Hi,
I'm a US Citizen (by naturalization) and I was wondering if it was possible for me to petition a step parent. Facts are:
1. We are from Venezuela.
2. They were in a common law marriage (Concubinato or Union Estable de Hecho) with my biological parent. This union was formalized at the civil registry of the city we were living back then (before I was 18), and they have the corresponding documents.
3. My biological parent and they have a child together (my half sibling).
4. My biological and step parent haven't been together for the past 7 years, but we kept a close relationship otherwise.
5. They are currently in the US under an unrelated visa.
The issue is that I have been reading a lot of conflicting information on the US recognizing (or not) the validity of foreign common law marriages. It seems like USCIS goes by the laws of the country where the "marriage" was performed, but I don't find a lot of specifics to Venezuela. I read some cases of people getting K1 visas denied on the basis of already being "married" and others where it was apparently not enough to warrant immigration benefits. In the Reciprocity Schedule at travel.state.gov they acknowledge the existence of such marriages on Venezuela but claim "De facto marriages do not entitle the parties the same rights as a legal civil marriage", the problem is that is unclear if that is the view of the US as the whole section is written from the perspective of local laws (but Venezuelan constitution - article 77 - claims these unions to be equivalent to conventional marriages).
I would really appreciate if anyone has experience dealing with a similar situation. Thanks for your time.
