Urgent Help on Temporary GC after divorce!!

[ZT2017 8]

friends I needed help on my application to apply for my 10yr GC. I currently have a temporary 2yr GC EXPIRING on nov 12 2017, my 90 day window is about to open up. My timeline is as follows.

came as student in us on f1 in 2002. been on h1b after college till marriage.

married on aug 29 2014

applied for greencard dec 19 2014

received temporary GC on Nov 12 2015

Unfortunately divorced on june 26 2016. Wife filed for divorce in tx which no fault. we mutually decided to end things due to personality clashes.

 

Documents I have from marriage.

Joint health insurance

Joint Car Insurance

Jointly Filed Tax returns from 2016

Joint Checking Account- doesn't show a lot of activity

joint gym membership

pictures taken together on trips

other things like gifts etc...

 

 what I don't have is a lease agreement as we were living in her family owned house. I know that I have to file 1751, could anyone please guide me as to what documents are required to file this petition. Any other things that I should look to include in my application would be of great help also.

Thank in advance

[JFH 12,190]

I am by no means an expert but looking at this, it doesn't look good.

 

You have nothing to prove you lived at the same address. No lease, conveniently living with her family, so I assumed you moved out (since the home belonged to her family, not yours). Did your drivers license have that address on it? Did you receive mail together there? 

 

Divorced very quickly after receiving your GC and a very wishy-washy reason too. I know the law provides for no-fault divorce in Texas but did you not attempt counseling? Did you not want to salvage the marriage to the love of your life? 

 

A joint gym membership isn't really "official". They'll sign anyone up who pays the fees! It doesn't prove anything. 

 

Why doesn't the joint checking account show a lot of activity? Weren't you working? Looking at ours there's activity most days. Wages in, groceries, gas, insurances, rent, bills, savings, incidentals, ATM withdrawals out. There should be pages and pages of transactions over the years. 

 

What about a will or life insurance listing each other as the beneficiary? 

[Going through 5,671]

Do you also have the joint taxes from 2015?

What about utility bills address to the both of you?

Any children together?

 

[ZT2017 8]

 

I Worked from Home, My state ID indicates that I lived there, in my initial GC interview Her father gave us a signed document stating we were living on his property, I have all my CCard statements indicating that I was living there with her including my pay stubs. Why there isn't any activity is because I was unemployed and her salary was being deposited in her personal account. Also I don't really use my checking account to do groceries or other major things, they are usually done only credit cards to which I was making payments through our joint checking out. We tried a couple of counselling sessions after our separation in April 16 but couldn't see eye to eye on major issues, in the end I can control only the controllable and she insisted on going through with the divorce. I can only provide documents from the time I got my temp GC in Nov 2017 till separation in early April 2016. We really never thought about life insurance so cant say much about that.

Is it prudent that I get a lawyer or fill out the forms myself.

[Going through 5,671]

2 minutes ago, ZT2017 said:

We tried a couple of counselling sessions after our separation

See if you can get some sort of letter from the agency stating that you attended marriage counselling.  That will be helpful in your situation as well.

[ZT2017 8]

As I mentioned I have Joint Taxes of 2015. No utility bills as that was being paid by her family. I really don't want to discuss personal stuff about what happened as ive tried to move on, I would like to focus on getting my documents ready for the interview. I have some itineraries and reservations for trips we took together.

[Going through 5,671]

4 minutes ago, ZT2017 said:

As I mentioned I have Joint Taxes of 2015.

Your original post said 2016, that's why I asked  

 

4 minutes ago, ZT2017 said:

I really don't want to discuss personal stuff about what happened as ive tried to move on, I would like to focus on getting my documents ready for the interview.

Asking about whether you have joint bills or children or not wasn't me being "personal"...it is because normally the birth of a child is a pretty good way of showing proof of a bonafide marriage.  Same with joint bills.

 

It's hard to suggest what may or may not work in your situation regarding documents without garnering some information.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Going through

[ZT2017 8]

Your absolutely correct, I would like to provide you as much as I can, I was referring to the other gentleman's comments. We were married for around 20 months, we didn't have any kids. Unfortunately I don't have utility bills. Most of our friends came to our wedding, maybe I can get an affidavit from them. Would you know what documents I need to file In terms of official doucments, is i751 the only thing that's required.

ty for your help- I didn't mean to sound rude.

[dwheels76 5,468]

You are a year late filing. You were to file soon as your divorce was final with a waiver. As others have said your evidence is weak. It's about that very quick marriage. All you can do is submit what you have and hope for the best.

[Mollie09 1,543]

5 minutes ago, dwheels76 said:

You are a year late filing. You were to file soon as your divorce was final with a waiver. As others have said your evidence is weak. It's about that very quick marriage. All you can do is submit what you have and hope for the best.

 

Divorce cases can file as soon as the divorce is final, or as late as the GC expiration date and anywhere in-between.

[ZT2017 8]

1 minute ago, Mollie09 said:

 

Divorce cases can file as soon as the divorce is final, or as late as the GC expiration date and anywhere in-between.

I agree.

[Mollie09 1,543]

3 minutes ago, ZT2017 said:

I agree.

Then why did you say your 90-day window was about to open up? That's irrelevant for waiver cases.

[ZT2017 8]

7 minutes ago, dwheels76 said:

You are a year late filing. You were to file soon as your divorce was final with a waiver. As others have said your evidence is weak. It's about that very quick marriage. All you can do is submit what you have and hope for the best.

\

 

15 minutes ago, Going through said:

Your original post said 2016, that's why I asked  

 

Asking about whether you have joint bills or children or not wasn't me being "personal"...it is because normally the birth of a child is a pretty good way of showing proof of a bonafide marriage.  Same with joint bills.

 

It's hard to suggest what may or may not work in your situation regarding documents without garnering some information.

well ive started going through stuff, reached out to our counselor too, lets see where that goes, joint bills we couldn't do because the house wasn't ours. the only thing we could do was joint cell phone bill which I tried but she didn't want that maybe she needed her personal space so that I couldn't view her call log. I don't want to get into assumptions or blame games, I can only work with what I have. Ive started digging up stuff I hope I can gather more documents.

Just now, Mollie09 said:

Then why did you say your 90-day window was about to open up? That's irrelevant for waiver cases.

I agree. I just waited this long but I guess ill do it now.

[Going through 5,671]

Your main issue will be proving your marriage was bonafide.  It is unfortunate that you are divorced now, but life happens.

Letters from friends and relatives who know the both of you as a married couple and have interacted with you as a married couple can help, yes, but that is only in ADDITION to the type of paper-trail proof USCIS really looks for.

 

You have bank statements from a  joint account so that is good.

You have the joint taxes from 1 year of your marriage so that is good.

No utility bills....Do the credit card statements show both of your names?

Edited July 27, 2017 by Going through

[ZT2017 8]

1 minute ago, Going through said:

Your main issue will be proving your marriage was bonafide.  It is unfortunate that you are divorced now, but life happens.

Letters from friends and relatives who know the both of you as a married couple and have interacted with you as a married couple can help, yes, but that is only in ADDITION to the type of paper-trail proof USCIS really looks for.

 

You have bank statements from a  joint account so that is good.

You have the joint taxes from 1 year of your marriage...what about the other year, though?

No utility bills....did you have cellphone bills showing both your names?  Do the credit card statements show both of your names?

yes I gave our 2014 returns in our initial application, ccard statements didn't have our names but my card statements indicate purchases she made from amazon etc but no bills together I guess. joint car is the only thing and joint health insurance.