Divorce Papers

[Hank1 1]

My wife was married in the 19807 for about a year to another chap in Russia. They got divorced, no kids, and she moved to UK in 1992. I met her and we got married in UK in 1997. She had all the correct divorce papers and so on, so no problems in the Registry office at the time. Since I won the DV2015, we are putting our papers together for the interview, but can't find her original Russian divorce papers. Does that matter? The help section says that "You may be asked to provide proof of dissolution of marriage" Not that you will. Also surely the fact that we are legally married in UK, must be enough to show she was divorced from the last one. Getting the divorce papers from Russia isn't going to be easy or cheap, so my question is would it be asked for? or should we chance it?

Thanks

Hank

[EmilyW 1,434]

I would get it myself. It may not be cheap or easy but I wouldn't want to have to explain why I had not bothered to the CO. JMO.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

I'd suggest calling the embassy and asking them. They may trust the UK system enough to say don't worry, or they may tell you she needs them, in which case it's better to know now than to find out at the interview.

I'm not sure where you got the 'may' from but the DV instructions themselves are pretty unequivocal:

Applicants who have been previously married must obtain evidence of the termination of EACH prior marriage. Evidence submitted to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate must be in the form of original documents issued by a competent authority, or certified copies bearing the appropriate seal or stamp of the issuing authority, such as:

• Final divorce decree
• Death certificate
• Annulment papers

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/diversity-visa/if-you-are-selected/prepare-supporting-documents.html

Now the question is by "applicants" are they only being unequivocal about the principal applicant? Or the derivative spouse too...? I'd say call them and find out.

Edited June 11, 2014 by SusieQQQ

[Hank1 1]

Thanks Susie,

where I got the "may be" from is the London Embassy Website which says " Divorce Decree or Death Certificate: Applicants who have previously been married should be prepared to submit evidence of the termination of the marriage (i.e. divorce decree or death certificate). Original documents or certified copies are acceptable. "

http://london.usembassy.gov/application_documents.html

​I would interpret "should be prepared" as they don't always ask for it, only if they think necessary. If it was "must be prepared", then it is unequivocal. Again as you rightly say, not clear if it is me who is the primary applicant that should have this or anyone, or if this is for applicants other than DV?

Happy to call them, but should I call the London office or the KCC? Would they reply to email queries? Because I rather have it in writing.

Best

Hank.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Thanks Susie,

where I got the "may be" from is the London Embassy Website which says " Divorce Decree or Death Certificate: Applicants who have previously been married should be prepared to submit evidence of the termination of the marriage (i.e. divorce decree or death certificate). Original documents or certified copies are acceptable. "

http://london.usembassy.gov/application_documents.html

​I would interpret "should be prepared" as they don't always ask for it, only if they think necessary. If it was "must be prepared", then it is unequivocal. Again as you rightly say, not clear if it is me who is the primary applicant that should have this or anyone, or if this is for applicants other than DV?

Happy to call them, but should I call the London office or the KCC? Would they reply to email queries? Because I rather have it in writing.

Best

Hank.

London. KCC will just read to you what is on the website. Ask to speak to someone in the IV section at the London embassy - these are the people who will actually be deciding on your application. If you can find a specific email address for the IV section (many embassies have these somewhere on their websites) then send it there.

[Sm1smom 250]

Thanks Susie,

where I got the "may be" from is the London Embassy Website which says " Divorce Decree or Death Certificate: Applicants who have previously been married should be prepared to submit evidence of the termination of the marriage (i.e. divorce decree or death certificate). Original documents or certified copies are acceptable. "

http://london.usembassy.gov/application_documents.html

​I would interpret "should be prepared" as they don't always ask for it, only if they think necessary. If it was "must be prepared", then it is unequivocal. Again as you rightly say, not clear if it is me who is the primary applicant that should have this or anyone, or if this is for applicants other than DV?

Happy to call them, but should I call the London office or the KCC? Would they reply to email queries? Because I rather have it in writing.

Best

Hank.

My take on this is you shouldn't get caught up in the use of language such as "must" or "should be prepared". Why chance it? Better to be over-prepared than be caught off-guard I would say. Assuming you decide to 'chance' it based on "the fact that we are legally married in UK, must be enough to show she was divorced from the last one" and they end up asking for the divorce paper itself, then what.

Either do whatever it takes to get the document or get a written statement from the embassy stating proof of your UK marriage is enough evidence of your wife's divorce from her first marriage.

[aaron2020 11,651]

A marriage in the UK is not proof that your wife divorced her first husband.

A bigamist can easily marry in the UK if she chooses not to reveal her Russian marriage. (Read through this forum on the number of people who thinks their marriages abroad are not valid in the US and they can marry another person.)

Get the divorce decree.

Better to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it.

[Britsimon 18]

I can guarantee that the UK marriage cannot be taken as proof that an previous marriage was ended. Why? Well there is NO international central register of marriages that the UK authorities could access to prove there was a previous marriage or divorce. This isn't a UK failing - the same would be true for ANY country in the world. NO country has access to the information because that information doesn't exist.

By the way, even within the UK and even with the central registry of births, deaths and marriages they STILL don't ask for proof of previous divorce before getting married. There is simply no way to enforce that - and even if there were, the churches would not be given access to that data for reasons of data protection.

Then you have the issue that there is no international common identifier, the fact that countries have different levels of control over their record keeping... and so on. Really - the world is not as well organized as you might think.

[jan22 3,053]

And the validity of your marriage to her is critical to her receiving a derivative visa -- if she is not your legal spouse, no visa. As others have said, get the decree -- she must be able to prove that you all are in a legal marriage (not saying you're not -- just that you have to be able to prove it). And, as others have pointed out, she could have just omitted any statement about a prior marriage in another country and married you in the UK (again -- not saying she did, just that she could have). Better to have the unequivocal proof.