Can following situations negatively affect ROC alone (without US spouse)?

[TonyMichael 3]

I am in the following situation and I don't know what to do. Can I apply for ROC alone?

1) Divorce due to US spouse's multiple cheating (I haven't divorced him yet, but I am considering it)

2) Us not living together for half a year 

3) Us not sharing the same bank account

4) US spouse on disability checks (We haven't done this yet, but we are considering it)

 

Visa status: I am the beneficiary and I received my conditional green card around October 2018. We got married at the beginning of 2017, so the marriage itself has been for over 2 years, almost 3 years in a few months, but it has been less than 2 years since I got my conditional green card.

 

Current situation: During the marriage, my US spouse cheated on me a few times, but since marriage is a big deal for me, I forgave him, hoping things would be better. 

Unfortunately, after all that cheating incidents, I have lost faith and love in him, and I am wanting to divorce him. However, I feel like I am stuck now because of this "you have to stay married for 2 years to prove bona-fideness of the marriage" thing.

 

1) Do I have to stay married regardless of all the infidelity of my US spouse, to prove the realness of the marriage?

2) After his last cheating on me, he devastated me and I stayed at my friend's place for 6 months. My spouse stayed at his parent's place. We are living together again, hoping things would turn in the better direction, but my feeling doesn't seem to come back because of many times he cheated on me and hurt my feelings. How does this affect my ROC if I do proceed to divorce him before my 2 years is up?

3) My spouse has a very bad habit of overspending (on alcohol and legal drug), and he always empties his paycheck quickly. On the other hand, I save every penny, but if we share the same bank account, he will start spending the money I earned on those things. I would love to help with life, bills, food, medical stuff, but I don't think it is fair for him to spend my money on those things. So we don't really do financial commingling. How bad could this be upon ROC by myself?

4) My spouse has not worked for about a year, during which I have been providing for him. He got fired multiple times because of his slacking off. Also he somehow damaged his shoulder, and now he was advised by his doctor not to work for the next 6 months.  I have been paying all the bills, rent, our life together, his medical bills, and stuff, and now he cant work for the next 6months.  He has 0 saving, and now all of my paycheck and even my saving is decreasing. Can my US spouse be on disability check? Or if you get a green card through marriage, is even the US spouse not allowed to use the public aid like disability check or food stamp?  I know USCIS doesn't want the foreigners to use the governmental aid. 

 

Apologies for the long post, but it would be greatly appreciated if anyone could help me get some idea on any of the above matters. 

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by TonyMichael

[Georgia16 2,858]

You can file with a divorce waiver. Why you guys divorced does not matter. But you will still have to provide evidence that the marriage was entered in good faith. When you have your divorce decree you will either sent it in with the petition if you get divorced before you get to your 90 days (if you get divorced before the 90 days start you can file anytime you don't have to wait) and if you are not divorced before then still sent it in as divorce waiver and then give them the decree as soon as you have it.

You can explain in a letter why you don't have joint accounts. 

You should have tax returns filed as married for the last couple of years and also what ever else documents you have. That can be joint loans, insurance, cars, house, lease to apartment, health insurance, bills, wills, retirement accounts showing each other as beneficiaries and so on.

[TonyMichael 3]

6 hours ago, Georgia16 said:

You can file with a divorce waiver. Why you guys divorced does not matter. But you will still have to provide evidence that the marriage was entered in good faith. When you have your divorce decree you will either sent it in with the petition if you get divorced before you get to your 90 days (if you get divorced before the 90 days start you can file anytime you don't have to wait) and if you are not divorced before then still sent it in as divorce waiver and then give them the decree as soon as you have it.

You can explain in a letter why you don't have joint accounts. 

You should have tax returns filed as married for the last couple of years and also what ever else documents you have. That can be joint loans, insurance, cars, house, lease to apartment, health insurance, bills, wills, retirement accounts showing each other as beneficiaries and so on.

How bad is it not to shave joint bank account ? 

