Did I comply with USA criteria for getting married?

[ChrisAndAnnie 0]

Dear friends:

I did not considered the following to be a problem before, but as time approaches, and the interview day is coming closer, I am beggining to wonder if I will have any problems. Interview date has not been set yet, but it is safe to assume I am only a couple of months away. I am sending the affidavit form I-864. Here is the situation:

I had previously divorced two times, the first time in Dominican Republic and second in NYC. This is my third marriage, which took place in Ecuador. When my now third wife and I got married in Ecuador, someone in my party asked the judge if the marriage would be valid both in the USA as well as in Ecuador. The judge came up with an elaborate answer about the marriage being valid only in Ecuador. At the moment, I dismissed it as bull #######, as (I thought) a marriage is a marriage, if comtemplated by the laws of a country, it should be respected anywhere else in the world...right? We went ahead with the wedding, and have been so for a couple of years. Again, either I am getting old, or paranoid, but a whole bunch of fears are beginning to pop up on me nowadays. Why in the world the authorities in Ecuador never asked me for proof of divorce in my previous marriages? What if my past divorces are not admitted as valid by the consuls at the moment of the interview? specially the one in the Dominican Republic? (that wedding was in the USA) I am going to have both divorce papers translated and there is something called "Apostillados" we *I hope* would render some kind of international officiality to the papers. Finally, has anyone heard something about marriages in Ecuador having to be "registered" at the US Embassy in the case of US citizens?

Many thanks everyone for your input

Best

ChristianAndAnnie

[RICARDO4EVA2 195]

as far as this is concerned the marriage would be recognized by the US Immigration system.

[jkelly07 120]

the apottilled is a international notary, ..in the us it's called a notary of republic,you mite get that at the ECUADOR consulate here in the us,

[pushbrk 13,254]

Dear friends:

I did not considered the following to be a problem before, but as time approaches, and the interview day is coming closer, I am beggining to wonder if I will have any problems. Interview date has not been set yet, but it is safe to assume I am only a couple of months away. I am sending the affidavit form I-864. Here is the situation:

I had previously divorced two times, the first time in Dominican Republic and second in NYC. This is my third marriage, which took place in Ecuador. When my now third wife and I got married in Ecuador, someone in my party asked the judge if the marriage would be valid both in the USA as well as in Ecuador. The judge came up with an elaborate answer about the marriage being valid only in Ecuador. At the moment, I dismissed it as bull #######, as (I thought) a marriage is a marriage, if comtemplated by the laws of a country, it should be respected anywhere else in the world...right? We went ahead with the wedding, and have been so for a couple of years. Again, either I am getting old, or paranoid, but a whole bunch of fears are beginning to pop up on me nowadays. Why in the world the authorities in Ecuador never asked me for proof of divorce in my previous marriages? What if my past divorces are not admitted as valid by the consuls at the moment of the interview? specially the one in the Dominican Republic? (that wedding was in the USA) I am going to have both divorce papers translated and there is something called "Apostillados" we *I hope* would render some kind of international officiality to the papers. Finally, has anyone heard something about marriages in Ecuador having to be "registered" at the US Embassy in the case of US citizens?

Many thanks everyone for your input

Best

ChristianAndAnnie

If you truthfully disclosed all previous marriages and provided divorce decrees for each, then USCIS's approval of your petition indicates they have judged your current marriage to have been entered into when you were both free to marry AND that in the eyes of the US Government, you are legally and lawfully married.

Concentrate on evidence the relationship is bona fide and prepare for the interview.

[ChrisAndAnnie 0]

If you truthfully disclosed all previous marriages and provided divorce decrees for each, then USCIS's approval of your petition indicates they have judged your current marriage to have been entered into when you were both free to marry AND that in the eyes of the US Government, you are legally and lawfully married.

Concentrate on evidence the relationship is bona fide and prepare for the interview.

There are two issues to note here:

1) I certainly was truthful in my disclosing, I dont see why wouldn't I... but I really don't recall having been requested to submit copies of my divorce certificates at any moment during my previous paperwork.

2) I do expect the consuls to request to see the divorce papers at the moment of the interview. Further, I don't see it as a matter of assuming that they won't request them. If anything, I have to assume they will. My question is especifically geared for anyone with negative or positve experience on the issue of previous divorces and their paperwork as it relates to the application and to the interview, and what are the demands of the embassy personnel on said divorce papers.

