Green Card Renewal Extension: US Extends Visa Validity for Renewal Applicants
The Green Card Renewal Extension has brought an immense policy shift in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which gave green-card holders a much-needed space to breathe. USCIS would automatically extend the validity of Green Cards for 36 months when applicants file Form I-90 to replace an expiring or expired card. This update responds to some of the pressing needs concerning reduction of extended delays that many Green Card holders have been exposed to while renewing their cards.
What Does This 36-Month Extension Mean for Green Card Holders?
Earlier, the USCIS had a very short 24-month extension for the Green Card holders who had applied for Form I-90. The short extension period was mostly not sufficient to prove the lawful status of the applicant when waiting for the new card. This has become a great source of concern for many because the demand for green cards is high, coupled with long processing times. This extension is intended to bridge this gap, keeping the legal status of the applicant and employment eligibility without adding confusion.
Green Card Renewal Extension
This can be applied not only for the new applicants but also for all those who have submitted their renewal applications in advance. Those applicants who have sent their Form I-90 prior to September 10, 2023, can now receive receipt notices updated with the new 36-month extension. These updated notice receipts could be submitted along with the expired Green Cards to secure continued lawful permanent residence. Not only do these documents support continued lawful permanent residence, but they may also be used in applications for employment authorisation of the Green Card holder and to continue working without interruption in legal status across the entire United States.
Why is a 36-Month Extension Important?
The extended time period for extensions, which the USCIS has now decided to extend to 36 months, coincides when U.S. immigration services have suffered major backlogs in processing. For the past few years, people who are Green Card holders have had longer delays in renewing them, hence not knowing their legal status. With this 36-month extension, the USCIS seems to realise this, and by doing so, it is giving applicants some temporary relief, which shall mean they will not break their lawful residency and work authorisation.
USCIS Green Card Policy Change
This modernisation is part of a far broader effort to simplify immigration procedures while keeping up with the upward trend in demand for Green Cards. Recently, USCIS discovered that there has been a growth in Green Card applications, causing an increase in processing time and extending the wait times for lawful permanent residents. In an attempt to alleviate some of the pressures resulting from these delays, the agency is hopeful of being able to reassure applicants by moving the date forward.
Impact on Green Card Holders and the Path to Citizenship
The 36-month extension makes more sense for those heading towards U.S. citizenship. For lawful permanent residents, or Green Card holders, it takes five years to file for citizenship from acquiring the Green Card. For other people who are married to U.S. citizen, it is as little as three years. However, for many, and especially Indian nationals, the wait for a Green Card itself takes decades to materialize. This policy will, no doubt, bring a degree of surety to the renewal process for the existing filers in the United States.
In fiscal year 2023, about 870,000 foreign nationals became U.S. citizens. Among these, 6.7 percent were Indian citizens. Although this figure was less than that recorded in the previous year at about 970,000 new citizens, the prolongation of the validity period of the Green Card shows that USCIS was exerting an effort to correct delays in the US immigration system.
What should the green card holders do?
If you are a Green Card holder and have filed a copy of your Form I-90, you don’t need to act on this. You can rest assured that USCIS will automatically update the receipt notice to reflect the 36-month extension for renewal. For those filing a renewal, it is important to preserve the receipt notice since it is very essential evidence of your lawful status and employment authorisation.
This policy shift will emerge as a step much required in the direction of reforming the entire process of immigration, particularly by those who have to travel through often-lengthy steps towards U.S. citizenship.
Conclusion
This will definitely be relieved to the lawful permanent residents in the country because of the implementation of the new extension of the 36-month Green Card. The USCIS decision will most likely ease some of the hardships that were experienced during the processing delay by applicants, hence allowing them to continue their legal status and become able to work. More than this, given the continuously changing challenges the immigration embodies, the adjustment of policy, no matter how small, could be considered a step forward for the benefit of Green Card holders, renewing their status.
