VAWA Help?

[AT_Mex 1]

I am looking for help with a Vawa case for myself. I was recommend this forum by a stranger at an immigration clinic I attended last week but at first glance I did not see any self help for Vawa cases.

 

I am new at this so maybe I did not look in the right place so any help would be appreciated.

 

I tried calling some lawyers but with the current immigration situation most lawyers are wanting money for an interview before they even tell you if you have a case or how much would it be represented by them. Right now money is pretty tight and I can't afford paying someone just to be l put on a list without even knowing if I could afford their fees for a process, Perhaps this is normal with immigration cases?

 

I was married to a US Citizen for many years, abuse started the same day we got married after dating for 8 months without ANY issues. Name calling, demanding large quantities of money, threats of deportation when she didn't get her way, humiliation in front of friends, prohibiting me from talking with to parents and some other more personal issues. Trying to make her happy I ended up basically pushing  away own family, friends and relatives, I know that part was my mistake for knowing how to deal with the situation but now I need help and have no one to ask to,

 

I've seen some  videos on YouTube about VAWA and self petitioning, but some of them mention the importance of using a lawyer and some others talk about diy representing as long as you have a strong.affidavit AND a psychologist evaluation. (The psychologist evaluation for Vawa cases starts at $1500!). 

 

I am in Florida 

If you have any information or a link to the right forum/thread I will be so thankful.

 

Thankf you for reading this

 

 

[appleblossom 3,398]

3 hours ago, AT_Mex said:

I am looking for help with a Vawa case for myself. I was recommend this forum by a stranger at an immigration clinic I attended last week but at first glance I did not see any self help for Vawa cases.

 

I am new at this so maybe I did not look in the right place so any help would be appreciated.

 

I tried calling some lawyers but with the current immigration situation most lawyers are wanting money for an interview before they even tell you if you have a case or how much would it be represented by them. Right now money is pretty tight and I can't afford paying someone just to be l put on a list without even knowing if I could afford their fees for a process, Perhaps this is normal with immigration cases?

 

I was married to a US Citizen for many years, abuse started the same day we got married after dating for 8 months without ANY issues. Name calling, demanding large quantities of money, threats of deportation when she didn't get her way, humiliation in front of friends, prohibiting me from talking with to parents and some other more personal issues. Trying to make her happy I ended up basically pushing  away own family, friends and relatives, I know that part was my mistake for knowing how to deal with the situation but now I need help and have no one to ask to,

 

I've seen some  videos on YouTube about VAWA and self petitioning, but some of them mention the importance of using a lawyer and some others talk about diy representing as long as you have a strong.affidavit AND a psychologist evaluation. (The psychologist evaluation for Vawa cases starts at $1500!). 

 

I am in Florida 

If you have any information or a link to the right forum/thread I will be so thankful.

 

Thankf you for reading this

 

 

This is the thread you need. Good luck. 
 

 

[AT_Mex 1]

1 hour ago, appleblossom said:

This is the thread you need. Good luck. 
 

 

Thank you so much 

[Boiler 46,356]

What is your nationality

 

How did you enter the US

[AT_Mex 1]

I was born in Mexico, I came in with a tourist visa and I still have the I94.

 

Got married in 2002 and that same day my wife went psycho on me. Demanding ALL my money which it first said ok as she seemed interested in getting my immigration status taken care of but then she started threatening me with calling "la migra" if I didn't give her both paychecks from the two jobs I had..  I still needed money for gas and eat when I was working and she would flip out if I didn't give her the whole amount.

 

She then started calling me names in front of her friends and even her family, her family always took my side and tried to calm her but she'd continue her rampage after we left her folks.

 

There's a bunch other ways she abused me during the time we were together there was never any physical violence tho, it was mostly verbal and emotional abuse. She would even stop agreeing to have relations until payday, basically... Good thing I had two different full time jobs otherwise I would have had no sex during our marriage! That bad, yes

 

We ended up separating after s few months, we lived with a friend/roommate of mine at that time. Which seems to be a problem since we don't have prove of cohabitation, never got any bills together or anything like that because I didn't have a SSN.

 

Years later after moving to s different state I looked her up and found her on MySpace(2010), she posted about being engaged and going to marry again. I tried contacting her so see is she had the divorce done but she never replied. Then a few years after thatbi found her on Facebook (2016), and I sent her a message through Messenger about the divorce, she told me she never had done anything about it because she was never asked when she got married to the new man. So she basically was married to two different people at the same time ..

