How long may I stay in the USA after divorce?

[idusevich 0]

Hello everybody,

Please advice.

I came on a K-1 visa in March. We were married on May 23rd. But now my spouse wants an annulment of marriage or a divorce. Well, can't share all the personal info here.

I do not intend to contest his decision. And will sign the paperwork and leave the country as soon as I have to. We certainly have not had the time to begin adjustment of status yet.

My question is this: Do I have to leave USA immediately after we have finalized the divorce or annulment, or do I have some time to be here before I return to my home country?

Thank you for your advice and ideas.

[Caryh 5,206]

Hello everybody,

Please advice.

I came on a K-1 visa in March. We were married on May 23rd. But now my spouse wants an annulment of marriage or a divorce. Well, can't share all the personal info here.

I do not intend to contest his decision. And will sign the paperwork and leave the country as soon as I have to. We certainly have not had the time to begin adjustment of status yet.

My question is this: Do I have to leave USA immediately after we have finalized the divorce or annulment, or do I have some time to be here before I return to my home country?

Thank you for your advice and ideas.

Without adjusting status, your valid stay ends on the expiration dates of the I-94. At that point you begin to accumulate an overstay, which is forgiven when adjusting status. Given you're not adjusting status, technically you cannot stay longer than the 90 days allowed on the K-1 visa, even if you got married. At six months of overstay, the first ban level starts, which is three years. Earning a ban complicates any further travel into the USA. If you never intend on returning to the USA, its no big issue. But if you want to return, you should leave regardless of the divorce or annulment status before you have any overstay time.

[idusevich 0]

Thank you Caryh. This does make sense, however, I wonder why it would be considered overstay, if I have to be here to do the divorce. I would love to leave tomorrow, but we have to process the divorce annulment papers. Can't I even stay in the USA while doing that? Do I have to leave now?

On top of all this terrible thing that is happening with my new "marriage", I am so anxious that I am breaking US laws. I want to be honest and respect USA immigration laws.

What do I do?

[NikLR 13,232]

I would think because you can mail items back and forth you do not need to be in the USA to be divorced.

[Caryh 5,206]

Thank you Caryh. This does make sense, however, I wonder why it would be considered overstay, if I have to be here to do the divorce. I would love to leave tomorrow, but we have to process the divorce annulment papers. Can't I even stay in the USA while doing that? Do I have to leave now?

On top of all this terrible thing that is happening with my new "marriage", I am so anxious that I am breaking US laws. I want to be honest and respect USA immigration laws.

What do I do?

You came in on kind of the weird animal of immigration, and that's the K-1. Its a nonimmigrant visa, with a 90 day time table. Now when you get married, and file the AOS, the overstay is forgiven as a spouse of a USC. But when you're not adjusting status, there is no method to legally stay. There have been K-1 visa holders, who married and stayed married for years. Then a divorce comes along, and they realize they've earned a ten year ban because they never adjusted status. Its really a horrible situation that the K-1 allows. You have only one way to stay longer, and that is by filing to adjust status, even if you abandon that process before its complete. Filing the AOS is the only way to suspend the overstay count. I feel for your situation, but you don't really have any good options. Heck you've only been married 8 days, what happened? Well thats personal and no need to really share that here, people can be really judgemental here, so I'm not surprised you prefer to keep it private. As NikiR mentioned, your divorce and/or annulment can usually be done via mail. In fact, an annulment might be easier for him to get if you did leave the country. I'm sure you're in a state of shock, who travels to another country to marry someone and then finds the whole things falling apart with a divorce or annulment pending 8 days after the marriage. You do have time before a ban would be placed on you to get some affairs in order, or maybe even a reconciliation if that's a possible course. Just don't go traveling around in the parts of the country that have immigration check points.

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

I have nothing to add but just to salute you as my new heroine. I simply do not understand those that come in to marry someone and wants to stay by crook or nook it it falls apart.

Good luck on your future steps.

PS: This is one of the reasons why The Gowon recommends to adjust status at each opportunity and at the earliest time.