Divorce and Red Flags

[srj 1]

My Fiance in China is stressing out over the fact her divorce was just final in the start of May. Her and her ex have been apart for four years, but she read somewhere on the internet that someone was denied in part because of divorce close to K-1 application. I am thinking there may be more to the story as to why some are denied.

Just wondering if anyone has thoughts / knowledge about this.

Thanks

[Lalo & Susana 50]

Well I am in the same situation you are. My fiance was separated for a while before we started dating and we've been together about 2 years before sending the application but his divorce wasn't finalized until May 31st our NOA1 for K-1 visa is June 27th. I was told not to worry it will be approved no problem from USCIS since the requirements are that both must be free to marry and that we must've seen each other in the last two years. We fit all those requirements the only place you should be nervous is the interview. That is where they can deny you thinking that the divorce is too close to the I-129F application date. I am going to bring his separation papers which states they had been separated for almost 3 years before they were officially divorced. I was told that we shouldn't have a problem bc we have documentation showing that the marriage was over way before not only the divorce but before we got together.

(I have asked this question to several different members and they all told me not to worry and to bring the documents showing they were separated prior to the divorce. Not sure about ur situation but the reason why it took so long for my fiance was that his ex wife didn't feel like spending money on a lawyer and didn't want to deal with the divorce.)

Good luck!

Edited September 12, 2012 by Lalo & Susana

[agrabs 241]

I sent in our I-129F 2 weeks after my divorce was final. I had been separated for 2 years - I was divorcing a divorce attorney so my divorce took a while to be final. I was very worried we would be denied since I only waited 2 weeks. It was not a problem. We were never asked about it - not even at our interview.

I know it is different for each country.

[TBoneTX 45,289]

Some of our excellent China filers should happen along soon with meaningful information about your potential situation.

[Darnell 8,478]

what date did you file the I-129F ?

[JohnR! 5,495]

My Fiance in China is stressing out over the fact her divorce was just final in the start of May. Her and her ex have been apart for four years, but she read somewhere on the internet that someone was denied in part because of divorce close to K-1 application. I am thinking there may be more to the story as to why some are denied.

Just wondering if anyone has thoughts / knowledge about this.

Thanks

So long as they were legally separated you should be OK.

[khwaidee1 196]

My ex and I were seperated for a number of years and remained best of friends so we never really felt the need to file for divorce. Then I met my fiancee and we looked into the K-1 and I realized I would have to file! I filed in June of 2011. In Calif it takes six months from when the repondent answers for the divorce to become final. My divorce was final December 29, 2011 and we filed our 129F on January 10, 2012. Was never an issue and never came up in the interview.

[L+T 71]

Most of the time the issue is people file the i-129f prior to divorce being final. For example, even though they divorced, they do not wait required WAITING PERIOD to be FREE TO MARRY, ie some states are 6 months!!. Be sure all waiting periods are complete, and your fiancee is FREE TO MARRY before you file the petition. Ask yourself this, is your fiance divorced and any waiting period complete to be free to marry? If you can't answer this question, do not file yet.

[khwaidee1 196]

Most of the time the issue is people file the i-129f prior to divorce being final. For example, even though they divorced, they do not wait required WAITING PERIOD to be FREE TO MARRY, ie some states are 6 months!!. Be sure all waiting periods are complete, and your fiancee is FREE TO MARRY before you file the petition. Ask yourself this, is your fiance divorced and any waiting period complete to be free to marry? If you can't answer this question, do not file yet.

Exactly. I was never "legally" seperated, just filed and waited the 6 months per Calif. law. We then filed our 129F 12 days after it was final and I was "free" to marry. Good luck!

[stevo222 18]

Although I was separated since 2010, and Divorce had been in process since Feb 2011, my divorce was not final until Nov 2011. I filed my initial 129F in December 2011, just two weeks after my divorce was final. At the final interview, just 9 days ago, did not cause a problem for my Fiancee.

[Da and Di 0]

I filed My K1 Visa after one week final divorce and I got my No2 yesterday (processed 93 days thru Cali). I think it will not big issue for USCIS...Good luck

[Darnell 8,478]

re: China 'free to marry' - a PRC person is free to marry after the divorce decree is issued. Could get married in China same day as divorce, IIRC.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

When the consular officer mentions that the timing between the divorce and the petition is a reason for denying the visa then there is a particular type of visa fraud they suspect.

