IR1 help

[omgstopit 0]

Hi,

I was married to a US citizen on June 16th 2010, back in my country of origin. We filed the whole petition, I was approved to come to the US on July 20th 2012 and came to live here in October 2012. I received my 10 year greencard in the mail and was issued a social security number.

Today my husband informed me that he "doesn't want to stay married" out of the complete blue. I don't know what this means for me in terms of staying in the US. I have no idea if there is actually anything that I can do, short of just not separating - divorce is sort of hard at the moment because marriage did not take place in the US - or if it's a lost cause and I might as well just pack my bags and go back to where I came from.

Any help? Advice?

Thank you.

[Hypnos 6,578]

Your are not a conditional permanent resident so whether you stay married, divorce, or legally separate will have no bearing on your immigration status.

In short, if you wish to remain in the US then you can do so.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Hypnos

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

You have a ten year greencard, so you can stay if you wish, even after divorce. All that changes in terms of immigration is that you'd need to wait 5 years instead of 3 to become a US Citizen. So, no worries there. Examine your heart, and see what you want to do- marriage counselling, trial separation, divorce; whatever suits you and your husband.

[omgstopit 0]

Thank you for this. I guess it's a small comfort that nobody's going to be knocking on my door looking to ship me back home. Now I only have my broken heart to worry about.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thank you for this. I guess it's a small comfort that nobody's going to be knocking on my door looking to ship me back home. Now I only have my broken heart to worry about.

Marrying overseas does not matter in terms of divorce. You can divorce in whatever state/country you're living in. So divorce is not an issue when you go that path.

[christeen 966]

Legally, you do not have to worry about immigration... You can stay and continue to love as LPR or you can apply for citizenship 90 days before your 5 year GC date (July 2017).

Now with that worry out of the way, I am sorry to hear about the heartache. Time to think about what is best for you at this time. I wish you the best.

[omgstopit 0]

Thank you very much.