How will an I-485 delay affect I-829 filing?

The approval of the I-485 application will start the conditional permanent residency period of two years. Only then you can apply for the unconditional permanent residency. If the I-485 process is taking an unreasonable amount of time, such as your case, and you have made regular inquiries as to the status of the case, you may file a mandamus filing in federal court to request the judge to order USCIS to make an immediate decision on the I-485.

Your I-485 may have a significant effect on the I-829. There is hardly any procedure to speed up an I-485. Just make sure you check with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on a regular basis. Also, make sure you reply to any Request For Evidence issued to you in time; this will greatly reduce any possible delay.

An I-485 delay will delay your I-829. Your immigration attorney should be able to inquire with USCIS on your behalf.

That seems to be too long. Your attorney can begin to make inquiries to USCIS, or if that fails, a mandamus action can be brought to force a decision to be made.

The delay in your I-485 will cause a delay in your I-829 filing because the two years of your conditional lawful permanent resident status do not start until your I-485 is approved. If your I-485 application has been pending for more than 18 months and there is an immigrant visa number available, i.e., your priority date is current, then you should be making inquiries with USCIS on the status of your I-485. An experienced immigration attorney can assist you if you do not know how to do this.

You cannot file the I-829 until you become a conditional permanent resident (when your I-485 is approved). The I-829 is filed within 90 days of the expiration of your two year conditional residence anniversary.

You do not become a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States on a conditional basis until your I-485 application for adjustment of status has been approved. That means that your two years of conditional residency does not run until that period of time and thus, you would not file your I-829 petition until a later period of time, depending upon when you acquire your lawful permanent residency upon approval of your I-485 application. It also means that your investment must still be at risk during that period of time. In terms of speeding up the I-485 process, that ultimately depends upon the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. However, you can find out what the normal processing time is and if for whatever reason your application is outside of the normal period of time, i.e. it is taking longer, you can follow up with the CIS District Office or you can have a U.S. citizen on your behalf contact their U.S. senator or congressman to see if they would make a congressional inquiry to determine the status of your application.

Your I-829 should not be affected. I would obtain U.S. counsel specializing in immigration matters and have them pursue your file and get some answers.

The two year conditional permanent residence period begins at the approval of the I-485 adjustment of status to permanent resident. So, you would not have to file to remove the conditional permanent residence (I-829) until two years after the I-485 approval. Unfortunately, there is no way around the backlogs of I-485 processing.

You must have received your conditional permanent residence in order to file your application to remove the conditions (Form I-829). Since your I-485 is still pending, you are not a conditional permanent resident yet, and do not have to file Form I-829. As far as expediting your I-485 application, you might seek assistance from your congress representative. Another strategy is to consider switching your permanent residence application to consular processing but in doing so, you will be deemed to have abandoned your I-485 application. Consular processing can be concluded in a few months. In order to do consular processing, you may have to file Form I-824 (Application for Action on Approved Petition). You should discuss the pros and cons of consular processing with an experienced immigration lawyer.

The I-829 is not due for one year and nine months after the I-485 is approved.

18 months is a long time for the I-485. It will delay the time you can exit the investment and delay the time you can file the I-829. Do inquiries and then consider a mandamus if absolutely nothing else works and your case is 100 percent clean and approvable.

You can consider filing a mandamus action in federal court to get them to review your paperwork.