Followed the law to the letter in Green Card application but received the dreaded RFE - am I worried over nothing?

[american-husband 0]

• My pregnant wife applied to upgrade her status from a visa to a Green Card.

• She provided proof that she lawfully divorced her ex-husband years before she met me. This proof was in a standard divorce document from China ("In a contested divorce, both parties will receive a copy of the formal divorce decree from the court at the time the divorce is approved.")

• To the best of my knowledge, China and the United States have a reciprocal agreement for divorce documents. This is similar to being able to get a driver's license in one state and drive it in other states. The reciprocal agreement is very specific, and we obtained a document based on the US Department Of State's strict guidelines.

• Part of the divorce documents in China have a letterhead titled of "Civil Mediation Agreement." This is a standard legally binding document, according to every Chinese citizen and lawyer that we have spoken to.

• USCIS seems to want a document titled "Divorce Decree." When I asked USCIS officials if they followed the same guidelines as the Department of State for reciprocal schedules with foreign powers, they looked at me like I was speaking Greek.

 

While I am spending a lot of money on legal counsel, I cannot get an answer as to what USCIS thinks a Chinese Divorce document is supposed to look like. I am very concerned that their interpretation of the law may be different than the rest of the united states government, and don't want to get denied for the wording on a letterhead.

 

Am I worrying over nothing? Should I continue to use every resource available make sure I get an answer to protect my wife and unborn son before submitting an official response, since I get only one chance?

[RamonGomez 271]

11 minutes ago, american-husband said:

• My pregnant wife applied to upgrade her status from a visa to a Green Card.

• She provided proof that she lawfully divorced her ex-husband years before she met me. This proof was in a standard divorce document from China ("In a contested divorce, both parties will receive a copy of the formal divorce decree from the court at the time the divorce is approved.")

• To the best of my knowledge, China and the United States have a reciprocal agreement for divorce documents. This is similar to being able to get a driver's license in one state and drive it in other states. The reciprocal agreement is very specific, and we obtained a document based on the US Department Of State's strict guidelines.

• Part of the divorce documents in China have a letterhead titled of "Civil Mediation Agreement." This is a standard legally binding document, according to every Chinese citizen and lawyer that we have spoken to.

• USCIS seems to want a document titled "Divorce Decree." When I asked USCIS officials if they followed the same guidelines as the Department of State for reciprocal schedules with foreign powers, they looked at me like I was speaking Greek.

 

While I am spending a lot of money on legal counsel, I cannot get an answer as to what USCIS thinks a Chinese Divorce document is supposed to look like. I am very concerned that their interpretation of the law may be different than the rest of the united states government, and don't want to get denied for the wording on a letterhead.

 

Am I worrying over nothing? Should I continue to use every resource available make sure I get an answer to protect my wife and unborn son before submitting an official response, since I get only one chance?

 

We submitted what looked like a 4 or 5 page booklet when my wife adjusted. I believe the second page was the English translation which had the title "Divorce Agreement". We didn't have any issues. 

[geowrian 22,337]

First, what visa is she doing AOS from? I'm assuming not a K-1 as this would be something already settled with the I-129F petition, but this post is in the AOS from K-1 forum.

If it wasn't K-1, then I can move this post for you accordinly.

 

It sounds like you already reviewed this, but here's the reciprocity table that DOS uses:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/China.html

 

USCIS has seen many, many, many divorce documents from China. Assuming you sent the Notarial certificate as noted on that website, that should be all they need.

There's no way to know if the IO that saw yours is familiar with them, made a mistake, etc. If you're 100% sure you sent the full and complete document described there, then my suggestion would be to include it again along with a concise explanation (being argumentative or aggressive/passive aggressive won't help one's case) and a copy of the website above.

Edited May 17, 2019 by geowrian

[american-husband 0]

7 minutes ago, RamonGomez said:

 

We submitted what looked like a 4 or 5 page booklet when my wife adjusted. I believe the second page was the English translation which had the title "Divorce Agreement". We didn't have any issues. 

There are two ways to get divorced in China - contested divorce and uncontested divorce. 

 

Do you know if your wife had a contested or uncontested divorce? I'm asking because, in my wife's case, it was a contested divorce.

 

For the record, a contested divorce goes to court and the court makes a judgment, where an uncontested divorce is where both parties just go together and ask to be divorced. 

[RamonGomez 271]

9 minutes ago, american-husband said:

There are two ways to get divorced in China - contested divorce and uncontested divorce. 

 

Do you know if your wife had a contested or uncontested divorce? I'm asking because, in my wife's case, it was a contested divorce.

 

For the record, a contested divorce goes to court and the court makes a judgment, where an uncontested divorce is where both parties just go together and ask to be divorced. 

Uncontested. I believe they came to an agreement and just submitted it to the relevant governing body. The text in document say something like "X and Y have voluntarily agreed to terminate their marriage, and the two parties are in full agreement with the following arrangement" - something like that. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by RamonGomez

[american-husband 0]

 

 

 

2

8 minutes ago, geowrian said:

First, what visa is she doing AOS from? I'm assuming not a K-1 as this would be something already settled with the I-129F petition, but this post is in the AOS from K-1 forum.

If it wasn't K-1, then I can move this post for you accordinly.

 

It sounds like you already reviewed this, but here's the reciprocity table that DOS uses:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/China.html

 

USCIS has seen many, many, many divorce documents from China. Assuming you sent the Notarial certificate as noted on that website, that should be all they need.

There's no way to know if the IO that saw yours is familiar with them, made a mistake, etc. If you're 100% sure you sent the full and complete document described there, then my suggestion would be to include it again along with a concise explanation (being argumentative or aggressive/passive aggressive won't help one's case) and a copy of the website above.

A'yep. She was on an F-1 to get an advanced degree to help save lives when I met her. She really wanted to prove she could make it on her own despite the political climate before we got married. She turned down a bunch of out of country job offers and took a 90% pay cut to stay with me in the US via OPT status. Which proved to be a pretty good thing in our current situation.

 

As for your advice - that was my original plan if all else failed (sans the link to the website, which is useful).

 

[geowrian 22,337]

* Moved from AOS From K-1 Visas forum to AOS from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas forum *

[Pitaya 2,577]

It sounds like they may be looking for a Notarial Certificate (White Book) divorce certificate. Head over to the Chinese Regional Forum, and check out the stickie at the top of the forum page with ....."Chinese Terms Explained (or something like that in the title)"......., perhaps that will be of assistance to you.