 

I found out she had been married to that guy for s few years and was now divorced from him. She basically told me to remarry as well as they didn't check for that 

I wasn't ready to remarry anyone, nor I would have taken that dumb advice.

 

She posted again s couple of years ago about s new upcoming marriage, I contacted again about the divorce.. this time she agreed to get that taken care of, we went to court and got it done last year.

 

A couple of months ago I found out about Vawa and I contacted a lawyer who basically told me it was a win case IF I could prove cohabitation, the only way I could do that is if my roommate at the time finally answers his phone, not sure if that would be enough..

 

But, a couple of days ago Feb 28, I received an email from my ex-wife basically apologizing for all the abuse, name calling, extortion.   I proposed to her on Feb 28, 2002. I guess she somehow remembered the date and decided to ask for forgiveness on the same date.

 

In this email she also mentions about the time we lived together, maybe that proves cohabitation??

 

Lawyer quoted me $12,500 to take the case. She also basically told me I had more than enough based on the email and evidence I sent her (screenshots, marriage license my affidavit, her administration to abuse and other marriage). She said a couple of affidavits from witnesses would make it even stronger but she would betbi would get approved 

 

I don't have that amount of money so I am trying to file myself. I could use some advice 

 

 

[Boiler 46,356]

So you want to apply for VAWA based on a marriage that happened 23 years ago, and based on verbal abuse.

 

Seems a very long shot.

 

How did you enter the US?

[TBoneTX 46,373]

One post violating the site's Terms of Service has been removed.  Knock off the insults.

6 hours ago, AT_Mex said:

I am trying to file myself. I could use some advice 

Your thread is being moved from General Immigration Discussion to the Effects of Major Changes forum, to be among similar threads.  There's a very large VAWA thread which you can read and where you can ask questions.

[Demise 1,361]

9 hours ago, Boiler said:

So you want to apply for VAWA based on a marriage that happened 23 years ago, and based on verbal abuse.

 

Seems a very long shot.

 

How did you enter the US?

 

Well, VAWA only requires that you are currently married to the abuser or that that the marriage was legally terminated less than 2 years ago. There's no other statute of limitations, so if they've went their separate ways 20+ years ago, but never actually got divorced then he ticks off that box.

 

Also OP already said that he came on a tourist visa, still, manner of entry is mostly irrelevant aside having entered as a K-1/2 and married someone else. VAWA lets you adjust after EWI or any of the usual no-go statuses (VWP, TVOW, C-1/D).

[Demise 1,361]

Anyways back to the question OP. I will start by saying that I've DIY'd my own VAWA case, but I do not recommend that except as a last resort. 12.5K isn't a ridiculous amount of money for VAWA case, you should definitely ask the lawyer if they'd be willing to do some kind of a payment plan. Psychological evaluation is strongly recommended but it not strictly required, I got through

 

That being said, the cover letter has basically a story in two parts:

1. How did you meet, how did you get married, are you still legally married

2. When did everything start going to hell, what'd your ex do

 

So pretty similar to what you've already posted here. You write the event that happened, if you have any proof point to it as "(exhibit X)". Also, USCIS tends to take personal testimonies of abuse as fairly credible, so if you don't have a specific proof, list it anyways.  Police/medical records, third party affidavits, etc, all work here.

 

Also, USCIS tends to grill the bona fides of the marriage a lot harder than the abuse part so the biggest headache for most is gathering up any and all pieces of evidence for the marriage, you know, joint bills, join leases, wedding photos, gift receipt, basically any kind of proof that you'd show for any other marriage.

 

Finally last piece is proving that your ex is a US Citizen and that can be tricky. If spouse is a naturalized citizen you can give USCIS her A-number and they'll look for her record, or if you had an I-130 filed by her previously. If not then do you have a copy of birth certificate or a passport? If not then there's the circumstantial evidence like a marriage cert listing a place of birth in US? Voter registration?

 

Here's an okay primer from ILRC :

https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/document_gathering_guide_for_vawa_petioners.pdf

 

I'm open to answer any follow up questions but I need them to be fairly specific.

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Demise

[AT_Mex 1]

 

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Yes, I have a 7 page affidavit I wrote about the situation after watching most Vawa videos on YouTube, most of them stating the inportance of it.