Thanks

ChrisAndAnnie

Edited December 26, 2010 by ChrisAndAnnie

[TBoneTX 46,423]

I've not read or heard of anything noteworthy in regard to previous marriages or divorces, other than whether the beneficiary is aware of the petitioner's previous marriages and knows at least basic details about those marriages. Guayaquil is no basket of kittens when it comes to the interview -- they seemingly could care less about anything except whether the CURRENT relationship is bona fide. On this, they are like bulldogs or worse. Prepare for THAT aspect as though your life depends upon it. Also, be sure to be present for the interview. There's some very recent evidence that Guayaquil is no longer automatically refusing visas to beneficiaries who show up alone, but no pattern is clear yet. Bring yourself and a suitcase full of relationship evidence to the interview, and make doggoned sure that your wife knows every detail of your life and your past, including your previous marriages. Keep us posted, si man.

[DanTes 21]

You mentioned that you are GOING to have your divorce documents translated for the interview. You should have already done this when you submitted your I-130 petition to USCIS. Did you, in fact, mention the previous 2 marriages in the petition? Also, I don't know about the Embassy in Ecuador, but under Philippine law, you must submit a "legal capacity to contract marriage" from the U.S. Embassy before you can obtain a marriage license. This is not required by U.S. law, but the Embassy does it to satisfy Philippine law. Years ago, a foreigner and a Filipina could enter into a "secret" marriage that did not require the legal capacity. If you were married in full compliance the laws of Ecuador, then the marriage WILL BE RECOGNIZED in the U.S.

[ChrisAndAnnie 0]

You mentioned that you are GOING to have your divorce documents translated for the interview. You should have already done this when you submitted your I-130 petition to USCIS. Did you, in fact, mention the previous 2 marriages in the petition? Also, I don't know about the Embassy in Ecuador, but under Philippine law, you must submit a "legal capacity to contract marriage" from the U.S. Embassy before you can obtain a marriage license. This is not required by U.S. law, but the Embassy does it to satisfy Philippine law. Years ago, a foreigner and a Filipina could enter into a "secret" marriage that did not require the legal capacity. If you were married in full compliance the laws of Ecuador, then the marriage WILL BE RECOGNIZED in the U.S.

Well, here is where it gets complicated. Ecuador provides dual citizenship to those who were born there but later became naturalized USA citizens. I am one of those. As a foreigner, I should have submitted some paperwork, but as an Ecuadorian all I needed was the national ID (cedula)... As per my reading of the definition of acceptable marriage on the Ecuadorian embassy's web site, it basically says that it is up to ecuadorian authorities to criteria their marriages, and if they have taken place, the embassy acknowledges them. Can other foreigner who married in Ecuador give advise as to what papers he/she needed to marry?... I only have a marriage certificate and hope that will comply.

I filed the I-130 sufficiently long ago as not to be certain if I attached copies of my divorces, but certainly if they were asked for, then I did...yes, it was 3 years ago, and as far as I recollect, they didn't ask me for those.Sorry, I may be wrong there.

Edited December 26, 2010 by ChrisAndAnnie

[pushbrk 13,254]

There are two issues to note here:

1) I certainly was truthful in my disclosing, I dont see why wouldn't I... but I really don't recall having been requested to submit copies of my divorce certificates at any moment during my previous paperwork.

2) I do expect the consuls to request to see the divorce papers at the moment of the interview. Further, I don't see it as a matter of assuming that they won't request them. If anything, I have to assume they will. My question is especifically geared for anyone with negative or positve experience on the issue of previous divorces and their paperwork as it relates to the application and to the interview, and what are the demands of the embassy personnel on said divorce papers.

Thanks

ChrisAndAnnie

If you disclosed the marriages, you were required to submit copies of the divorce decrees with the petition. If your petition was approved without the divorce decrees in the package, all bets are off. Check your copy of the package and see if you didn't submit them initially.

[Wayne and Claudia 40]

My question is why would the judge tell you the marriage would only be valid in Ecuador? Is it possible this judge knows everything about all legal jurisdictions on the globe outside of Ecuador? It is up to each nation as to whether they accept a marriage as bona fide. Much like Pshbrk has said, if you submitted your two previous divorce decrees and the case has reached the interview stage then your marriage must have been accepted as legally binding in the US. If it wasn't accepted they surely would have rejected it for lack of form and asked you to file a K-1. Good luck.

