Over the weekend, the marriage between me and my wife terminated.
My wife has paperwork in process - for an I-130 (green card for spouse). She was here on a K-3 visa.
Now that we are no longer together, how will the termination of the marriage affect the processing of her I-130 and the validity of her K-3 visa or her presence in the US?
If the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), the descendant of the INS, is not told of the divorce, how are the above processes affected?
Will I get into trouble for not reporting that the filee is no longer my spouse?
How long may she remain in the US?
If she returns to her country of origin and the USCIS is not informed of the divorce, can she still get her green card?
No idea but you might want to bump this in a week; **Eva Luna **, our resident immigration expert par excellence is on a much deserved vacation and might not see it till then. Good Luck!
Excellent idea. I was thinking and hoping Eva Luna would read it. I did not know she was on vacation.
Ah, vacations. I could really use a cruise right now.
Interesting, to add more info to what I was asking about, her uncle is going to take her under his wing. He has sponsored many people so far, but I don’t think he’s able to sponsor any more. (He’s twice sponsored a cousin of my former wife and both times the request for his immigration was denied.)
If she legally entered the country and you two were married, then she can apply for “Conditional Lawful Permanent Resident" status as soon as the marriage license is signed. The “conditional” hinges on you staying married for three years. Once this conditional status is approved (usually after the interview) she has until the three-year mark to apply for the “conditional” prefix to be removed, after which she’d be for all intents and purposes permanently legal. Prior to the three-year mark, if the marriage is annulled or you get a divorce, then her status reverts once again to “Temporary Resident”. So as far as the government is concerned, you two need to hit at least your three year anniversary.
So the questions is has she been applying for these status changes with the INS (sounds like it) and have you been married for 3 years?
She can stay in the US as long as her current visa/Green Card is valid. Once that expires she needs to apply for a new one or head home. Also not reporting the divorce probably won’t come back to bother you, however it could lead to a whole world of grief for her if the INS (or whatever their new name is) finds out, especially if she at some point needs to apply for a new one.
We have not been married for three years yet. We were married for about a year and a half.
She is here on an I-94. I forgot to check when it will expire.
Well, I’m still curious but it matters less now. Her relatives finally woken up to the fact that we’re not going to provide for her, and have taken her under their wing (which is what they were supposed to do anyway, according to cultural rules).
Howdy from vacation! I’m in SF, which is still civilizatioon - they do have computers here.
I don’t do K visas, but I do know about them in a geberal way. In oder to tell you where she stands, I’d need to know what point you are at. Are you legally divorced? What point are you at in the adjudication of the I-130? Did you file it concurrently with the I-485?
I’ll take a more in-depth shot at it once I’m back at work toward the end of this week, but if you’re no longer married and she has not yet become a permanent resident, she is not eligible to do so. If you want to help her remain in lawful immigration status, I can try to give you some other options.
(Darn typos - that’s what I get for working on someone else’s laptop in dim lighting and remaining in denial about the need to wear my glasses while online!)
I was thinking and hoping Eva Luna would read it. I did not know she was on vacation.