Imigration status

[Giova423 0]

To whom it may concern and to those in similar situations.

I met an American girl in Colombia, we fell in love and I came to America on a K-1 Visa to get married two years ago.

We have a son who is 29 months old. We seperated a year ago and since then I have been living on my own.

As of today,I have 30 or so days to fill out the papers to become a permanant citizen.

And my estranged wife has just started a new relationship with another man, which is a recent source of contention.

We are working on getting divorced but as of now are still legally married,

I am a student, I pay her a monthly stipen for our son--whos life I am still very active in--

and I am also the beneficiary on her life insurance and we still file joint tax returns.

As I fill out my paperwork, do file as married or divorced? Any tips or advice?

I have no money to spare on lawers or costly legal procedures but would like to know what my options are.

Thanks for your time.

[Xanax 349]

You are not divorced. Until you are divorced I believe you must state you are married, as you are.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

To whom it may concern and to those in similar situations.

I met an American girl in Colombia, we fell in love and I came to America on a K-1 Visa to get married two years ago.

We have a son who is 29 months old. We seperated a year ago and since then I have been living on my own.

As of today,I have 30 or so days to fill out the papers to become a permanant citizen.

And my estranged wife has just started a new relationship with another man, which is a recent source of contention.

We are working on getting divorced but as of now are still legally married,

I am a student, I pay her a monthly stipen for our son--whos life I am still very active in--

and I am also the beneficiary on her life insurance and we still file joint tax returns.

As I fill out my paperwork, do file as married or divorced? Any tips or advice?

I have no money to spare on lawers or costly legal procedures but would like to know what my options are.

Thanks for your time.

There are some errors in terminology here. You don't have 30 days to file to become a "permanent citizen". You have a conditional resident green card. If that green card expires in 30 days then you have that much time to file an I-751 to get the conditions removed, and get a 10 year unconditional green card. You are not eligible to become a citizen yet. It's critically important that you understand this. If you mistakenly represent yourself to any government official as a citizen, even though you actually MEANT you were a permanent resident, then you could be deported and barred from returning to the US for the rest of your life.

You must file the I-751 before your green card expires. If you don't then your resident status will be terminated, and they may begin removal proceedings against you. If you are still married then you must file the I-751 jointly with your wife. You must also include evidence that your marriage is bona fide. Joint tax returns are only the beginning. Please have a look at the "Removal of Conditions" sub-forum. Everything you need to know is in the pinned threads.

Understand that you take a risk filing a joint I-751 if your marriage is on the rocks. If USCIS discovers this then they'll deny your removal of conditions. You can apply for a waiver of the joint filing requirement if your marriage ends in divorce. You must still provide evidence that you entered the marriage in good faith, and you'll also need the divorce decree. You can file the I-751 without the divorce decree. You'll get an RFE for the divorce decree several months from now. If you still don't have the divorce decree, and don't provide it in response to the RFE, then USCIS will initiate removal proceedings. You can ask the immigration judge to grant a stay while you wait for the divorce to be final. The judge almost always approves those requests.

If your marriage has collapsed then you would be better off filing for a divorce now, and submitting the I-751 on your own with a request for a waiver of the joint filing requirement.

[Mononoke28 135]

Great advice from JimVaPhuong. Since you came to the US on a K1 visa this means you will have to remove the conditions of your permanent residency which is only good for two years so that you can get the one that is good for 10 years. You need to file ASAP before it expires so that the NOA1 you receive from the USCIS can serve as a 12 month extension while they approve your petition. You can file as married but this will mean that your marriage is still valid, meaning there aren't any filings for legal separation nor divorce proceedings.

If you already filed for divorce, you will need to file a waiver by checking option C of Part 2 of form I-751. You will also need to gather as much evidence as possible in order to prove that you entered the marriage in good faith.

As for US citizenship, since you're getting divorced from the US citizen who petitioned you with a K1, you can only file as single after being a permanent resident for five years, this means that you cannot file until 2015.

Diana

[Sandra G. 5,064]

File the divorce asap and then file the I-751 waiver. USCIS will send an RFE asking you to submit the divorce decree and probably you will be able to submit the divorce decree to USCIS before they adjudicate your I-751.If they send and RFE and you still don't have the divorce decree to submit(USCIS will give you 87 days to answer the RFE)then they will deny your case and start with the removal proceedings, but you can have your case adjudicated by an immigration judge when the divorce becomes final.