N400 under VAWA 3 year rule, re-married, sponsoring Husband

[Quarknase 1,072]

Hello,

 

I hope this is the best forum category to post these questions - if not, please feel free to move to a more appropriate category.

 

I received permanent residency under vawa in 2016 and am eligible to file for naturalization under the 3 year rule. I have since re-married, my husband lives abroad and we have filed the I-130 for him to eventually join me in the US. After doing a lot of reading online (we're filing everything by ourselves), I'm left with some specific questions that I am hoping to find answers for:

 

1) Eligibility for Naturalization

I found some contradicting info wether I would be eligible for naturalization under 3 year rule if re-married to a non us citizen, but no real source to confirm one or the other (in fact I don't see this being addressed on any "official" resource).

Am I eligible to apply under 3 year rule if re-married (to a non us citizen)?

 

2) Pending I-130 petition for husband while filing under 3 year rule

As a permanent resident I am eligible to petition for my husband. Does having received PR under VAWA, or applying for naturalization under 3 year rule any impact on this? Again, I found some contradicting info that eligibility to sponsor my husband would not be until 5 years of being a PR, but then again no real source for this.

 

3) Proof for eligibility under 3 year rule

I am intending to file the N400 online and it looks like no passport photo upload is required, and no financials (tax transcripts)? So far I'm planning to submit 

- Copy of front and back of Greencard

- Current marriage certificate

- Divorce certificate from previous marriage

- I-360 approval notice

- USCIS Memorandum to show eligibility under 3 year rule as vaca recipient

Anything I am missing here - especially considering that I am filing early under "Other" category as explained above?

 

Thanks a bunch in advance

 

[Kirstyandliam 2]

I think only citizens can apply for visas so your i130 will be denied if you or your husband are not citizens. You have to be married to the sponsor for 3 years to file under the 3 year rule. You can try applying online that will tell you what you need and if you are indeed eligible. 

[Downloader 199]

27 minutes ago, Kirstyandliam said:

I think only citizens can apply for visas so your i130 will be denied if you or your husband are not citizens. You have to be married to the sponsor for 3 years to file under the 3 year rule. You can try applying online that will tell you what you need and if you are indeed eligible. 

?????? What you said doesn’t make any sense at all.

She is eligible to petition her husband as an LPR (Legal Permanent Resident) If she will be eligible to Naturalize under VAWA & 3 years as LPR and being remarried is another issue. 

[Quarknase 1,072]

28 minutes ago, Kirstyandliam said:

I think only citizens can apply for visas so your i130 will be denied if you or your husband are not citizens. You have to be married to the sponsor for 3 years to file under the 3 year rule. You can try applying online that will tell you what you need and if you are indeed eligible. 

Thank you for your responses, but these were not my questions.

A permanent resident can very well sponsor their spouse, the first step is the I-130 just like for citizen sponsors, and the category is F2A as opposed to CR1/IR1 for citizens.

Also as VAWA approved PR you can file under 3 year rule, so that comment is not quite accurate either. The questions I posted are a bit more complex than that.

[Quarknase 1,072]

3 minutes ago, Downloader said:

?????? What you said doesn’t make any sense at all.

She is eligible to petition her husband as an LPR (Legal Permanent Resident) If she will be eligible to Naturalize under VAWA & 3 years as LPR and being remarried is another issue. 

Hehe, exactly. Thanks for seeing the complexity of my questions. Each case (Sponsor as LPR and Naturalization under 3 year rule through WAVA) by itself is pretty clear to me. It's the overlap and if/how one impacts the other that I'm not clear of...

[Pinkrlion 2,716]

After divorce from a US Citizen, a LPR cannot file for new spouse until after 5 years of LPR status. If u already filed for his I-130, you will get a notice about it. 

 

Not sure if you remarried a non-citizen, if it affects the VAWA 3 year rule. @sandrj

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Pinkrlion

[Downloader 199]

I’ll take a look at the regulation and will let you know if find something. 

[xyz12345 260]

14 hours ago, Quarknase said:

Hello,

 

I hope this is the best forum category to post these questions - if not, please feel free to move to a more appropriate category.

 

I received permanent residency under vawa in 2016 and am eligible to file for naturalization under the 3 year rule. I have since re-married, my husband lives abroad and we have filed the I-130 for him to eventually join me in the US. After doing a lot of reading online (we're filing everything by ourselves), I'm left with some specific questions that I am hoping to find answers for:

 

1) Eligibility for Naturalization

I found some contradicting info wether I would be eligible for naturalization under 3 year rule if re-married to a non us citizen, but no real source to confirm one or the other (in fact I don't see this being addressed on any "official" resource).

Am I eligible to apply under 3 year rule if re-married (to a non us citizen)?

