abcorn

Hello,

I am a US citizen and my husband a UK citizen. We have applied for Adjustment of Status from an L visa to a green card based on marriage. Our interview is next month.

One of the things we need to bring is proof of previous divorces. My husband was married and divorced twice before. When he married the second time he had to surrender the divorce decree. We have the Decree Nici but not the Decree Absolute.

Does anyone know if the Decree Nici and a subsequent marriage are sufficient proof of the first divorce?

We would just get a copy, but it seems that we would have to do so in person.

Many thanks.

ian-mstm

It is not. He will need a copy of the Decree Absolute... else it could be determined that his current marriage is not valid for US immigration purposes.


Such records are public, and should be available through the GRO.

Ian

abcorn

Thanks, Ian. Though i was hoping that wasn't the case I suspected that it might be. Better to know now.

Unfortunately the GRO office doesn't have divorce records. I'll call the court tomorrow and hope that what I was told about having to go there in person was wrong.

Fingers crossed!

ian-mstm

The records are public... if the GRO doesn't have them, then there are other agencies from which you can get those records.

Ian

lizzyq

For a copy of my decree absolute I had to write to the Manchester courts service. As I had the case number, it cost me all of a fiver! If I had not had the case number it would have been £45 as the records would have had to have been manually searched. YMMV.

At the visa interview nobody looked at any of our certificates.

abcorn

Thanks for the info, Lizzyq.

Were you able to get the documents through the mail? Do you remember how long it took?

lizzyq

Yes, all done by mail apart from initial phone call. Took less than 2 weeks.

Hope it is as easy for your DH - having the court reference made it much easier and faster. Personally I would suggest he has copies of the decree absolute for each divorce, it is a small cost for a lot of peace of mind.

abcorn

Oh that is great news!

Yes we have the case number and already have a copy of the Decree Absolute for the second divorce.

Many thanks for putting mind at ease.