Divorce before AOS?

[InHisTime 110]

1. As he entered on a K1 there is a chance he will be approved without interview. That's taking a while. If there's an interview and you attend saying "we're filing for a divorce once he has his GC" it doesn't' matter how much evidence you have of your relationship, they're going to think you're just helping him fraudulently get a GC. It just doesn't sound good.

2. You are locked into the I-864 until any of the conditions listed on the form occur. this does not mean that you need to pay him, or are liable for his debts, but you MIGHT be sued by the US government to repay any means-tested benefits he uses... and to be honest, with Obamacare making healthcare mandatory, we've got no idea what sort of eligibility changes may occur. I would say it increases the risks of him using those benefits because he "has to".

3. Usually 30 days after denial I believe.

4. Well outside of the I-864 no. If you interview it will look like you both lied in the interview and planned to divorce all along. Might make his ROC harder... might might might.

Personally I wouldn't do it. He can go leave the US, buy/rent another house, get another job (or see if he can get his old one back). It's not ideal but you would be protecting yourself. You don't need to write a letter with your I-864 withdrawal but you can if you like, stating that it's only because of the incompatibility. I have to ask why "being happy" means YOU sacrifice your financial security just so that HE gets to stay here. Why can't "everyone be happy" mean he returns to his home country, you continue on with your life. Why does he have to gain and you lose?

I've seen enough things occur on these boards over the years that the idea of letting theI-864 get locked in and being on the hook financially when you know your relationship isn't viable... is terrifying to me.

p.s. I am the immigrant. I would have gone home had the relationship failed. I would STILL return to Australia, even this long in. That's because I'm not here for the GC. I can make my way back home perfectly fine. Yes I gave up possession, work etc, but I can get those back.

@Vanessa, yes, your situation is different --- mine as well, that is why I came home when I knew that it's not gonna work out. Now I am slowly gaining back what I have lost when I came to the US thru K-1. My advantage is that I have a loving family and trusted friends, critical skills needed for a good paying quality job, and a very positive and happy spirit as God is always with me.

Having said that, NOT everyone is the same.... other immigrants feel they can't have it back home or they may be facing other difficult situation, so they tend to stay in the US and start life once again. We never know until we put ourselves in their shoes. Eveyone is unique though.

OP, please study your situation carefully -- the long term effects on you, financially and legally. Hope you come to a decision that favors you then and importantly it is good in the eyes of God. May the Lord bless you and give you peace !

[Dot and Nat 0]

The Question is why thinking divorce is the next move for you.. did you know what sacrifice your husband make just to be with you and you divorce him to be alone in this strange country with no one like an orphan.. and if you dont know it is a shame for him to go back to the country that he give up everything just to be with you... leaving him wont solve your problem or make you happy... even if you met another man same issue will happen and that is bcos you keep running from the challenges and problem.. why when there is problem in a marriage all you think about is just leave that is not a marriage and as a matter of fact no matter what you have commit a great sin.. bcos no matter the problem you think are in one soul and one mind and the problem should be your problem and all you need to do is sit down and talk about it .. marriage is about forgiveness and forget .. there is no perfect marriage or perfect human out there .. you can only create one by going through every challenges in your marriage.. it kind of crazy why the divorce rate is getting more and more in this country.. that why so country pretend to love you and give you the happy moment you want and leave you suddenly after the GC and that hurt you more than the problem you are facing now.. at one point in time there will always be misunderstanding.... can you ever tell me you never have misunderstanding with any one of your family and all you think about is never be with them anymore.. NO and that is how you should see your partner bcos you are now one and family when you get marriage.. Please rethink.. when a woman or man is leaving or thinking of divorce as a solution to the problem in marriage .. that person definitely dont know what he/she want.. and most of the problem which i am sure started when they woman never want to commit and realized that she is not a single mother anymore but has a husband that they need to do things together.. Life is so complicated.. if you have a problem with your husband that should affect your marriage .. it a problem you two need to fix bcos it involve two of you

[Tahoma 2,292]

1) Realize that your husband is responsible for himself. He quit his job, left his family and friends, and came to the U.S. knowing the risks. If he didn't prepare himself for the possibility of things not working out, it's not your fault. It's his responsibility to have a contingency plan for his decisions.

2) Protect yourself. Withdraw your I-864 immediately. You don't want to be on the hook for that.

3) Ignore the misguided sermons about marriage. You already know what you need to do. Get a divorce and move on.

[john gibbs 17]

I think your lawyer is wrong on this one. Regardless of whether you entered the marriage in good faith or not, the simple fact of the matter is that even if your GC was approved, your husband would receive a CONDITIONAL 2-year GC, and the CONDITION of that GC is that you 2 remain a married couple for the duration of it.