 

 

Re: Eligibility for Naturalization

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-vawa-green-card-holders-can-apply-us-citizenship-naturalization.html

Eligible after 3 years if abuser is USC spouse/parent.

New spouse has nothing to do with it.

 

 

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/vawa-and-n400-but-remarried-2235282.html

 

 

A green card holder who obtained LPR status through either marriage to a USC and/or VAWA is entitled to sponsor a new spouse for a "green card" after the passage of 5 years since obtaining LPR status or upon naturalizing and becoming a USC.

If "abuser" was a US citizen, you are then entitled to apply for naturalization within 2 years and 9 months from the validity date on your green card, in any event you are eligible now.

 

[Quarknase 1,072]

4 minutes ago, xyz12345 said:

 

A green card holder who obtained LPR status through either marriage to a USC and/or VAWA is entitled to sponsor a new spouse for a "green card" after the passage of 5 years since obtaining LPR status or upon naturalizing and becoming a USC.

If "abuser" was a US citizen, you are then entitled to apply for naturalization within 2 years and 9 months from the validity date on your green card, in any event you are eligible now.

 

Oh jeez - I thought this rule only only applied to LPRs through marriage, not through VAWA. I guess we wasted $535. Unless they count my pending N400 application.

Do you know if the date of filing, or the date of processing counts? If the latter, we might have a thrilling race between processing times (sorry, some dark humor in this strange situation)...

[Quarknase 1,072]

13 minutes ago, Pinkrlion said:

After divorce from a US Citizen, a LPR cannot file for new spouse until after 5 years of LPR status. If u already filed for his I-130, you will get a notice about it. 

 

Thank you!

I was truly convinced that I read somewhere this rule doesn't apply to VAWA recipients. Can you point me to this part on the USCIS site?

[Quarknase 1,072]

@sandranj I saw you tagged above but a letter was missing  Are you able to help us out with your valued knowledge?

I believe we have answered my first question above (that I am eligible to file N-400 under 3 year rule, even though I married again), but I am unclear if as a VAWA recipient I fall under the 5 year restriction to petition for my husband. The I-130 instructions only restrict LPRs that received their green card through marriage from sponsoring a spouse, but contributors here state it applies to WAVA recipients as well.

[xyz12345 260]

@Quarknase, you're right, this says a little bit differently. this says 5 years whether USC or lpr.

 

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/my-husband-got-us-green-card-through-previous-marriage-can-sponsor-me.html

 

[Quarknase 1,072]

42 minutes ago, xyz12345 said:

@Quarknase, you're right, this says a little bit differently. this says 5 years whether USC or lpr.

 

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/my-husband-got-us-green-card-through-previous-marriage-can-sponsor-me.html

 

Ah this makes sense then. Thank you!!! Maybe Sandra can shed some additional light once she gets a chance.

 

I'm wondering if our petition gets transferred to Vermont since vaca cases (which I understand would be reviewed as evidence based on this link) are only being handled there.

[Pinkrlion 2,716]

2 hours ago, Quarknase said:

Ah this makes sense then. Thank you!!! Maybe Sandra can shed some additional light once she gets a chance.

 

I'm wondering if our petition gets transferred to Vermont since vaca cases (which I understand would be reviewed as evidence based on this link) are only being handled there.

The VAWA case has no bearing on your new spouse. The rule is when u divorce a US Citizen u cannot file for a new spouse as a LPR for 5 years. U are considered a LPR. This is to circumvent immigration fraud. 

 

What country is ur husband from?

Edited December 3, 2019 by Pinkrlion

[Quarknase 1,072]

3 hours ago, Pinkrlion said:

The VAWA case has no bearing on your new spouse. The rule is when u divorce a US Citizen u cannot file for a new spouse as a LPR for 5 years. U are considered a LPR. This is to circumvent immigration fraud. 

 

What country is ur husband from?

Thank you.

In the I-130 instructions it states the basis for the 5 year rule is

"You may NOT file Form I-130 for a person in the following categories:..."

"5. A spouse, if you gained lawful permanent resident status through a prior marriage to a U.S. citizen or lawful

permanent resident, unless:..."

 

And wava is a self-petition and not through a prior marriage.

 

Don't get me  wrong I'm not trying to argue or anything (after all what happens will happen), I'm just confused (and probably disappointed) if this is true while USCIS legal text states otherwise. I read it before filing the petition and to me this is clearly stating that it applies if lpr was gained through marriage.

 

Another thing (which lead to my question regarding Vermont) is, that the 800 number Officers don't provide info on the case over the phone for the newly filed I-130 petition "due to the confidential nature of the case". This is what I had experienced back in the days when my wava petition was pending. Which I thought is interesting, because a I-130 petition usually doesn't fall under this confidential thing.

 

My husband is from Iraq. Timeline and profile are up to date