Filing I-751 while waiting for divorce decree

[YellingSeal 0]

I was about to file jointly because from my understanding, the choice is binary. Either you are legally married (I still am since I do not have the divorce decree) or you are divorced. I filed for divorce in my state and am currently waiting on the result. Could be done tomorrow or in a couple of months (the joy of bureaucracy that this forum knows too well). Everything is done. My forms are filled, evidence is gathered. The only sticking point is filing jointly or not and what extra declaration/statement can be made to provide insight/detail into what happened. 

 

I am not a big fan of filing with missing required document (divorce decree) expecting an RFE and provide the decree at that time. I've also read that people seems really against filing jointly while in the process of divorcing as that could be seen as lying. Keep in mind that while filing jointly, I have a couple of lines in my cover letter explaining that we are living at different address since X and filed for divorce in X and I'm waiting for the decree which I will send with an amendment later on.

 

So questions are:

To file jointly or not?

What should I say? Explain timeline of relationship. Explain in detail what happened. Have ex-wife explain her side and sign a statement?

 

Thanks

 

P.S: Best case scenario is to get the divorce decree before my deadline. But this is unlikely. I still think I will call the court until 2-3 days before my green card expire to hopefully get the decree and overnight my I-751 if I'm really close to the date.

[OldUser 6,589]

Wasn't this extensively discussed in the thread below? Has anything significantly changed since then?

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,771]

***Thread merged with previous thread of same subject***

[YellingSeal 0]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Wasn't this extensively discussed in the thread below? Has anything significantly changed since then?

 

 

What has changed is that we are in the process of divorcing. The divorce is filed and I'm waiting on the decree. The local court has not finished it yet. So technically, until it is finished I am still legally married but other threads on here seem to suggest that I still apply as divorced while waiting for my divorce to be final and get the decree. 

 

USCIS does not provide lots on information on this but I wanted to have opinion and maybe experience on it. In my opinion, I'd rather file jointly first since I'm still legally married, explained that the divorce is in process and that the decree will be amended to the petition once it's available (as per their instruction since there is no in-between checkbox and they don't explain what to do for this situation) 

[Crazy Cat 41,771]

2 hours ago, YellingSeal said:

I am not a big fan of filing with missing required document (divorce decree) expecting an RFE and provide the decree at that time.

But by doing so (filing based on a divorce waiver), it rightfully informs USCIS of the pending divorce, and prevents a premature decision based on a joint bona fide marriage when the I-751 approval should be based on a divorce waiver. ....just my thoughts.  I think the RFE would give you 90 days to produce the divorce decree.

Edited January 20 by Crazy Cat

[OldUser 6,589]

9 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

But by doing so (filing based on a divorce waiver), it rightfully informs USCIS of the pending divorce, and prevents a premature decision based on a joint bona fide marriage when the I-751 approval should be based on a divorce waiver. ....just my thoughts.  I think the RFE would give you 90 days to produce the divorce decree.

Agreed, I'd file with divorce waiver too.

I-751s take forever nowadays. If filed a few weeks before 90 window closes, RFE would probably come in several months, which could be after divorce is finalized if it's few months away.

[Boiler 45,434]

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