Also, does the separation affect this negatively? Or should I explain why we separated in a letter as well? 

During the six months of separation, we both didn't have the address. I stayed at my friend's and him at his family's place. Then now we are on the lease. 

But during this entire time, I have had insurance for him as a beneficiary. For car insurance, dental/vision, health, and life. Also we did tax returns for the past two years, and also we are still planning to do tax return together for 2019 once we get W2 in 2020. 

 

[Yasuo 15]

You can file with a divorce waiver. If you don't have the divorce decree yet, they will send an RFE for it. A lot of people in here got approved with the divorce waiver, so you are not alone! Just need to be front-loaded with evidence when you submit your ROC package. I was in the same boat and got approved back in September 2019 with my divorce waiver application. 

 

Besides the regular evidence (tax transcripts, any bills in both names, leases/loans in both names, etc...), I would suggest to also write/type a statement describing the time after you were granted conditional green card to include at least the following:

     - Some explanations on why you two were separately then divorced (in this case looks like the cheating and spendy husband). Don't need to be too detailed but will need to clearly state the reason for separation and divorce.

     - Why you two don't have comingling of assets (again, looks like because of the spending habit of you husband)

     - Highlighting that you have been paying for his medical bills and living expense (maybe include your bank/credit card statement to show the expense items that you pay for and include the receipt from hospital for his medical bills).    

     - I don't know if it matters, but I have my statement notarized as well.

[TonyMichael 3]

4 hours ago, Yasuo said:

You can file with a divorce waiver. If you don't have the divorce decree yet, they will send an RFE for it. A lot of people in here got approved with the divorce waiver, so you are not alone! Just need to be front-loaded with evidence when you submit your ROC package. I was in the same boat and got approved back in September 2019 with my divorce waiver application. 

 

Besides the regular evidence (tax transcripts, any bills in both names, leases/loans in both names, etc...), I would suggest to also write/type a statement describing the time after you were granted conditional green card to include at least the following:

     - Some explanations on why you two were separately then divorced (in this case looks like the cheating and spendy husband). Don't need to be too detailed but will need to clearly state the reason for separation and divorce.

     - Why you two don't have comingling of assets (again, looks like because of the spending habit of you husband)

     - Highlighting that you have been paying for his medical bills and living expense (maybe include your bank/credit card statement to show the expense items that you pay for and include the receipt from hospital for his medical bills).    

     - I don't know if it matters, but I have my statement notarized as well.

Do you happen to speak Japanese? 

How long were you married before the divorce? And how long had it been since you got your conditional GC when you divorced? 

And finally, how long did it take for you to get approval after you ROC'ed alone because you were divorced?

[Yasuo 15]

15 hours ago, TonyMichael said:

Do you happen to speak Japanese? 

How long were you married before the divorce? And how long had it been since you got your conditional GC when you divorced? 

And finally, how long did it take for you to get approval after you ROC'ed alone because you were divorced?

I don't speak Japanese! Wish I could though

 

My marriage lasted 3.5 years before divorce. Divorce happened when my conditional green card has about 8 months before expiration. I applied for ROC in Nov 2018, got my 10-year GC in Sep 2019. I front-loaded a lot of evidences up until the month of my divorce.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Yasuo

[TonyMichael 3]

1 hour ago, Yasuo said:

I don't speak Japanese! Wish I could though

 

My marriage lasted 3.5 years before divorce. Divorce happened when my conditional green card has about 8 months before expiration. I applied for ROC in Nov 2018, got my 10-year GC in Sep 2019. I front-loaded a lot of evidences up until the month of my divorce.

Sorry, from your profile name, I thought you were Japanese lol

 

If I may ask, did the divorce happen because of your spouse? I read that you can divorce before 2 years if that divorce has to happen because of the US spouse, like they cheated on you, they were abusive, they committed a crime, etc. 

Did you explain why you had to divorve in a letter when you submitted the packet? 

 

Also, after applying, what were the procedure for you? Were you called in for an interview alone?