Need Clarification Please - I 751 Petition to remove conditions on Residence

[arangoon]

My aunt was married to a citizen who passed away a month ago. She received conditional green card for 2 years. We applied for I751 to remove the condition on residence card. However, she was given 18 months extension on the conditional residence.

My questions are
1. Is this normal action on I751?
2. Does she just have to wait 18 months before her condition is removed or is there an action to take before that?
3. After 18 months, will she be eligible to apply for Citizenship?

Appreciate any insight into these queries.

Thanks.

[Tezza]

1. Is this normal action on I751?.

Yes this is normal. It's standard practise to extend a GC for 18 months pending the removal of conditions since it can take a while.

2. Does she just have to wait 18 months before her condition is removed or is there an action to take before that?

There's no action to take. Your application is with USCIS. The extension is just to show she is still in legal status. All it means is if at any point she's required to provide her GC (which may be expired), she has to also provide the extension letter with it. This doesn't mean it will take this long, it's possible for her application to be adjudicated long before this.

3. After 18 months, will she be eligible to apply for Citizenship?

Since her U.S. citizen spouse died (my condolences), she is now required to be a permanent resident for the full 5 years before being able to apply for naturalization, rather than the 3 usually applied to a marriage, unfortunately the time does not transfer after death.