So tell me: Why would an immigration officer approve his conditional GC, when you're already going to be telling him that you intend to break the condition?

This is stupid thinking. Your only options here are to withdraw your application and have your soon-to-be EX husband deported from the US, or commit fraud and pretend to be happily married and then stay married for 2 years and commit fraud again after 2 years for his removal of conditions (needless to say, I'd highly advise against the second option as it's a crime).

exactly

you have to stay married for 2 years.

in the eyes of congress and most people, if the marriage doesn't last 2 years then mostly likely the other party married for immigration benefits.

that's just the sad truth unfortunately.

it takes a few bad apples to give the entire process a bad names and thats what happens unfortunately.

[newacct 688]

exactly

you have to stay married for 2 years.

in the eyes of congress and most people, if the marriage doesn't last 2 years then mostly likely the other party married for immigration benefits.

that's just the sad truth unfortunately.

it takes a few bad apples to give the entire process a bad names and thats what happens unfortunately.

No, you do not have to stay married for 2 years. You just have to have gotten the green card, and the marriage was bona fide at that time.

[john gibbs 17]

you have to stay married for 2 years or you are not going to get a 10 year green card when your 2 year conditional green card expires.

i don't know why you guys think you can get around the laws.

the 2 year waiting period on the 10 year green card was for the express purpose of not granting 10 year green cards to k1 fiance visa holders who could not stay married for 2 years. In other words for people who probably married for immigration benefits and wanted to abuse the system.

No, you do not have to stay married for 2 years. You just have to have gotten the green card, and the marriage was bona fide at that time.

when you apply for the 10 year green card. on what grounds do you apply for it?

you no longer have a u.s. citizen spouse.

on what basis are you going to be granted a 10 year green card?

[Darnell 8,478]

when you apply for the 10 year green card. on what grounds do you apply for it?

you no longer have a u.s. citizen spouse.

on what basis are you going to be granted a 10 year green card?

Have you seen the newer ROC form? There's a tickbox there about divorce.

[john gibbs 17]

Have you seen the newer ROC form? There's a tickbox there about divorce.

i'm not saying she can't file for a 10 year green card.

i'm saying she is not going to get it.

[newacct 688]

when you apply for the 10 year green card. on what grounds do you apply for it?

you no longer have a u.s. citizen spouse.

on what basis are you going to be granted a 10 year green card?

Read the I-751 form. One of the bases is "we divorced." And when you use this basis you don't even have to wait until when the card expires to apply for it.

Part 2. Basis for Petition

1.d I or my parent entered the marriage in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment.

Edited September 2, 2013 by newacct

[Villanelle 4,122]

Yikes-I dont know if the OP has any intentions of coming back to this thread or not but-

The above references to you must be married for 2 years etc etc are totally incorrect. Its somewhat based in truth but its incorrect.

First-

The AOS was filed in FEB 2012. I have no idea why they are holding their breaths waiting for an interview date to come in the mail. From what Ive read in her posts thats what she seems to be saying, not we have an interview scheduled, nor we were sent to a local office and are awaiting our interview date.

K1s are processed 1 of 2 ways. Basically you send in your packet. About 3 months later you get your EAD card (if requested) about the same time 1/2 the applicants are routed to local offices to be interviewed the rest are retained at NBC to be issued cards w/o interviews. If youre in the interview group that doesnt mean your interview is right away and its not a solid carved in stone 3 month timeline, its an approximation.

Based on a Feb filing date 3-5 months later decisions have been made internally on whos getting routed to local offices for interviews and whos remaining at NBC. So by July its safe to assume if you are a Feb filer if you havent gotten a notice advising you of an interview date, nor has your case status been updated to reflect a transfer to a local office w/o an interview date (which means your at the office but a date just hasnt opened up yet) it means youre at NBC and on track to receive your card w/o interview.

Because the OP did not mention being in the latter group above (we are at the local office and just waiting for a slot, nor mentioned already having an interview date) they are probably still at NBC on track to getting the card w/o interview and can confirm that by checking her case status online or on the phone. There is little to no chance that NBC is going to refer them to a local office at this point. The window has closed so to speak.

As others have mentioned getting approved w/o an interview means USCIS will have no idea about the marital turmoil between the parties unless she chooses to notify them. If she does notify them, they can refer her to a local office to evaluate the situation in person. If they do evaluate the situation as others have explained, the odds of approval are not very good. So while the lawyer is correct that in order to obtain the status he needs to prove he entered the marriage in good faith and the marriage is still viable at the time the benefit is issued, youd be asking them to ignore the fact that the marriage is still intact so that he can reap the benefit. While thats not illegal and they cant deny him for that, it will call into question what kind of person you are.

