Seperated and need to remove conditions

[broken_hearted1 0]

I can't believe I am posting here tonight. My husband (the immigrant) and I have been married for 2 1/2 years and he has been in the USA for about a 1 1/2. He came on a CR-1 visa. I am completely in love with him and always have been. However, last week he told me he no longer loves me, doesn't want to live with me, and wants to be single. The marriage was real and I guess his feelings have changed. I have no reason to suspect green card fraud.

In any case, he needs to remove conditions in January. He doesn't want to go home because he says he will be embarrassed in front of his family and he has nothing to return to. Given the fact that our marriage was real and he sold all of his possessions when he came to the United States, I would like to see him get his 10 year green card. We are not divorced and there is no divorce looming in the future (my state requires a one year separation before you get a divorce). How will this affect his application for removal of conditions? Thanks.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I can't believe I am posting here tonight. My husband (the immigrant) and I have been married for 2 1/2 years and he has been in the USA for about a 1 1/2. He came on a CR-1 visa. I am completely in love with him and always have been. However, last week he told me he no longer loves me, doesn't want to live with me, and wants to be single. The marriage was real and I guess his feelings have changed. I have no reason to suspect green card fraud.

In any case, he needs to remove conditions in January. He doesn't want to go home because he says he will be embarrassed in front of his family and he has nothing to return to. Given the fact that our marriage was real and he sold all of his possessions when he came to the United States, I would like to see him get his 10 year green card. We are not divorced and there is no divorce looming in the future (my state requires a one year separation before you get a divorce). How will this affect his application for removal of conditions? Thanks.

As you are not a couple anymore, you cannot file with him. He can succeed on his own.

You will need to start divorce proceedings immediately (whether that be registering the separation or whatever is needed to start that one year clock). When the time comes to file ROC he will need to do that with the waiver for still being married (I think it's a divorce waiver?). He won't be able to send the divorce decree so eventually he'll get an RFE for it. He will have around 90 days to show the divorce decree. If you're not divorced by then he will go in front of an immigration judge to plead his case and he will ask that they wait till he can obtain his divorce decree.

Another idea would be if he moves to another state and files the divorce in that state, there might not be the one year requirement. He will need to file his ROC in the state with that (lack of) divorce requirement otherwise USCIS will follow the state he resides in rules for the 1 year separation.

Give him his options:

1. Move to another state, file for divorce there, live there while filing ROC (bearing in mind SOME states have rules against leaving a state simply to avoid those separation rules.. some people have gotten into trouble because of it)

2. Register the separation (or whatever to start the ball rolling), file ROC when the time comes, get an RFE, possibly miss the RFE deadline and go before an immigration judge and EVENTUALLY remove conditions.

Helping him by pretending you're still together is fraud. It could easily come back to bite him later which means a lifetime ban for him, and jail for you for fraud. So ultimately, the options are up to him.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[broken_hearted1 0]

Vanessa&Tony thanks for your advice. I have no intentions of committing any type of fraud. I am just not sure of my options. How likely is he to get permission from an immigration judge to stay in the country until the divorce is final? If he didn't move to another state, which I know he won't do, it will be almost a year after his ROC is due that our divorce would be final. How likely is the judge to allow him to stay for another year? Is this something that he can do on his own or will he have to hire a lawyer? Thanks.