If the beneficiary's divorce caused the denial then they suspect the beneficiary never really broke off the relationship with their foreign spouse, and obtained the divorce only so that they would be eligible to apply for a K1 visa. They suspect that the beneficiary will terminate the marriage with the US citizen petitioner at some point after obtaining permanent resident status in the US, remarry their foreign spouse, and then petition for their foreign spouse to immigrate to the US. In high fraud countries, where the beneficiary is recently divorced, there will always be some level of suspicion that this sort of fraud may be involved. They'll look for other evidence to support that assumption, such as evidence that the beneficiary and their ex-spouse were living as a married couple right up until the divorce was granted, or perhaps even after. If they find that there are aspects of the beneficiary's relationship with their ex-spouse that were being hidden from the petitioner then they may conclude the petitioner was being scammed. If they submit the bare minimum evidence required to get the visa then they may suspect the petitioner was in on the scam, especially if the petitioner is low income and there's evidence somebody else financed their trips. It would be useful to have evidence that the beneficiary and ex-spouse were living apart for some time before the divorce, such as separate household register books (Hukou books) showing they had different residences.

If the petitioner's divorce caused the denial then they may suspect the petitioner never really intended to permanently divorce their spouse, but did so only so that they would be eligible to submit a petition for a foreign fiancee. They suspect that the US citizen is a willing participant in a scam to help a foreigner immigrate to the US, and probably being paid for it. The consular officer will look for additional evidence to support this presumption, such as evidence that the petitioner and their ex-spouse are still living together, or that the petitioner's ex-spouse has temporary living arrangements that are being paid for by the petitioner or an "interested third party". They will also look carefully at the petitioner's finances. A petitioner with negligible income is more likely to be tempted to become involved in a scam like this. These "pay to play" visa scams can sometimes be worth $20K or more to a willing US citizen.

When you're dealing with a high fraud country, and there's a recent divorce involved, then you have to look at your situation and see if there's any evidence to support a consular officer's presumption that either of the above types of scams are being conducted, and consider what sort of evidence you might have that might help counter the derogatory evidence. It would be best if you could frontload your petition with the counter-evidence since it usually helps if questions about suspicious circumstances are answered to the CO's satisfaction before the interview.

[srj 1]

When the consular officer mentions that the timing between the divorce and the petition is a reason for denying the visa then there is a particular type of visa fraud they suspect.

If the beneficiary's divorce caused the denial then they suspect the beneficiary never really broke off the relationship with their foreign spouse, and obtained the divorce only so that they would be eligible to apply for a K1 visa. They suspect that the beneficiary will terminate the marriage with the US citizen petitioner at some point after obtaining permanent resident status in the US, remarry their foreign spouse, and then petition for their foreign spouse to immigrate to the US. In high fraud countries, where the beneficiary is recently divorced, there will always be some level of suspicion that this sort of fraud may be involved. They'll look for other evidence to support that assumption, such as evidence that the beneficiary and their ex-spouse were living as a married couple right up until the divorce was granted, or perhaps even after. If they find that there are aspects of the beneficiary's relationship with their ex-spouse that were being hidden from the petitioner then they may conclude the petitioner was being scammed. If they submit the bare minimum evidence required to get the visa then they may suspect the petitioner was in on the scam, especially if the petitioner is low income and there's evidence somebody else financed their trips. It would be useful to have evidence that the beneficiary and ex-spouse were living apart for some time before the divorce, such as separate household register books (Hukou books) showing they had different residences.

If the petitioner's divorce caused the denial then they may suspect the petitioner never really intended to permanently divorce their spouse, but did so only so that they would be eligible to submit a petition for a foreign fiancee. They suspect that the US citizen is a willing participant in a scam to help a foreigner immigrate to the US, and probably being paid for it. The consular officer will look for additional evidence to support this presumption, such as evidence that the petitioner and their ex-spouse are still living together, or that the petitioner's ex-spouse has temporary living arrangements that are being paid for by the petitioner or an "interested third party". They will also look carefully at the petitioner's finances. A petitioner with negligible income is more likely to be tempted to become involved in a scam like this. These "pay to play" visa scams can sometimes be worth $20K or more to a willing US citizen.

When you're dealing with a high fraud country, and there's a recent divorce involved, then you have to look at your situation and see if there's any evidence to support a consular officer's presumption that either of the above types of scams are being conducted, and consider what sort of evidence you might have that might help counter the derogatory evidence. It would be best if you could frontload your petition with the counter-evidence since it usually helps if questions about suspicious circumstances are answered to the CO's satisfaction before the interview.

According to my fiance, they have been separated for a couple of years. I do not quite understand the Hukou Books and how that would show separate household. If you can explain that a little more please.

[Darnell 8,478]

for seperated (not divorced) prc people, they have to GO to the civil registry office and have the hukuo changed. many people chose not to do that, thinking it's not needed .

when a divorce is granted, the hukuo book is updated or a new one is issued, depending.

if she was not free to marry when you filed the K-1, ie - not officially divorced from this fella - you should have some concern...

otherwise, be relaxed, a bit...