 

The lawyer I had that consultation with was impressed and mentioned I had basically included more than enough, except for the evidence, emails, screenshots, copies of documents, etc...

 

I am in Florida and the situation with immigration is getting pretty though here. I am have a clear background check but I also have an out of state drivers license that expires next year, I make all of my income thanks to my ability to work. I can't afford to wait any longer without doing something about this. You can only apply for Vawa within the first two years of divorce and mine was last year.

 

Ideally I would use a lawyer but, at this party time, I am unable to get into a payment plan. 

 

I am mostly nervous about actually filling out the forms themselves and I wanted to see if any DIY had gone through the process.

 

You mentioned you filed your own, I am sorry you had to any time of abuse, I hope you are doing well.

 

Did you have any specific problems with your application?

 

Did you have issues with forms? Providing enough evidence? Affidavits?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

[Demise 1,361]

1 hour ago, AT_Mex said:

Did you have any specific problems with your application?

 

Did you have issues with forms? Providing enough evidence? Affidavits?

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

 

So the only real problems I've had was getting grilled about the bona fides of the marriage part of that was that the documents USCIS would like just didn't exist (lived in an illegal basement apartment, worked a dead end job with no benefits, had no kids, ex was a deadbeat) and other part was that I was in removal proceedings before getting married so the standard of proof they wanted from me went up from preponderance of evidence (51%) to clear and convincing evidence (75%).

 

For abuse part the only thing I've really had was a very grisly self-affidavit (it was about 4 pages). They didn't question that part. Apparently you can file and get approved without a psych evaluation

 

 

I did get RFE'd for the bona fides after giving them stuff like affidavits from friends and family (which originally were meant for an I-130), tax returns, id cards with the same address, some pictures, and bank statements. Then for the RFE it was more bank statements with handwritten annotations where the money was outgoing to because one of the complaints USCIS had was that there was very little money in the account where in my RFE cover letter I lambasted USCIS because they think that apparently being broke is a red flag. Ring receipts. Misc gift receipts. Printout from turbotax showing the tax return in questions were submitted and accepted with matching numbers because they weren't happy about the original 1040 because it was e-filed and this was in middle of covid so I wasn't able to get a tax transcript from the IRS. Finally I gave them a copy of the RFE for an I-130 were they already grilled us about the bona fides previously and the I-130 was approved so why are they doing it again with apparently an even higher standard. Finally I did point them to the prior I-130 itself which had a letter from our landlord stating that we rented without a written lease.

 

 

So honestly, my only concern in your case is getting all the documents that USCIS wants to prove the marriage was legit while it lasted considering it's been 20 years since you were actually together.

[AT_Mex 1]

RFEd for the bonafide??

 How did you handle that?

 

Yes, unfortunately I don't have ANY evidence about our time living together because there is none in paper, besides getting an affidavit from my roommate and perhaps other affidavits from people that knew about our relationship and visited us back then. We got married at courthouse, didn't have a reception, our roommate was one of the witnesses.

 

We were renting a room from my friend so there was no written lease, again. I would require using his affidavit for this. I expect to be grilled by this but I have no other option but to try to get as many  affidavits as I can and hope for the best when it comes to this point. I don't even remember any of our neighbors from back then.

I also have an email she wrote to apologize for all the abuse, she mentioned our time living together... Although I am not sure of how much weight it would hold since it is not a notorized affidavit, just an email. It shows her email address but I don't think she would agree to give me a notarized copy or to even write a new affidavit repeating everything she apologized about and have it notarized.

 

I did not stated filing taxes until 2004 when I got an ITIN and by that point I was not claiming her, I filed as single because I had no dependants.

 

Honestly, I don't know that many people that would keep bills from 20 years ago. I was not expecting for the marriage to end at all, I was not trying to collect evidence for any reason. I have moved several times since then as well. So even if I had letters from family with both our names back then, I wouldn't have kept them all these years. I am positive bwe received to gifts on the mail from relatives in Texas but we didn't keep any proof. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Demise 1,361]

16 minutes ago, AT_Mex said:

RFEd for the bonafide??

 How did you handle that?

Responded to every point in the RFE ("I disagree with the assertion that...") and added whatever circumstantial evidence I could. It was rough, at the time when I saw it I thought I was full on screwed. Had to get records from a closed joint account (they luckily arrived shortly before the RFE was due), tried to get IRS records and that one didn't pan out.