[pushbrk 13,254]

My question is why would the judge tell you the marriage would only be valid in Ecuador? Is it possible this judge knows everything about all legal jurisdictions on the globe outside of Ecuador? It is up to each nation as to whether they accept a marriage as bona fide. Much like Pshbrk has said, if you submitted your two previous divorce decrees and the case has reached the interview stage then your marriage must have been accepted as legally binding in the US. If it wasn't accepted they surely would have rejected it for lack of form and asked you to file a K-1. Good luck.

See bold above. This is the key. The OP says they disclosed the former marriages but doesn't remember being asked for divorce decrees. The two statements are in conflict. If they disclosed the marriages on the I-130 and G325a forms, then the petition wouldn't have been approved without copies of the associated divorce decrees. Most likely, all is well but if they failed to disclose the former marriages, their current problem is a lot bigger than whether their marriage is valid. They will have been guilty of a material misrepresentation and potentially subject to major penalties up to and including a lifetime ban for the foreigner. All this depends on the actual facts and we don't have them yet.

[ChrisAndAnnie 0]

See bold above. This is the key. The OP says they disclosed the former marriages but doesn't remember being asked for divorce decrees. The two statements are in conflict. If they disclosed the marriages on the I-130 and G325a forms, then the petition wouldn't have been approved without copies of the associated divorce decrees. Most likely, all is well but if they failed to disclose the former marriages, their current problem is a lot bigger than whether their marriage is valid. They will have been guilty of a material misrepresentation and potentially subject to major penalties up to and including a lifetime ban for the foreigner. All this depends on the actual facts and we don't have them yet.

My friend, I thank you for your advice and good intentions. I do will like to stress, one more time, that failure to disclose is not at issue at all in my case, therefore I prefer not to take this conversation on that direction, since, as interesting as it is, it is not my problem. I appreciate it, but my specific problem and question is very different. It is related to divorces in the Dominican Republic being accepted as valid divorces in the United States, and the fact that no matter how written in stone it is that the I-130 was approved, the interview and the interviewing process was designed with the purpose to review all the paperwork and process carried up to that point by the INS. If, God forbid, the consul is having a bad day on the day of the interview, and he/she feels like picking on the fact that the divorce did not take place in the US, I will like to be at least well informed, hopefully with historical data on the matter.

Thanks a lot my friend

Edited December 30, 2010 by ChrisAndAnnie

[pushbrk 13,254]

My friend, I thank you for your advice and good intentions. I do will like to stress, one more time, that failure to disclose is not at issue at all in my case, therefore I prefer not to take this conversation on that direction, since, as interesting as it is, it is not my problem. I appreciate it, but my specific problem and question is very different. It is related to divorces in the Dominican Republic being accepted as valid divorces in the United States, and the fact that no matter how written in stone it is that the I-130 was approved, the interview and the interviewing process was designed with the purpose to review all the paperwork and process carried up to that point by the INS. If, God forbid, the consul is having a bad day on the day of the interview, and he/she feels like picking on the fact that the divorce did not take place in the US, I will like to be at least well informed, hopefully with historical data on the matter.

Thanks a lot my friend

You either provided the divorce decree or you didn't. If you disclosed the marriage, you would have had to provide the divorce decree. If you both disclosed the marriage and provided the divorce decree then The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) whose responsibility it is to decide if your divorce is acceptable for immigration purposes, has adjudicated that issue.

I said your statements were in conflict only because you state you disclosed but have not confirmed you documented the divorce in question. If you did both, no worries. If you failed to do either, then the question is unresolved.

[ChrisAndAnnie 0]

You either provided the divorce decree or you didn't. If you disclosed the marriage, you would have had to provide the divorce decree. If you both disclosed the marriage and provided the divorce decree then The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) whose responsibility it is to decide if your divorce is acceptable for immigration purposes, has adjudicated that issue.

I said your statements were in conflict only because you state you disclosed but have not confirmed you documented the divorce in question. If you did both, no worries. If you failed to do either, then the question is unresolved.

Thanks, actually, because of this thread, I search back in my copies and realized that papers were filled and send to INS by a friend of mine who is an immigration attorney. Copies of form G-235A that was sent, show the dates of the divorces, and I submitted to him all the original divorce papers. I am sure he did attach them, since otherwise the form would not have been approved. Sorry for the confusion, I am just gonna hope the matter does not come up on the interview.

Edited December 30, 2010 by ChrisAndAnnie