBP officer she will or should request an IR -1 stamp so she will get a 10 yr GC in the mail. Her card will say her LPR status started on June 4, 2013 then after 3 years your wife is eligible for citizenship, which is by June 4, 2016.

AOS - is Adjustment of Status or Affidavit of Support. So using either is based on context.

ROC - is Removal of Conditions. This is what people do who have done an AOS/immigrated and have been married less than 2 yrs when they are approved to be a LPR. Persons who do AOS were legally allowed in the the country but only on a temporary basis eg via a tourist visa/visa waiver/work visa/student visa.