Naturalization after Divorce

[Tigerlilly16 1]

Hi everyone, I want apply for citizenship but with all that's going on with immigration lately I am a little worried.

I got married in 2018 after a long distance relationship of 4 years, we got married when I visited the US and I received my immigration visa in October 2019, I arrived in the US in February of 2020 and received my 10 year green card.

After my arrival I discovered that my husband cheated on my before I arrived when he was on vacation in south America, found pictures and text messages on his phone and when I confronted him about it he started saying that I am crazy and basically accused me of digging and then said that he is a man and that this is normal for a man to sometimes cheat especially when his wife is far away in a different country for a long time and that a man has needs. then he started to really be mean to me and kept saying that I am old (I was 35) and nobody but him is going to want me and that he is a man, that women are not equal and I should thank him that he brought me to this country.

After a week or so after my arrival he received my social security card in the mail and hid it from me and then he kept saying that the green card is his since he sponsored me and that he won't give it to me.

He was not like this before my arrival, although when thinking about is he ruined our honeymoon (Barcelona in 2019) because I didn't want to go to museums and kept calling me stupid and uneducated with a patience of a 3 year old.

Also he promised me that he would fix the house before my arrival and he didn't. I arrived and the house was a mess, not only that the house needed renovations and everything was broken, the living room had a ton of things in it that he picked from the street thinking he will fix them and sell them, so it looked like a hoarders house, the kitchen was so filthy I said I won't stay there and he said that this is my job to take care of the house since I'm a woman.

After staying there for 3 weeks I told this to a friend of mine and he told me to come stay at his place for a while until I can find a place to live (my friend was staying at his parents house) I changed the address on the USCIS website to my friends address because I was worried that my husband won't give me the green card like he promised. I received my card 2 months later, my husband was begging me to come back I told him that we can try to live together but I don't want to live in that house unless he fixes it and his behavior. we rented an airbnb for the time until he was supposed to finish renovating the house, it was covid and all he did was sitting in front of the tv and do nothing, he said he is not going to work and he will be collecting the stimulus checks from the government, he also didn't fix the house blaming it on covid and he was verbally abusive never physically but his words hurt me very much.

We were fighting a lot until I decided to leave the country and go back to my home country.

I told him to file for a divorce and he wouldn't do it, he kept begging me to come back and that he would change, I came back after 4 months, nothing has changed and I filed for the divorce, the divorce was finalized in July of 2021.

My plan originally was to go back to my country but because it was covid time I stayed and eventually opened a business here and stayed.

Since then he threatened me many times that he will report me to immigration and kept saying that I used him for green card, which is not true. I had good life before him, I had a business there and now I don't make the money I used to.     

 

Now it been more than 5 years since I got my green card and I want to apply for citizenship and I am worried that the officer might think that my marriage was fake since I changed my address so quickly after arrival and divorced also quickly.

 

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

[OldUser 8,529]

Generally, when applying under 5 year rule, marriage isn't as important as when applying under 3 year rule.

 

However, entire immigration history will be reviewed. You may get questions about marriage and circumstances leading to divorce in the interview. In this case you need to be prepared to explain everything and demonstrate some evidence of bonafide relationship. 

 

If I was you, given short time together after entering the US, I'd file a case with a lawyer and go to interview with a lawyer.

 

Here's my experience going with a lawyer (my case was simple and I am married):

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/826904-n-400-december-2024-filers/page/14/#findComment-11052877

 

You can see how lawyer helped keeping interview focused.

 

Your case is approvable. But you need to be ready for everything.

 

 

 

[Tigerlilly16 1]

The already have all the evidence, what else I'm supposed to give them? 

[OldUser 8,529]

11 minutes ago, Tigerlilly16 said:

The already have all the evidence, what else I'm supposed to give them? 

What evidence would they have? 

You never had to file I-751.

 

You may be asked to prove after you entered the US the marriage was legitimate. E.g. that you didn't marry for immigration benefit and left spouse after receiving GC.

 

Evidence such as:

- Lease showing both names

- Joint bank accounts

- Bills in both names

- Photos together

- Joint health insurance

- Joint car insurance

- Affidavits from people who knew you as a couple

 

Essentially, some evidence that you lived as a married couple at least for some time...

 

This may never come up during interview. 

Or it can be the most important issue discussed during interview. You need to be ready for it.

