Recommendation on Divorce and I-751 Filing

[nidart 0]

I realize this is kind of hard to explain and I will do the best that I can but hopefully someone can assist me with some direction on this.

My girlfriend is married to an american citizen. She has been married for 3 years and 2 months. She is by no means in love with this guy any longer as he does nothing for her. In January of 2009 she filed for her I-751 to remove conditions. It is my understanding that the Vermont service center is taking up to a year to process. We are under the understanding that once the I-751 conditions are removed then she will be able to divorce him and not have to worry about him removing her sponsorship and her possibly being deported.

She did marry him with the intention of making things work, but this guy wants a slave...not a wife. He is not physically abusive, but he is mentally abusive and this is something I cannot prove.

This is the current situation that I am aware of.

In January she filed her I-751

In February she received and went on her Biometrics appointment.

Now the waiting game begins. I am not sure what kind of timeline we are waiting on, but what are the recommendations out there. I fully understand that waiting for the 10 year green card is the best thing, but this is so very hard and I am wondering if there is anything that can be done without worry about her getting deported. As soon as she does divorce this guy she and I will be married....that is our eventual goal....but for now, we have to keep things quiet. By the way, I am an american citizen and if I could make this happen, I would do it, but not quite sure what can be done.

Thank You

Nidart

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Is she seperated from her husband?

During the interview, they will look for a bonafide relationship. Can she prove that? Does her husband know she is with you, or planning on divorcing as soon as she gets the 10yr card?

[nidart 0]

Is she seperated from her husband?

During the interview, they will look for a bonafide relationship. Can she prove that? Does her husband know she is with you, or planning on divorcing as soon as she gets the 10yr card?

No....she is not seperated from her husband and he does not know about me.

She cannot prove the mental abuse, which is a problem, but she will stay with him until the 10 year card is approved if needed...we both agree that we might have to do this.....

It is just very hard for both of us, but if necessary in the long run, we will do that

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Is she seperated from her husband?

During the interview, they will look for a bonafide relationship. Can she prove that? Does her husband know she is with you, or planning on divorcing as soon as she gets the 10yr card?

No....she is not seperated from her husband and he does not know about me.

She cannot prove the mental abuse, which is a problem, but she will stay with him until the 10 year card is approved if needed...we both agree that we might have to do this.....

It is just very hard for both of us, but if necessary in the long run, we will do that

This is visa fraud. Is she aware of that fact?

[nidart 0]

Is she seperated from her husband?

During the interview, they will look for a bonafide relationship. Can she prove that? Does her husband know she is with you, or planning on divorcing as soon as she gets the 10yr card?

No....she is not seperated from her husband and he does not know about me.

She cannot prove the mental abuse, which is a problem, but she will stay with him until the 10 year card is approved if needed...we both agree that we might have to do this.....

It is just very hard for both of us, but if necessary in the long run, we will do that

This is visa fraud. Is she aware of that fact?

I will agree with you that it does look that way...and she was very willing to go back to her country and give up the entire process last year. The situation of her having a son and him being forced to go into the military of their country scared her and she was quite willing to just suffer thru all the turmoil until the green card is received and she can stay here. Her dealing with this pain and unhappiness is easier then possibly looking her son because he is forced to join the military of her country.

There is no VISA fraud trying to be done here....we are trying to do what is correct and proper, but this is why I am asking here.....is there anything that we can do that is right and proper within this country other then just wait it out. I agree it looks and appears like a fraud, but this is not the case at all.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

It doesn't "look that way". It is -- whichever way you slice it. The legal way would be as follows:

1.- She gets a divorce.

2.- She files for removal of conditions on her own, proving she entered the marriage in good faith.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

It doesn't "look that way". It is -- whichever way you slice it. The legal way would be as follows:

1.- She gets a divorce.

2.- She files for removal of conditions on her own, proving she entered the marriage in good faith.

Or - she legally seperates, and informs CIS of that change, prior to the interview.

Edited May 4, 2009 by Bobby_Umit

[jundp 191]

So. She came here and was sponsored by her husband, who is a USC. Somewhere along the lines she met you and she is now your girlfriend. Her husband doesn't know about you or the problems in their marriage? She wants to stay here and remove conditions and then divorce her husband to, presumably, be with you?

Yeah.

[nidart 0]

So. She came here and was sponsored by her husband, who is a USC. Somewhere along the lines she met you and she is now your girlfriend. Her husband doesn't know about you or the problems in their marriage? She wants to stay here and remove conditions and then divorce her husband to, presumably, be with you?

Yeah.

Ok, you are all correct.

It is best that I just go and see an immigration attorney. Whether people here believe it or not, it was nothing done intentionally to defraud america.....nor did we try to decieve anyone. The best thing I guess is to let an attorney handle this.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Don't go all touchy when you don't get the answers you were hoping for. We are telling you what it is. No one in here will advocate doing what your "girlfriend" plans to do. It is fraudulent and dishonest. If an immigration attorney advises you to follow up on your "plan" -- he or she is also advocasting breaking the law.

