Divorce while i751 is pending

[TonyMichael 3]

Aside from the title, I have a few generous questions as well. 

 

1) How will divorcing while i751 is pending affect my status?  

I am married, but our marriage is failing due to my spouse's adultery. But the problem is, we live in california and the divorce will take at least 6 months to be finalized. But my GC will expire in 2 months, and I need to apply for i751. At this point, I cannot just divorce right away and apply alone, so I am thinking about applying it as a married couple for now, and later once the divorce is finalized, I am thinking about sending my divorce decree and a letter stating what has happened. 

Do you think this is a good idea? I know that if I submit the application alone as divorced, they will ask for the divorce decree, which I dont have and wont have for at least 6 months. 

So i ended up with this idea. 

 

2) how can I submit tax returns? As evidence of bone fide marriage, I am going to submit our joint tax return from the past 2, 3 years, but what tax return forms exactly are they expecting? Since tax return comes with lots of paper, I am not sure which one to submit. Or all of them?

 

3) how does Covod19 affect our case? Will it delay the process for a long time? 

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited July 26, 2020 by TonyMichael

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

You should obtain your tax transcripts from the IRS- go to the website. COVID has significantly increased the wait time/processing times. No one can provide an estimate of how long it will delay things since there are so many factors that come into play. When you file for ROC you Should submit a divorceWaiver . https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/conditional-permanent-residence/remove-conditions-on-permanent-residence-based-on-marriage

[mindthegap 2,590]

Yes you can file jointly and then switch. Or you can file when your divorce is final - this is permitted for divorce waiver filings, but will come with added stresses and scary letters. 
 

You can order tax transcripts from the IRS.

 
Divorce is not a reason for I-751 denial.

 

Yes covid is delaying things..by how much, who knows? 

[TonyMichael 3]

59 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

You should obtain your tax transcripts from the IRS- go to the website. COVID has significantly increased the wait time/processing times. No one can provide an estimate of how long it will delay things since there are so many factors that come into play. When you file for ROC you Should submit a divorceWaiver . https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-we-grant-your-green-card/conditional-permanent-residence/remove-conditions-on-permanent-residence-based-on-marriage

Thanks for your reply.

 

Do you mean I should apply for i751 with divorve waiver from the beginning? But I am still legally married and I haven't divorced my spouse yet. And it can take a while to make him sign the divorce paper. 

Before my conditional GC expires in 2 months, I dont think I will have divorced. 

Should i still apply with divorce waiver even before I submit divorce paper to court?

[TonyMichael 3]

29 minutes ago, mindthegap said:

Yes you can file jointly and then switch. Or you can file when your divorce is final - this is permitted for divorce waiver filings, but will come with added stresses and scary letters. 
 

You can order tax transcripts from the IRS.

 
Divorce is not a reason for I-751 denial.

 

Yes covid is delaying things..by how much, who knows? 

Yeah since my GC will expire in 2 months, and I haven't even submitted divorve paper to the court, so the divorce process has not been started yet. 

But I dont wanna risk anything and get unnecessary stress from USCIS telling me I will be deported blah blah blah because I didnt file i751 on time...

[mindthegap 2,590]

It is not a risk, nor will you have your status terminated because of it - it is specifically permitted in the instructions

But filing jointly then switching at a later date is by far the easiest option in your circumstances

[TonyMichael 3]

Thanks all for the advice!

I'll then submit application as married, with the evidence of bona fide marriage, and later I'll submit the divorce decree. 

 

Should I let them know, though, about me starting the divorce process? Since california takes 6 months for divorce to be finalized, I dont want USCIS to start preparing something for my case without knowing I'm actually in the process of divorcing. 

 

So before I receive the decree, should I send them a letter or something stating I have started divorce process and that it will take 6 months before I get a decree?

What else should I send with the letter in order to make changes to the current case?