Representing Clients All Over the U.S.
Conditional LPR marriage breaking up
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Posted On: September 15, 2007
Yes, the shorter the marriage is, the worse it looks on paper for a conditional green card holder. The whole point of having a conditional green card was congress was worried about sham marriages so there will be skepticism as to whether a short marriage was real to begin with if it breaks up especially in the first 6 months following the initial green card issuance. There’s no safe time or date to break up the marriage to protect the immigrant’s green card. Documentation and supportable facts can explain a short marriage and an immigrant may be eligible for a “good faith” marriage waiver (which requires a final divorce decree TO FILE the waiver in the first place). This requires that the marriage ws entered into in good faith by both parties, but due to reasons not due to the fault of the immigrant, the marriage split. It requires a lot of joint documentation of commingled assets and proof that the couple lived together for a significant amount of time. The problem arises due to the divorce decree which in some states can take 6 months to get at minimum! (CA, for instance).

If the divorce is not final or even filed at the time of 2 year green card’s impending expiration, the immigrant may be eligible for an extreme hardship waiver as well, where the amount of documentation proving a bona fide or good faith marriage is not crucial but can be much more difficult case to prove depending on numerous factors including the (1) the age of the immigrant, (2) length of stay in the US, (3) their home country, and other factors. Again, an immigrant in such a situation should always consult at least one competnent immigration attorney with experience in multiple kinds of waivers to see what option(s) are best.
Attorney Heather L. Poole practices exclusively in the area of U.S. family-based immigration law and citizenship law. Heather is a nationally-published immigration author, frequent lecturer on immigration issues, and member & officer of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Southern California Chapter. For more information about Heather and the services offered, visit www.humanrightsattorney.com

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Anonymous April 27, 2008 at 10:14 pm

hey heather,
i got married in jan 2008 and we loved each other and i went through a lot to be with him *problems with family*. he’s a us citizen and we were together for a while before getting married…and now we’ve been married for 4 months and have applied ot get my green card…i should get my work card and ssn in the next two weeks…but i just found out he’s cheating on me…i dont know what to do…we’re trying to work things out…but incase i cant handle it, can we file for divorce once i get my conditional green card? please help me.

Aviram February 28, 2009 at 9:15 pm

Hi Heather,

I can’t find advice for my specific case. I’m marride to a US citizen, I got my CLPR on Feb. 2007 and we just filed (on time) the petition to remove the conditional status, which as I understand can take up to a year and may require an additional interview. At the same time, our marriage is not going very well and I fear that we may end up divorce and that my wife won’t agree to come to the interview (if it happens). How should I prepare for that?

We live together for 5 years and own our condo together. We never thought it will come to this.

Thank you so much,

AVI

Aviram February 28, 2009 at 9:16 pm

Hi Heather,

I can’t find advice for my specific case. I’m marride to a US citizen, I got my CLPR on Feb. 2007 and we just filed (on time) the petition to remove the conditional status, which as I understand can take up to a year and may require an additional interview. At the same time, our marriage is not going very well and I fear that we may end up divorce and that my wife won’t agree to come to the interview (if it happens). How should I prepare for that?

We live together for 5 years and own our condo together. We never thought it will come to this.

Thank you so much,

AVIRAM

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