Divorce before Green Card arrives by mail

[Deagle 508]

Hi everyone I hope I am posting this in the right place.

My friend arrived to the US around 6-7months ago. For some reason his Greencard application had issues with the alien number which caused delay and he called USCIS and they said they will fix it and it will be produced and mailed to him soon.

Recently his wife started talking about divorce, the question is. If she went to court and divorced him, will the divorce be active in that day or it will take time? Will he be deported right away or not untill his 2 years greencard expires (He still didn't receive it by mail).

If she wanted him to leave the house and he moved out of state but she didn't divorce him,will the uscis know that if she didn't report it? If she agreed on not legally divorcing him and agreed on lifting condition after a year and half, but during that time they are living in different states but still married. Is that a problem or it can work out well.

Thanks for help

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If he didn't report the change of address to immigration within 10 days of moving the ex to be probably has the green card or has returned it with a note saying there is no valid marriage. NO one should pretend to have a valid marriage to remove conditions that would be immigration fraud.

[Deagle 508]

If he didn't report the change of address to immigration within 10 days of moving the ex to be probably has the green card or has returned it with a note saying there is no valid marriage. NO one should pretend to have a valid marriage to remove conditions that would be immigration fraud.

What if the ex to be didn't send it back to uscis and she gave it to him. I mean they might not file for divorce till they are really sure about it and they decided to have like a break and each get some space (that's what I suggested them). It might be few weeks or months till they find out if they want to be back together or there is no way and then they will file for divorce.

[Boiler 45,476]

Strongly suggest he joins and posts.

[newacct 688]

He already became a permanent resident but doesn't have his card yet because of problems with his card? Or he is not a permanent resident yet? The card is not important; it's when he becomes a permanent resident that is important. It's when Adjustment of Status is approved, or when he enters the US with an immigrant visa, that he becomes a permanent resident.

In many states it takes like 6 months to go through the divorce process. I'm not sure about the exact process where they are.

If they do get divorced (and assuming he is a permanent resident at that point), he should file for Removal of Conditions as soon as the divorce is final. His permanent residency is not automatically lost on divorce, but the government has the right to terminate his conditional permanent residency at any point after divorce (although in practice they never do that); if they don't terminate it, it will continue to be valid until the 2 year mark. But it's still best to file for ROC as soon as the divorce is final in any case (earlier is better).

If they are not acting as a genuine couple, and don't have any marriage of comingling during the years of marriage, then they will have problem passing ROC filed jointly as a still-married couple. In that case, I think it's better to divorce and file ROC based on divorce.

[LoveMyTico 999]

There was a problem with my husband's A number when I paid the immigrant fee. The USCIS was aware and they fixed it and his green card was mailed . We received the green card with only a small delay. Your friend can call the USCIS and get status and find out if and when the card was mailed.

Edited July 13, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[Deagle 508]

He already became a permanent resident but doesn't have his card yet because of problems with his card? Or he is not a permanent resident yet? The card is not important; it's when he becomes a permanent resident that is important. It's when Adjustment of Status is approved, or when he enters the US with an immigrant visa, that he becomes a permanent resident.

In many states it takes like 6 months to go through the divorce process. I'm not sure about the exact process where they are.

If they do get divorced (and assuming he is a permanent resident at that point), he should file for Removal of Conditions as soon as the divorce is final. His permanent residency is not automatically lost on divorce, but the government has the right to terminate his conditional permanent residency at any point after divorce (although in practice they never do that); if they don't terminate it, it will continue to be valid until the 2 year mark. But it's still best to file for ROC as soon as the divorce is final in any case (earlier is better).

If they are not acting as a genuine couple, and don't have any marriage of comingling during the years of marriage, then they will have problem passing ROC filed jointly as a still-married couple. In that case, I think it's better to divorce and file ROC based on divorce.

He entered the US on a immigrant visa. So he is a conditional resident but the actual card is not mailed yet due to some processing problem, which is the mistake with the alien number.

[CowBoE 429]

Depending on county of their residence, the divorce proceedings can take many months.

[newacct 688]

So he has already been a permanent resident for many months. And he is having marital troubles now. If they divorce, he should be able to do Removal of Conditions as long as his marriage has been genuine so far.