K1 Confusion on Ladies Second Marriage

[aircal 0]

Hi...I am considering a K1 visa with my girlfriend in Colombia. However, it could get complicated. She did a K1 and married an American about three years ago in the US. They have a daughter together. However, due to an unhealthy home environment, she took her daughter and moved back to Colombia. While in Colombia, the husband at the time divorced her in the US while she and the daughter were in Colombia. This happened about a year and half ago. She never received a green card or anything and currently resides in Colombia.

Has anybody been in this situation before? I assume if I do a K1, the process is the same as if this was her first marriage, correct? Any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[pushbrk 12,898]

Hi...I am considering a K1 visa with my girlfriend in Colombia. However, it could get complicated. She did a K1 and married an American about three years ago in the US. They have a daughter together. However, due to an unhealthy home environment, she took her daughter and moved back to Colombia. While in Colombia, the husband at the time divorced her in the US while she and the daughter were in Colombia. This happened about a year and half ago. She never received a green card or anything and currently resides in Colombia.

Has anybody been in this situation before? I assume if I do a K1, the process is the same as if this was her first marriage, correct? Any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

She'll need a copy of that divorce decree but perhaps more important is to find out if she overstayed her visa. You say she married but didn't adjust status (get a green card). If she did not adjust status and stayed in the USA more than nine months after entry on the K1 visa, she is subject to a three year ban on re-entry. If she stayed more than 15 months, it's a ten year ban.

[aircal 0]

She'll need a copy of that divorce decree but perhaps more important is to find out if she overstayed her visa. You say she married but didn't adjust status (get a green card). If she did not adjust status and stayed in the USA more than nine months after entry on the K1 visa, she is subject to a three year ban on re-entry. If she stayed more than 15 months, it's a ten year ban.

Hmmm...I wonder if she did have an AOS submitted, because she lived in the US a year and two months, went back to Colombia for two months, returned back to the US because he begged her to, and then she left again after two weeks because the situation did not change, and she has been in Colombia ever since (about a year and a half now). She mentioned this past November was the deadline for some papers to be submitted, but the date came and went and all is expired now. I'm just trying to piece this together from what she has told me and what she knows. The ex did everything. I wonder how we can find out what she had filed for, etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[K and L 27]

It sounds like she had the conditional green card, but let it expire before filing to lift conditions.

[aircal 0]

It sounds like she had the conditional green card, but let it expire before filing to lift conditions.

Ah, ok. Interesting. Which is why she was able to travel a couple of times between the US and Colombia. Fortunately, I think, she was in Colombia when it expired, not in the US, so there is no overstay or violation I can see. Agree?

If she had a conditional green card and it expired before filing to lift conditions while she was in Colombia, I assume she starts the whole process over with a K1, correct?

[K and L 27]

She does have to start over with the K1 with the expired green card, and you may want her to make sure USCIS knows that she's been in Colombia since (xxx), so they don't have her marked for deportation/overstay -- there was someone else here who was recently denied because they got a divorce before the AOS was final, returned to their home country, and didn't inform USCIS.