Edited yesterday at 05:42 AM by OldUser

[Tigerlilly16 1]

I don't have any of that but some photos, the house was in his mother's name she owns it, no joint bank, we didn't have health insurance, bills were in his name I only stayed in that house for 3 weeks like I said. Affidavits we already sent with the case from his mother and friends, and even if we had anything else he wouldn't give it to me.

 

Maybe I should not apply 

[OldUser 8,529]

Essentially, you may be accused of marrying somebody for immigration.

 

Married => Got visa => Entered US => Moved out in 3 weeks.

 

It looks very suspicious to an outsider. You know what I mean?

 

I'm not saying you shouldn't apply. Just saying you need to be ready to explain your timeline and reasons for such quick divorce during N-400.

Edited yesterday at 05:54 AM by OldUser

[Tigerlilly16 1]

I guess I should have stayed in a terrible relationship then...makes sense...

[OldUser 8,529]

1 minute ago, Tigerlilly16 said:

I guess I should have stayed in a terrible relationship then...makes sense...

Staying in relationship for immigration is fraud.

 

You have potential big red flag in your file, and you may or may not have to deal with it. There's no 100% it's going to be an issue. But if you're from a place like Nigeria, Morocco, Philippines, Carribbean... People from those places are held to higher scrutiny to higher fraud historically.

 

I would not file on my own.

I wouldn't go to interview on my own.

I have nothing else to add.

 

 

Good luck!

Edited yesterday at 05:58 AM by OldUser

[Tigerlilly16 1]

I'm not form these countries I'm from Europe 

[Sam Burns 168]

5 hours ago, Tigerlilly16 said:

I guess I should have stayed in a terrible relationship then...makes sense...

This is not helpful, don’t be like this at the interview, stick to the facts 

[Crazy Cat 42,997]

7 hours ago, Tigerlilly16 said:

I got married in 2018 after a long distance relationship of 4 years, we got married when I visited the US and I received my immigration visa in October 2019, I arrived in the US in February of 2020 and received my 10 year green card.

In what month were you married in 2018?

Edited yesterday at 11:22 AM by Crazy Cat

[Crazy Cat 42,997]

8 hours ago, Tigerlilly16 said:

I guess I should have stayed in a terrible relationship then...makes sense...

No one is saying that at all.  Just be prepared for scrutiny.  They might ask questions.

Edited yesterday at 02:51 PM by Crazy Cat

[Dashinka 25,203]

There may be some scrutiny, and maybe you have pictures to share with the IO at your N400 interview to help tell your story as you told us in your first post.  Filing under the 5yr rule should bring less scrutiny than filing under the 3 yr rule, but it also allows USCIS to review your complete file.  Since you and your former spouse submitted a lot of evidence to get your IR1 visa, and USCiS and the DoS already decided you deserved one, you should be fine.  The main thing @OldUser is suggesting is to just prepare yourself.

 

Good Luck!

[mam521 2,375]

If you got married after 4 years, I'm going to guess you can demonstrate you were in a relationship and that you spent time together in a manner that lead to engagement and marriage.  This is part of the legitimacy of the relationship.  

 

In your IR-1 filing, what evidence did you guys provide to demonstrate a bonified relationship?  Did he list you on a pension?  A beneficiary of anything? Once you got to the US, were there any bills in your name?  Records of communication that would demonstrate your fighting and the breakdown of the relationship and potentially why?

 

When you started your business, was he involved?  Did he get anything out of it in the divorce settlement?  

 

If you want to file for citizenship under the 5 year provision, definitely go for it.  Just be aware that you could be asked questions about your relationship and how you got to where you are.  Relationships break down - that's not the issue.  The timeline is what might get questioned, so just pad yourself to answer any and all questions.  

[Tigerlilly16 1]

We got married in January of 2018 

we sent a ton of pics and texts between us, too much I think, we sent letters from his mother and friends, we sent pics and receipts of the gifts he got me, our hotel reservation for our honeymoon, plane tickets, pics form honeymoon.

I don't think he listed me on anything don't think we were thinking about it honestly, everything escalated really quickly after I arrived, it was the early days of covid with lockdowns and we stayed mostly at the airbnb fighting I think covid also contributed to the relationship going south, I asked him to fix the house so we could live there but he didn't, he never fixed the house.

even if he has anything I don't think he will give me anything I personally don't have anything, maybe he has something but I don't.

I do have emails and text from him threatening me, I was very close to getting a restraining order against him because he kept saying he will do something to me even after we already got divorced. to this day he sometimes gets upset because of something unrelated to me and starts texting me and trying to fight with me over some nonsense.