A green card is a permanent resident card. People who qualify for green cards are theoretically eligible to remain in the United States forever. So long as they continue to meet basic standards, such as avoiding convictions for crimes of moral turpitude, they can renew their green card every decade.
Permanent residents can work in the United States. They typically even have options for supporting other family members, such as their minor children, for visas or green cards of their own. Many people become eligible for a green card through marriage.
Those who marry citizens can become permanent residents. If a marriage is relatively new, the foreign national spouse receives a conditional green card.
What is a conditional green card?
Both new spouses and immigrant investors often receive conditional green cards. Instead of immediately becoming eligible for permanent residency in the United States, they only qualify for a green card for two years.
They must then undergo a review showing that they still qualify for a green card before their conditional green card expires. At that point, they can upgrade their conditional green cards to a traditional one that lasts for 10 years and has no conditions attached.
Fiancés who enter the country with K-1 visas and foreign nationals who marry United States citizens may receive conditional green cards. When they seek to remove the conditions on their green card, they must show that they still meet the same standards they met when they initially applied. In other words, they need to still be married to remove their conditional status.
After that initial renewal, which must take place in a limited window of opportunity before the two-year green card expires, the future marital status of the immigrant spouse no longer determines their eligibility for a green card. If they divorce or their spouse dies, they no longer need to worry about their green card.
For fiancés and spouses who have recently married United States citizens, there may be several steps necessary to secure and retain permanent resident status. Working with a lawyer familiar with the unique rules imposed on different types of family-based immigration can be helpful for foreign national spouses and the citizens hoping to bring them to the United States accordingly.