You should contact an immigration lawyer to learn how your status may be affected and what steps you may take to help your own situation. The Hayoon Kane Law Firm, PLLC, is ready to represent clients like you in the Las Vegas area and across the country. You do not have to oversee a difficult immigration matter alone following an already difficult divorce process.
The Two Types of Marriage Green Cards
There are two types of green cards that you may qualify for based on marriage:
- A conditional green card is what you receive when you have been married for less than two years at the time that you apply for and are granted lawful permanent resident status. It is called conditional because the provisional status can be removed when you are able to prove to the USCIS that the marriage is legitimate.
- If you have been married for more than two years when you apply for a green card, or the conditions on the green card are lifted, your green card would become a permanent one.
If you have already qualified for a permanent green card, you will not have to worry about being forced to leave the United States in the event of a divorce. You will not face any questions about your marriage status when you apply for a renewal. In addition, any available pathway to permanent citizenship should not be jeopardized.
Challenges in Renewing Your Green Card After a Divorce
You may face additional difficulties when your marriage-based green card is a conditional one. Then, a divorce during the conditional period can cause USCIS to believe that the marriage was not legitimate in the first place. There is no guarantee that you cannot renew your green card and remove restrictions, but you face a potentially more difficult process.
You need to request a waiver from the USCIS.
You must complete the Form I-751 to remove the restrictions from your green card, even after you have been divorced. However, you likely need to do much more than just complete the form to have a chance at a successful application. In addition to completing the form, you may also need to submit the following evidence to the USCIS:
- Proof that you and your spouse lived together under the same roof as husband and wife
- Financial records that prove that you and your spouse had joint finances together
- Proof that you have children together
- Evidence showing that you (the foreign spouse) were not responsible for the dissolution of the marriage
In addition, you also need to detail the circumstances under which the marriage ended. If you are claiming that you and your spouse had irreconcilable differences, you need to go into detail about what those differences were and how they led to the breakdown of the marriage.
Even then, you may need to submit even more information to the USCIS. For example, your marriage may have ended due to your spouse’s wrongful actions, such as infidelity or abuse. As difficult as it may be for you, it is necessary to go into those details because USCIS will be paying very close attention to every aspect of your divorce to ensure that the marriage was legitimate in the first place. If your actions were to blame for the dissolution of the marriage, your application can be further complicated.
In any event, you likely need to provide USCIS with court records that detail the status of the divorce and the potential issues involved. You may even need to provide court records as supporting documentation with your application.
How Can I Prove That My Marriage Was Real?
You must include evidence that tells the story of your relationship over time. In a sense, your application to USCIS should take the case officer through your entire relationship with your spouse, from the time that you met until when you chose to end your marriage (even telling the difficult story of the divorce).
An immigration lawyer can help you with your petition and your supporting documentation, so you can show that the marriage was legitimate in the first place, and the conditions on your green card should be removed.
What if My Divorce Is Not Yet Final?
Divorces take some time to proceed through the legal system, even if you and your spouse can agree on many or all of the major issues. Divorces can take even longer when there are issues that must be litigated. Accordingly, you may need to seek to remove conditions on your green card at some point before the divorce is final. It may still be possible to do so.
You need to provide evidence that you are in the middle of the divorce process to seek the removal of conditions under these circumstances. Once the divorce is final, USCIS will request evidence that the process has been completed, and you provide them with your divorce decree.
What Happens with My Green Card if I am Separated?
The process is far more difficult if you are separated at the time that you are applying for removal of conditions and you are not in the middle of divorce proceedings. USCIS takes a much harder line on these applications, and they will apply a more stringent standard. You must prove that you are dealing with something that can be considered extreme hardship to successfully remove the conditional status of your green card. You prove hardship by showing the totality of the circumstances.
Extreme hardship may include:
- Family ties and impact, in which your relations with relatives who are living in the United States may be severed
- Societal and cultural impact, which can include the potential to be punished when you return to your home country for having been in the United States
- The economic impact that you may suffer from having to leave the United States, such as a decline in the standard of living, including due to significant unemployment, underemployment, or other lack of economic opportunity in the country of relocation
- Health conditions and the availability of care in the country to which you will be returned
- The conditions in the country that you will be returned to, including whether there are any natural disasters or unrest that can place your safety in jeopardy
Reasons for Same Sex Green Card Denials
If you are either a permanent lawful resident or you can have the conditions on your green card removed, you may still eventually become a United States citizen, although it may take you slightly longer. If you are married to a United States citizen, you can begin the citizenship application process three years after you have received your green card. If you are no longer married to a United States citizen, you need to wait five years before you can apply for citizenship. Either way, divorce is not the end of your dream of becoming a United States citizen because you have legal options.
You Should Have Legal Advice from an Immigration Lawyer to Learn More About a Marriage Green Card and Divorce
Although you will always benefit from help from an immigration attorney at any point, you should consult a lawyer before you get divorced. If you know that your marriage may potentially be in trouble, you should reach out for help from an immigration lawyer to begin planning how you must approach and deal with the USCIS if it is necessary.
You must consider potential immigration ramifications both for the timing of your divorce and how you proceed with the legal process. For example, you may need more detailed court filings to show USCIS how and why the marriage broke down to show that it was legitimate in the first place. A green card marriage divorce is different from other cases because it can have an effect on your immigration status and potentially your ability to remain in the United States for the long term.
Contact a Las Vegas Lawyer for a Green Card After Divorce
Do not take any chances with your green card after divorce. Contact an experienced immigration attorney to learn more about how you can still remain in the United States, even after you have been divorced.
Schedule an initial consultation with Hayoon Kane Law Firm, PLLC, by contacting us online or by calling us today at (702) 463-7630. We can explain our green card process to you, both to give you peace of mind and to ensure that you understand what you are facing.
Our office is located in Las Vegas, and we have a 50-state practice, serving clients with immigration needs across the country.
