No divorce decree for my mother's process to get residency

[eliarreola2012 0]

I am a US citizen (naturalized) bringing my mother to the US. We are almost done with the process but USCIS is asking for my mothers previous marriages and divorces. Here is the problem:

My mother has married 3 times in her first marriage to my father the marriage failed they never lived together or anything like that. My mother try to get divorce but in Mexico she was told by inexperienced lawyers ( we're talking over 25 years ago) that the marriage was nulled because my father abandoned her which in Mexico abandoning for a period over six months is a legal basis for divorce. She never filed for divorce on those basis, because she was told she didn't need it.

She married a second time and divorced with no problem and in this marriage certificate she is listed as divorced.

She married a last and third time where was listed as divorced as well and this marriage ended because her husband passed away so now she is a widow.

What can we show USCIS if she has no proof of divorce from her first marriage?

Here is a twist to the story:

Mt father her first husband is a US citizen by naturalization as well, and he has remarried several times and in the last marriage he applied to bring her current wife to the US which he was granted he lied I believed and never mentioned his marriage to my mother obtaining a visa for his current wife.

So what can we do? thank you all for any information that could help us.

[Hypnos 6,576]

IANAL, but...

If she did not divorce her first husband and then married a second then this means [a] the second marriage was not valid; she committed bigamy by being married to two people at once; [c] she then committed bigamy again when she married her third husband and this marriage was also invalid.

While "abandonment" might be a basis for divorce, it doesn't just magically happen, you have to go to court and seek a declaration based on that circumstance.

Since proof of divorce cannot be obtained for the first marriage (because there was no divorce) then there is nothing you can show to USCIS. This also has the side-effect that your father is also committing bigamy and immigration fraud (since if he had disclosed that marriage to your mother then they would have asked him to provide a certified copy of the divorce certificate / decree, which as you say does not exist because they did not divorce). If USCIS found out about that his naturalisation would likely be revoked and they would probably initiate removal proceedings against him.

This is about as far from a DIY case as it gets, and you should consult with an experienced AILA-certified immigration lawyer.

Edited August 12, 2012 by Hypnos

[ceadsearc 516]

She should get a lawyer if you are saying what I think you're saying - that she was incorrectly told she didn't need a divorce the first time and as such never got one and remarried while still married.