 

17 minutes ago, AT_Mex said:

We were renting a room from my friend so there was no written lease, again. I would require using his affidavit for this. I expect to be grilled by this but I have no other option but to try to get as many  affidavits as I can and hope for the best when it comes to this point. I don't even remember any of our neighbors from back then.

I also have an email she wrote to apologize for all the abuse, she mentioned our time living together... Although I am not sure of how much weight it would hold since it is not a notorized affidavit, just an email. It shows her email address but I don't think she would agree to give me a notarized copy or to even write a new affidavit repeating everything she apologized about and have it notarized.

 

I did not stated filing taxes until 2004 when I got an ITIN and by that point I was not claiming her, I filed as single because I had no dependants.

 

Honestly, I don't know that many people that would keep bills from 20 years ago. I was not expecting for the marriage to end at all, I was not trying to collect evidence for any reason. I have moved several times since then as well. So even if I had letters from family with both our names back then, I wouldn't have kept them all these years. I am positive bwe received to gifts on the mail from relatives in Texas but we didn't keep any proof.

 

Yeah that's kinda the problem at hand you see with other cases where the documents needed are very old (e.g. 245(i)).

Emails/messages from her should carry some weight. Don't try to ask for a notorized affidavit from her, even if you do get it that just looks extremely suspicious. If you can look for other older emails from back in the day where you talk about random stuff to establish that yes, that's her email that'd also help.

Affidavit from the friend and other third parties will just have to do. Especially from the one who you were renting a room from.

 

Did you have a joint bank account from back in the day?

Has she filed an I-130 for you back in the day?

[AT_Mex 1]

No, we never got a back account together. And no, she never filed anything either
She was getting about 95% of my income (two full time jobs) and about 12K I had saved in cash at the time, she used to tell me it was for my green card, but that was a lie.
She spent it all on drugs.

 

I know it sounds weird but, since it has been so long since everything happened and i did not entered the marriage thinking i should be collecting evidence for a future vawa petition. I didn't even know vawa existed.
I do remember some of our family members sent us stuff after we got married, small gifts, cash and gift cards, but again. Is not like I was going to save envelops, wrapping paper or boxes with out address on it.

I am still trying to see if i find any other type of evidence to help me with that matter, shut... if i had married just for a green card i wouldn't have put up with the abuse, not worth it. Or I would have filed for divorce 20 years ago and remarry someone else.

Dont take me wrong, i fully understand the request for that type of evidence but expecting someone to hold on to evidence for two decades is ridiculous, especially because i wasn't planning on divorcing, never less building a whole case

 

[Demise 1,361]

1 hour ago, AT_Mex said:

No, we never got a back account together. And no, she never filed anything either
She was getting about 95% of my income (two full time jobs) and about 12K I had saved in cash at the time, she used to tell me it was for my green card, but that was a lie.
She spent it all on drugs.

 

I know it sounds weird but, since it has been so long since everything happened and i did not entered the marriage thinking i should be collecting evidence for a future vawa petition. I didn't even know vawa existed.
I do remember some of our family members sent us stuff after we got married, small gifts, cash and gift cards, but again. Is not like I was going to save envelops, wrapping paper or boxes with out address on it.

I am still trying to see if i find any other type of evidence to help me with that matter, shut... if i had married just for a green card i wouldn't have put up with the abuse, not worth it. Or I would have filed for divorce 20 years ago and remarry someone else.

Dont take me wrong, i fully understand the request for that type of evidence but expecting someone to hold on to evidence for two decades is ridiculous, especially because i wasn't planning on divorcing, never less building a whole case

 

 

I mean passage of time is a good reason for the documents to no longer exist, but still, USCIS is USCIS, they have their own rubrics they grade stuff by. That's kinda why I'd honestly recommend hiring a lawyer in your case. Like it's not insurmountable but it will be tough, for now just collect everything you can like affidavits, pictures, messages from her, and see what you end up with in the end. Then ask yourself if this looks like it's enough and if you want to chance it.

 

Also keep in mind that I got grilled a lot harder than most due to prior removal proceedings, so maybe it is possible to get through solely on affidavits from third parties and photos (ideally from social outings), I'm definitely overfocusing on that part because that's where I got grilled hard. Swing by the VAWA thread that TBoneTX linked and ask there if anyone in there who had issues getting any kind of primary documents was approved.

Edited 41 minutes ago by Demise