Annullling Marriage after VAWA citizenship

[Lilijac 0]

My sister got her GC  in 2010, and citizenship years later. She got married in 12 years ago and escaped 3 years later from the abusive ex. Found out later ex was a violent criminal - spent 10 years in jail for manslaughter, numerous gun-related charges, domestic violence, and he stalked her for a month. All that time he presented himself as a Walmart employee; he was always at walmart. Turned out he was stealing merchandise. His rap sheet was some 30 pages. But he had a real estate license too. Don't know how that works.

 

My sister simply never went back. Did not file for divorce. She called the state a couple of years ago and they cannot find the file. The ex-submitted the marriage certificate for legal filing or so he said.

 

She wants to annul the marriage in church and legally.  But it is safer if the ex does not know where she is. She has been in abuse counseling since then.  She'd rather just forget about it, but we think that she needs to get it out and erase him, and want her to end it legally.

 

Immigration record says she is separated. She will need to show that the marriage ended.

 

How can she show a valid end of the marriage if the state says the marriage was not filed properly? Can a church annulment work?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by Lilijac
gramar

[Boiler 45,638]

On what basis did she get her GC?

[mallafri76 1,012]

I'm a little confused by your post. How did she get her green card? If she got it through marriage then the marriage certificate must have been filed. And annulling the marriage will in term annul her green card and path to citizenship.

 

Anyway, she's had her green card for more than five years so she doesn't need to involve the marriage to get citizenship, she can apply under the five year rule. 

[Lilijac 0]

She got her GC based on VAWA - was quick considering the evidence and police reports.

 

And she got her citizenship too.

 

How to end a marriage that was not filed properly?

[Lilijac 0]

6 hours ago, Boiler said:

On what basis did she get her GC?

VAWA. 

Also got citizenship already.

She wants to have a proper record of a marriage ending with immigration.

 

[Unlockable 7,315]

I'm curious to know if this is even possible. Seems proof of marriage is needed for immigration purposes. 

 

Is she not interested in divorce only?

[Mollie09 1,543]

Her getting an annulment will not cancel out any of her immigration process. That being said, annulments are really hard to get in most states, she should divorce and move on. Do the religious annulment if she so desires.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Mollie09

[Ontarkie 14,254]

If the marriage was never registered, there is no marriage to annul. 

[Villanelle 4,122]

In order for her to have gotten a GC through VAWA she would have had to present to them her marriage certificate. So does she have a copy of it still? Did an attny help her with the VAWA? They might have a copy....

 

Anyway, your questions is weird. I mean the way you are asking it. You are providing all kinds of excessive info which takes away from the main point. Theres a chance the person you spoke to at the 'state' via phone was confused as well and gave you inaccurate info. You need to contact the county in which they were married in back then. If you have a copy of the marriage certificate then Im not even sure why you are contacting them? What do you want from them? If you dont have a copy and are looking to get a copy- then its a question of why? I dont believe you need a copy of the marriage certificate to file for divorce (?) 

 

But whatever your reasons for wanting it- you need to contact the clerk in the county where they were married. If they tell you they cant find it, get a lawyer local to the area to help.

 

For a divorce you do it where you currently live. For cases of DV the courts can block the other parties address and use the lawyers address for correspondence. Most likely if she left and never looked back- well, does she know where he is? Can he be served? If he is then he will have an approximate location of where she is based on the court that is doing the paperwork. Sadly you cant do anything about this. If she is truly afraid she can get a restraining order and would be forced to move to a different state/area of country after the divorce is done. 

 

But your question is a divorce related question and not immigration related. You need to speak to a divorce attny if you are having trouble with the process. The only way USCIS comes into play in this since shes a citizen is if she wants to petition for someone else. Then she needs to show her marriage is over (legally).