todd267

Hey everyone…sorry to have to ask you all this but here goes anyway…


I’m a British citizen who’s married to a US citizen; I am a conditional resident and have been for just over a year.

I do very much love my wife, and she loves me… Having said that we’ve had a few arguments recently about where we are both going in our lives and its obvious that both of us want different things and are going in different directions (by that I mean regarding in what we want to achieve out of life).

We both feel that a divorce might be on the cards.

There has been no cheating by either party, we still live together and it’s as civil as it can be. We’ve done everything a real and genuine couple would do, taken out joint insurance, cars, taken trips together. We’ve even gone though IVF in order to try and have a kid (although she recently found out that she is infertile). We both work regular 9-5 jobs and both conform to the system in every way.

The last thing we are is a sham couple.

If push came to shove id have no problems in going back to the Uk, but given the choice – now that I’m here id rather stay.

What do you think my chances would be as filing an I-751 waiver? Anyone have any ideas what sort of percentage of these cases get bounced and how many go through?

Has anyone actually been though this process… im sure ill get some responses of “seek legal advice” and ive got no probs doing that… id just really appreciate the points of view from you guys on here

Thanks

Todd

todd267

That if it makes any difference at all weve been married for about 2 and a half years in total....

Noorah101

Hi Todd,

I believe that once the divorce is final, you can apply to remove the conditions on your own. After that, you can apply for citizenship 5 years after you became a PR.

Best Wishes,
Rene

jeffreyhy

Todd,

My sense, based on anecdotal evidence, is that the odds are in your favor that you will be able to remove conditions.

Consulting with or working with an attorney who has experience in this area should improve your odds even more - what evidence you present and how you present it can influence the decision, and the attorney's experience will help get these things 'right' for your specific circumstances.

Regards, JEff

Reggie21

Hi there :-)

My situation is very similar to yours! (I am from the UK too - but am the woman in this case!)

I am wanting to separate from my hubby also and want to just go ahead and file for divorce, but my lawyer is advising that to make my 'waiver' situation sound plausible (because apparently, when receving my applicaiton, the INS will look at my timeline as being 'suspicious' i.e only married for 2yrs 6 mnths), I should file on the grounds of extreme mental cruelty and assualt. I am jus tnot going to do this as (a), its untrue (b) my husband is not that type of person and I don't want it showing up on a divorce certificate (reason we are separating is because, well, we both found other people, let's say...him first though!). So we wer talking about getting a legal separation for a year instead then filing for the divorce (the filing for divorce time will be right around the time I have to file for removal of conditions).

I guess my question is: what will they think about the legal separation reason? Do they look upon all marriages that don't end with someone battering someone else as suspicious? This is just ridiculous. My hubby and I were happily married for almost 2 years before he bedded one of his Asian students (he's a teacher) and so you can imagine the scenario. But he is in no way capable of cruel and inhumane torture. I have all the evidence to prove that it was a real marriage (our interviewer at our AOS interviewer was like "you are the most loveliest couple I have seen in a long time"..) Funny how things work out, huh? I guess we were at that time :-(

so again, any advice as the 'best grounds to file divorce upon' would be greatly appreciated.

Thank youso much

Rosemary (nickname is Reggie)

ian-mstm

Best solution, IMHO... and quite common.


Is this a divorce attorney or an immigration attorney. Consider the source! The "why" you separate/divorce is irrelevant... the waiver requires only that you entered the marriage in good faith.

Ian

Reggie21

Hi Ian

My attorney would be an Immigration attorney. In New York State where my husband and I live, we don't have 'irreconcilable differences', like all the other states: the only 'no fault' divorce is 'Legal Separation' for a year.

Aparently, Immigration doesn't like 'legal separation'.

What to do? What in your honest, would you do?
Thank you so much.
Reggie

bionomique

I'm not familiar with New York divorce requirements, but it seems that the legal separation is a mandated precursor to obtaining a no-fault divorce. Filing a self-petition for I-751 requires that the marriage be terminated, so if that one-year timeframe bumps into the filing deadline, then you'd have to await the award of a divorce decree before filing the I-751 alone, on the basis of a bona fide marriage that terminated in divorce. Chances are you'd be delayed in filing for as long as it takes to finalise the no-fault divorce.

You're looking for grounds for the divorce that would not require a one-year waiting period so that it could be finished before the I-751 filing period, but would reflect only the truth? How about adultery? I'd think that hubby bedding his Asian student certainly qualifies.

ian-mstm

That may be, but USCIS isn't going to interfere with a state's mandated divorce process, and there is a procedure in place to delay filing the I-751 due to such circumstances. When you file for the waiver, you'll need to include your divorce decree, but I believe you neither need to disclose that you were separated for so many months prior to filing nor the reasons why you separated and divorced.


Since you ask, I would separate and file for divorce as soon as I am eligible to do so. I've been down the divorce road and, if truth be told, I would have started sooner had I known the emotional toll that comes from staying in an unhappy marriage. People stay married for many reasons... usually none of them any good - immigration included. Try to separate the two issues: marriage and immigration... and then leave the marriage *if* you believe that is what is best for you.

Ian