Separated ROC pending (split)

[nanodice 6]

On 4/18/2022 at 12:01 PM, mr-mrs-hdc said:

The issue here is that. If you are separated. You are still legally married. If you file a divorce waiver, you will get hit with an RFE that you cannot respond to. This could end up playing out worse for you. As you cannot respond to the RFE in the time period, and your application could be considered abandoned. 

It's not concealing information if the divorce has not been finalized. You are legally still married (as much as you do not like it). 

 

FYI. I filed a normal ROC while being separated. My lawyer filed it as a normal ROC, because we did not have a finalized divorce decree thus I was not eligible to file divorce waivers. We amended my petition at the interview to divorce waivers. No issues at all, approved on the spot. 

If OP feels confused in the process, they should hire a lawyer to handle it.  
 

So sorry to piggy back on this. I'm currently in the same situation. 

 

My wife and I filed the ROC in April of last year and it hasn't been completed yet. My green card has already long expired and the case is still pending, being transferred from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. 

 

We're currently separated but not through any malicious acts, just that she thought we were incompatible. She's starting the divorce precedings soon and we will be filing for an uncontested divorce.

 

I'm seeing on some websites that i have to contact USCIS to let them know that we're filing and they will wait for it to be final before proceeding, I'm guessing through the RFE like you said. But having read this thread, should I just wait until an interview is scheduled/case is approved then wait for my divorce to be final to let them know? I don't want to seem like I'm hiding my circumstances. My wife doesn't mind accompanying me to the interview either.

 

If not, what does "contact USCIS" even mean? Call them? Email them?

 

[mr-mrs-hdc 23]

34 minutes ago, nanodice said:

So sorry to piggy back on this. I'm currently in the same situation. 

 

My wife and I filed the ROC in April of last year and it hasn't been completed yet. My green card has already long expired and the case is still pending, being transferred from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. 

 

We're currently separated but not through any malicious acts, just that she thought we were incompatible. She's starting the divorce precedings soon and we will be filing for an uncontested divorce.

 

I'm seeing on some websites that i have to contact USCIS to let them know that we're filing and they will wait for it to be final before proceeding, I'm guessing through the RFE like you said. But having read this thread, should I just wait until an interview is scheduled/case is approved then wait for my divorce to be final to let them know? I don't want to seem like I'm hiding my circumstances. My wife doesn't mind accompanying me to the interview either.

 

If not, what does "contact USCIS" even mean? Call them? Email them?

 

I believe that the correct course of actions would be that you would have to amend your application to a divorce waiver. You would need to have the divorce decree though for this. Or they will send you an RFE asking for it. I'm not entirely sure what my attorney did, but it looks like we filed for a divorce waiver without the divorce decree. As I had gotten an RFE requesting the divorce decree. 

My thought would be that you would amend it to a divorce waiver and give them the information of the open family court docket that shows the divorce is in proceeding but has not yet been finalized. And as soon as you get the divorce decree you would send them the certified copy. 

I would honestly double check with an attorney to make sure that this is how you go about it though. As i'm not an immigration expert. 

[nanodice 6]

3 hours ago, mr-mrs-hdc said:

I believe that the correct course of actions would be that you would have to amend your application to a divorce waiver. You would need to have the divorce decree though for this. Or they will send you an RFE asking for it. I'm not entirely sure what my attorney did, but it looks like we filed for a divorce waiver without the divorce decree. As I had gotten an RFE requesting the divorce decree. 

My thought would be that you would amend it to a divorce waiver and give them the information of the open family court docket that shows the divorce is in proceeding but has not yet been finalized. And as soon as you get the divorce decree you would send them the certified copy. 

I would honestly double check with an attorney to make sure that this is how you go about it though. As i'm not an immigration expert. 

Yes, this is what I've been reading as well. 

 

How did you go about amending the case?

[Ontarkie 14,223]

~~Hijack post and related replies split off to their own thread.~~

[mr-mrs-hdc 23]

On 4/19/2022 at 8:09 PM, nanodice said:

Yes, this is what I've been reading as well. 

 

How did you go about amending the case?

My lawyer I believe sent a letter with our case number saying the divorce was in process. 

But the actual immigration case was amended at the interview. As my IO wondered where my ex-spouse was when we walked into her office. 

Everything went smoothly.... 

[Villanelle 4,122]

On 4/19/2022 at 4:26 PM, nanodice said:

So sorry to piggy back on this. I'm currently in the same situation. 

 

My wife and I filed the ROC in April of last year and it hasn't been completed yet. My green card has already long expired and the case is still pending, being transferred from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. 

 

We're currently separated but not through any malicious acts, just that she thought we were incompatible. She's starting the divorce precedings soon and we will be filing for an uncontested divorce.

 

I'm seeing on some websites that i have to contact USCIS to let them know that we're filing and they will wait for it to be final before proceeding, I'm guessing through the RFE like you said. But having read this thread, should I just wait until an interview is scheduled/case is approved then wait for my divorce to be final to let them know? I don't want to seem like I'm hiding my circumstances. My wife doesn't mind accompanying me to the interview either.

