Divorce - marriage six weeks later

[R&OC 371]

Dear all,

 

I just read in a different threat that a divorce and a quick application for a K1 visa is a red flag.

 

My case is different, though. My boyfriend, now fiancé, got legally separated just short of three years ago. We met two years ago - been seeing each other about 8-10 times a year (basically every 4-6 weeks), and we are planning to get married soon. We always planned to get married this summer /this spring. However, the legal processing at the court took just about six months longer than expected based on a terrible backlog. Based of the longer processing times, we are literally getting married two months after he received the divorce decree.

 

Does that also constitute a red flag?

 

I mean, we can show that they have been separated legally for a long time and if not for the longer processing times, the gap would have been six months.

 

 

[randrb 17]

I had a similar situation- got divorced and then it had to be reopened (so it was like legally we were still married, even though I had a divorce decree) and then it eventually got shut again, but within a span of 2 years....  my fiancé and I filed the paperwork literally 2 days after receiving the 2nd divorce decree.  We had no issues and were approved!  Like everything else, just have proof and make sure your fiancé can explain, if need be and you will be fine!

[JFH 12,190]

It can depend on the country and also whether the petitioner or the beneficiary got divorced and then remarried so quickly. If it's the USC it's much less of a red flag than if it's the beneficiary. 

[R&OC 371]

Okay, that is great then. It is the petitioner and not the beneficiary. Thank you for all your replies.

[millefleur 5,046]

I'm the USC and I married about a month after being divorced. It didn't seem to have any effect on our outcome but we did pile on the evidence just in case. I agree with @randrb that as long the beneficiary can it explain it during the interview, it's most likely not an issue. Also, divorce is common for Americans, it's also a social norm in Germany as I understand, so there isn't any kind of cultural red flag there. They see cases with divorces a lot I gather.

[R&OC 371]

That you for your feedback, millefleur. What kind of evidence did you pile on? Should we provide evidence of how long they (the petitioner and his ex-wife) were legally separated? 

[millefleur 5,046]

6 minutes ago, R&OC said:

That you for your feedback, millefleur. What kind of evidence did you pile on? Should we provide evidence of how long they (the petitioner and his ex-wife) were legally separated? 

No, you won't really need any evidence about the previous marriage apart from the divorce decree. They will probably just do a Q&A about that during the interview and expect the beneficiary to know about it. We provided just really strong evidence of our own relationship, including photos and financial docs. We were also living together so it was a bit easier to add evidence of that, too. Just make sure that during the interview questions about the ex will come up and the beneficiary should be prepared to discuss the details of the divorce if necessary, but at minimum know the divorce dates, the reason for the divorce, place of the divorce, and basic biographical info about the ex such as age, nationality, etc.

 

During the interview is when you can explain about the separation history as they will probably ask something like "Did you know he was still married at the time?" and the like.

Edited June 11, 2017 by millefleur