Everybody wants to find the ideal spouse for the right reason. As you gain wisdom, you stop hoping that the right person will appear. Can you, however, tolerate getting married for the wrong reasons? Should I divorce my ex if I suspect the marriage was for immigration purposes?
The question could be understood to suggest that someone who is an American citizen married someone in order to remain in the country. If you learn that, the question is whether or not you should file for divorce. Divorce and the decision to get a divorce must be determined by the relationship, not by some outside agenda.
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Perhaps your spouse did wed you in order to get you a green card, but now you’re in a committed relationship. You have all of the above in addition to children. The truth is that your spouse did not act benevolently in the past. Even while those reasons in and of themselves are debatable, divorce is not always the best course of action.
Here’s how it looks in reverse. He actually married you for immigration purposes, and after you said “I do,” he separated. He hasn’t been in your life for three years. You probably got married solely for immigration purposes.
How Do You Qualify for Naturalization in the US?
An applicant must meet specific eligibility conditions outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in order to be eligible for naturalization, which typically includes being a lawful permanent resident or LPR for at least five years. Various spouses of U.S. citizens and applicants with military service are excused from one or more of the standard requirements for citizenship under other special naturalization laws.
Application eligibility based on military service during a specified period of hostilities and eligibility based on LPR status for at least three years and at least three years of marriage to a U.S. citizen were the next two most common factors for naturalization in FY 2021 (INA Section 319(a)). (INA, Section 329).
In general, a non-citizen must reside in the country for at least five years before being eligible for citizenship; in contrast, the spouse of an American citizen must do so for at least three years. The average LPR period for all citizens who gained naturalization in FY 2021 was 7.3 years.
When a foreign national enters the United States on the basis of a marriage that is less than two years old at the time of entry, whether through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approval for lawful permanent residence or entry on an immigrant visa issued by a U.S. consulate, they are granted “conditional permanent resident status,” which is similar to regular permanent residence but only valid for two years.
Basically, the goal is to put the marriage to the test. The U.S. government is quite worried about people who join into fictitious marriages in order to provide non-citizens permanent residence, whether in exchange for money, out of friendship, or for some other reason. The U.S. government is aware that such certificates can be forged, despite the fact that every couple is initially asked to provide detailed documentation demonstrating the validity of their marriage. It wants to know if the couple can, in fact, continue the alleged deception for an additional two years.
Within the ninety days prior to the conclusion of the two-year testing period, the conditional resident must submit a petition (USCIS Form I-751) with USCIS.
Marriages invite intense immigration scrutiny because they are one of the simpler routes to obtaining permanent residence.
The second marriage of an immigrant calls for greater vigilance. Government officials look for signs of marriage fraud in the first marriage and divorce as well as evaluate the validity of the present partnership. To put it another way, immigrants who remarry must be ready to demonstrate that both their present marriage and their previous one were founded on a genuine relationship.
How Will Divorce Affect My Spouse’s Immigrant Resident Status?
When one party files a divorce petition with the court, the divorce is said to have officially begun. A divorce typically has one of two outcomes: Either the parties reach a settlement (referred to as a “Marital Settlement Agreement”) regarding the division of assets and debts, the amount of alimony, and child support and visitation; or the case is heard by a judge who issues a ruling declaring the parties to be legally divorced (referred to as a “Divorce Decree”).
A lot of divorce lawyers automatically include these grounds in their divorce petitions, maybe without even considering the implications for the non-immigration citizen’s status. And in the toxic environment of the majority of divorces, many spouses forget the good moments, concentrate on the negative, and persuade themselves that their partner was just interested in the green card.
When a divorce is resolved out of court rather than going through the legal process, this issue frequently arises. There is no mechanism to reverse the U.S. citizen spouse’s claim of post-settlement bad faith once the judge finds that this agreement is appropriate and registers it in the court file, as well as when both parties file for divorce with the state’s official department of records. The only exception would be in cases when the American spouse is willing to do time in prison for perjury.
In general, according to U.S. immigration law, the immigrant must demonstrate the following in order to convert conditional status into permanent residency based on marriage to a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the country:
[ a ] the union is sincere and was formed in good faith, not as a ruse or fraud to get a green card, and
[ b ] The immigrant’s conditional residency in the United States was approved at least two years before the marriage ended.
Should You Divorce Your Spouse If You Suspect Your Marriage Was for Immigration Purposes?
Your relationship with your spouse is wonderful. It might turn out that the relationship was only there because of convenience, for immigration reasons, or for some other reason. You simply need to focus on where you are right now rather than on what occurred in the past.
Perhaps he did marry you in order to get a green card, but now you’re in a committed relationship. You have all of the above in addition to children. The truth is that he did not act benevolently in the past. The fact that those factors are problematic in themselves does not necessarily suggest you should get divorced.
It doesn’t matter what the person did in the past. It concerns the current state of the relationship. You have been intimate with the person. You did have a relationship, and it was healthy. Even if something went wrong, you shouldn’t try to make the relationship fade as if it had never been.
Who knows why your spouse entered the marriage all those years ago? It all depends on where you are right now. What is the status of your marriage? If your connection is strong, make every effort to keep it that way.
If you don’t honestly believe in your relationship anymore, then you should end your marriage.
Even while a divorce can undoubtedly raise concerns, USCIS does not consider it as a given that the marriage was a sham.
The immigrant’s status to remain in the country is not always lost if the marriage ends in a final divorce before the I-751 petition is due. However, the immigrant spouse must provide proof the marriage was genuine not a sham when it was entered into and request a “waiver” of the joint filing requirement from USCIS when filing the I-751.
The timing concerns can become complicated if the divorce is already in progress when the I-751 is required and the U.S. citizen refuses to sign a joint petition. There are ways to get around this with USCIS, effectively asking for more time to get a divorce decree, but you’ll want to get legal assistance.
The immigrant might, in the worst instance, lose his or her immigration status and be subject to deportation from the country.
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