As much as I could feel bad for your "girlfriend"; the fact that she is an adulteress cheating on her husband with you; and planning to treat him like an imbecile to obtain a green card makes my stomach turn. I feel for the husband; and pray he finds out what you and her are up to.

[mobama94 0]

Don't go all touchy when you don't get the answers you were hoping for. We are telling you what it is. No one in here will advocate doing what your "girlfriend" plans to do. It is fraudulent and dishonest. If an immigration attorney advises you to follow up on your "plan" -- he or she is also advocasting breaking the law.

As much as I could feel bad for your "girlfriend"; the fact that she is an adulteress cheating on her husband with you; and planning to treat him like an imbecile to obtain a green card makes my stomach turn. I feel for the husband; and pray he finds out what you and her are up to.

I agree with Len. The fact that she is still married to her husband no matter how pitiful you paint her situation is, what she's doing is wrong. She should have gotten out of the marriage legally and remove conditions based on that fact. I am not suggesting she intended to commit fraud when she entered the marriage but she is now, based on her relationship with you when she is still married and her plan to wait until she gets her 10-yr GC before filing divorce.

[nidart 0]

Don't go all touchy when you don't get the answers you were hoping for. We are telling you what it is. No one in here will advocate doing what your "girlfriend" plans to do. It is fraudulent and dishonest. If an immigration attorney advises you to follow up on your "plan" -- he or she is also advocasting breaking the law.

As much as I could feel bad for your "girlfriend"; the fact that she is an adulteress cheating on her husband with you; and planning to treat him like an imbecile to obtain a green card makes my stomach turn. I feel for the husband; and pray he finds out what you and her are up to.

I agree with Len. The fact that she is still married to her husband no matter how pitiful you paint her situation is, what she's doing is wrong. She should have gotten out of the marriage legally and remove conditions based on that fact. I am not suggesting she intended to commit fraud when she entered the marriage but she is now, based on her relationship with you when she is still married and her plan to wait until she gets her 10-yr GC before filing divorce.

I thank you all for the responses. And yes, some of these seem to be hurtful and crude, but I do not know the way these things work. I was unaware that my girlfriend could file for I-751 and also file seperation/divorce from husband. I was under the impression that in order to remove conditions she had to be with him until the 10 yr green card was approved. If there is a wait or another way to do this, then we will do it. We are both quite niave on how this process works and what needs to be done. We are kind of afraid to consult an attorney as we do not want to be lead down a path of no return and no choice. I dont know if I am making sense...but I will see what I have to do from here for her and I....and yes, we both want to do what is right and correct for everyone involved.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Is she seperated from her husband?

During the interview, they will look for a bonafide relationship. Can she prove that? Does her husband know she is with you, or planning on divorcing as soon as she gets the 10yr card?

No....she is not seperated from her husband and he does not know about me.

She cannot prove the mental abuse, which is a problem, but she will stay with him until the 10 year card is approved if needed...we both agree that we might have to do this.....

It is just very hard for both of us, but if necessary in the long run, we will do that

Len has it right.

If you continue on with the interview, with the first husband, then you would be misrepresenting the truth, (bona fide marriage), which is not a good thing to do with the government.

If she is truly "mentally" abused, then she should seek a divorce, now, regardless if you can prove it, and attempt to file for herself, if she can prove the marriage was entered in good faith, she will have no issues.

Sticking with a "mentally abusive" marriage just to get a green card sounds wrong to me.

A good lawyer will help you with the divorce and removal of conditions case.

[JERIII 8]

This is visa fraud. Is she aware of that fact?

This is probably going to start an argument, but I am honestly curious about something. The OP's girlfriend is behaving horribly, but behaving horribly is not against the law. The USCIS does not require that someone be in a good marriage, only that they be in a non-fraudulent marriage. The OP says the she is planning to leave her husband, but she's lying to her husband and may be lying to the boyfriend, too.

I only know of one law that establishes marriage visa fraud, that's INA 275©:

© An individual who knowingly enters into a marriage for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.

(I'm not a lawyer, there may be other statutes.)

It seems to me that the girlfriend is, according to this, arguably not committing visa fraud.

Now, one could argue that she will be guilty of misrepresentation, but again, lots of people get their conditions removed in dreadful marriages, the 751 form doesn't ask you to affirm that you are in a good marriage, or to affirm that you are not cheating on your spouse. If interviewed, these things can be used by an examiner to question the good faith of the marriage, but again, look at the wording in the instructions:

Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriage upon which you were granted conditional status was

entered

in ''good faith'' and was not for the purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents as you wish to establish this fact and to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to the present date, and to demonstrate any circumstances surrounding the end of the relationship, if it has ended.

it is the entering the marriage, not the maintaining it that is the crux of the matter.

So why are we so sure this is legally visa fraud?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

For God's sake.