 

If not, what does "contact USCIS" even mean? Call them? Email them?

 

You may not get an interview. So you shouldn't expect to be able to update them at interview as there might not be one. 

 

You need to send a letter to the service center and your local office stating you guys are in the process of divorce.  Do not say anything about switching to a waiver,  simply advise them of the divorce.  

 

You will get an RFE with awkward wording (examples have been posted previously). It basically says if you want to switch to a waiver to let them know and to submit the decree.  You can respond to it with the decree and switch if you have it. If you don't you simply reply you don't have the decree.  You can also choose to remain on the joint ROC and it can be approved as long as the divorce is not final. 

 

They will most likely schedule an interview. If you have the decree you would attend with it and they will switch you to a waiver. If you don't have it you have the choice of attending with your spouse and can be approved (again as long as divorce isn't finalized). Or you can attend w/o your spouse and advise them you will be using the waiver but don't have the decree yet.

 

Because it's an amicable divorce and interview slots have been backlogged in many places odds are you will have the decree prior to any interview. 

 

So send the letter promptly as you don't want to be approved without them knowing divorce is pending.  Hopefully you have the decree for the RFE,  if not as soon as you get it send it to them as you can be approved w/o interview if they have all the documents.

[nanodice 6]

5 hours ago, Villanelle said:

You may not get an interview. So you shouldn't expect to be able to update them at interview as there might not be one. 

 

You need to send a letter to the service center and your local office stating you guys are in the process of divorce.  Do not say anything about switching to a waiver,  simply advise them of the divorce.  

 

You will get an RFE with awkward wording (examples have been posted previously). It basically says if you want to switch to a waiver to let them know and to submit the decree.  You can respond to it with the decree and switch if you have it. If you don't you simply reply you don't have the decree.  You can also choose to remain on the joint ROC and it can be approved as long as the divorce is not final. 

 

They will most likely schedule an interview. If you have the decree you would attend with it and they will switch you to a waiver. If you don't have it you have the choice of attending with your spouse and can be approved (again as long as divorce isn't finalized). Or you can attend w/o your spouse and advise them you will be using the waiver but don't have the decree yet.

 

Because it's an amicable divorce and interview slots have been backlogged in many places odds are you will have the decree prior to any interview. 

 

So send the letter promptly as you don't want to be approved without them knowing divorce is pending.  Hopefully you have the decree for the RFE,  if not as soon as you get it send it to them as you can be approved w/o interview if they have all the documents.

Thank you for the amazing answer!! I called them the other time and told the agent and he doesn't seem to care. But I'll send a letter just in case. 

 

How do i go about doing this? By letter, did you mean email? Or a physical letter?

[Villanelle 4,122]

1 hour ago, nanodice said:

Thank you for the amazing answer!! I called them the other time and told the agent and he doesn't seem to care. But I'll send a letter just in case. 

 

How do i go about doing this? By letter, did you mean email? Or a physical letter?

Just a simple letter. If typed make sure to sign and date in ink. 

 

Follow the basic formal letter format. Include your name, address,  DOB, etc and make sure to include your A# ,filing date of the 751 and the NOA # from it. 

 

Mail it with a tracking number. Send 1 to the service center you filed ROC with and an additional copy to your local office just in case your file is in transit, you want to make sure you don't get approved while in divorce proceedings w/o them being aware. 

 

You 100% can be approved on the joint if your spouse is not technically your ex yet and you choose to remain on the joint petition. There are a handful of posts from people who did this with no issues. It's few and far between because most divorces are not amicable and even when they aren't brutal it's a lot of trust you are putting in your soon to be former spouse to not sabotage it. I mean there's a reason why ya'll are divorcing (people change or things weren't what you thought). 

 

Everyones timeline is different so it's impossible to give a one size fits all answer on when to notify them.  

 

I also just reread your previous post and noticed you said you filed April of last year.

 

(When you say case has been moving jurisdiction to jurisdiction I am assuming perhaps it was transferred from one service center to another for general workload purposes. Or did you move during the process? If the case was already selected for interview then it would sit idle waiting for your local office to accept the file and put you in line for an interview.  You can check processing times for your local office on the USCIS website. )

 

But I originally read it as April this year hence the bits about you probably having the decree before any approval or interview. So I believe you may be closer to the end of the process which makes it imperative that you notify them asap. 

 

You must notify them a divorce was filed before they approve you. The phone reps can not give you legal advice, only an attorney can. I am not an attorney but trust me  there are recent examples of people dealing with issues regarding this. You absolutely do not want to be approved w/o them knowing divorce was filed. 

 

One user actually had an overlap of a day or two (filing was done on lets say Monday and Wednesday the 751 approval happened.) Fortunately they were able to get in touch with the local office and submit the decree and have it ammended as the Officer still had access to do such. 

 

You don't have to include the divorce filing right now.  Just a statement saying divorce is being filed is enough.