You are the kind of person who has no problem remaining married so that he can reap a benefit he would not be entitled to if he was not married. Which could mean perhaps you married him to get him the benefit in the first place and the marriage was not in good faith- DENIED. (no good deed goes unpunished sorry)

To clarify the above posters comments about the 2yrs and the conditional cards. When you file for AOS you get a 2yr conditional card if your marriage is less then 2 yrs old when they issue the card. If your marriage breaks up before the 2yrs is up, you can file to remove the conditions on your own but it does seem suspicious. Plenty of people remove the conditions on their own with out issue every single day. The shorter the marriage the more suspicious it seems. So if you are married for 8 months and the day after his GC is issued divorce is filed and finalized a month later, he is going to have to ROC (remove conditions) after the divorce and hes going to then have to justify again to USCIS that the marriage was legitimate at that point again and was not for benefits. But at that point hes going to be on his own. Will they believe him? Maybe, maybe not. Filing for divorce immediately after your GC is issued is a giant red flag that you were only in the marriage for the greencard and again like above calls into question your intent in entering the marriage in the first place.

As for the 864 theres plenty of info in the forums about it. If he is approved it remains in effect. If he is denied it does not.

If they do not approve him, they will send a denial notice. It explains things like overstay and that you have no status. It says you do not have the right to appeal it but you sort of do. Your situation would be incredibly complicated to appeal, and his denial would be as a result of you pulling the 864 so were not going to go there. The notice would advise him to leave with in 30 days and its in his best interest to do so if he ever wants to return to the US again on another type of visa. The notice is NOT deportation orders and he probably wont ever receive deportation orders but he is still going to be out of status once he is denied. The safest thing for him to do is to leave once you decide to withdraw your 864 if you go that route, or if he chooses to wait, leave with in the 30 days of receiving the notice.

You would have to make a decision NOW on whether or not to withdraw your 864 because the chances of an interview notice coming are very slim as unless you are at a local office waiting for one to be scheduled- you are at NBC and not getting one. If you do not send your withdrawal letter now, its going to be too late as it does not just take effect immediately. Its got to work its way through the internals. There has been times people have attempted to submit it due to finding out they were the victims of fraud and it hasnt made it there on time. (If you decide to submit a withdrawal there is info on the forums on how to do such)

[john gibbs 17]

the directive from congress in the 80's was to issue k1 visa holders a conditional 2 year green card.

and they would have to reapply for a 10 year green card when it expires.

the whole purpose of the 2 year green card was to expose people who married only for immigration benefits and wouldn't stay married.

now if you are an immigration officer evaluating an applicaiton for a 10 year green card for someone who couldnt even stay married for 2 years.

in other words someone highly suspect. why would they ignore what was the directive from congress in the 80's for these cases and grant a 10 year green card?

[Villanelle 4,122]

John I understand your frustration with the issue, but I can assure that it occurs on a daily basis. People file for ROC with a divorce waiver every day. Theres a sticky (?) I believe its a sticky guide at the top of the ROC forum and if you browse the ROC forum youll see plenty of posts from users stating thir stories and experience. ie I was married 8 months, 10 months, 14 months, divorced and sent in the following, heres my timeline... omg I was approved, thank you VJ.

So yes the concept is a marriage that doesnt last 2 years is a little suspect. But that doesnt automatically mean it was for benefits and is automatically going to be denied. Thats not what the directive said. The divorced person can check off the divorce tick box on the ROC form and the officer will evaluate their application and review things like the proof of their relationship, the length of the marriage, the divorce decree, and yes all the dates, and use their discretion to determine if the marriage was entered into in good faith.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

i'm not saying she can't file for a 10 year green card.

i'm saying she is not going to get it.

How do you know that? You do realize people are approved when filing after divorce all the time, yes? Here is a post of approvals > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/259288-i-751-waiver-filers-timeline/?p=6366177

[john gibbs 17]

How do you know that? You do realize people are approved when filing after divorce all the time, yes? Here is a post of approvals > http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/259288-i-751-waiver-filers-timeline/?p=6366177

how do I know?

i read the immigration law when it passed and the congressional statements when it passed.

it was to curb fiance visa fraud.

why else would you add a 2 year waiting period?

i think the better question would be what would it take to convince you that there is a problem with fiance visa fraud in the past and congress has attempted to address it with legislation? makes sense to me and to most poeple i think.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

how do I know?

i read the immigration law when it passed and the congressional statements when it passed.

it was to curb fiance visa fraud.

why else would you add a 2 year waiting period?

i think the better question would be what would it take to convince you that there is a problem with fiance visa fraud in the past and congress has attempted to address it with legislation? makes sense to me and to most poeple i think.

Based on your reply, I take it you didn't read all the APPROVEDs that were divorced already.

Many are. And they didn't commit visa fraud.

What year did you read said immigration law?

Edited September 8, 2013 by DavenRoxy