[matiascamargo]

Dear lawyer,

I entered to US on an immigrant visa (IR1 category) on March 12, 2014, which I got through marriage after 3 ½ years with an American citizen.

After a month and a half of being here in US my wife has asked for divorce and she was the petitioner. After being separated for almost 2 years waiting for approval from the US embassy overseas, she realized that she doesn’t want to be with me married anymore…

I have received already my Green Card under the IR1 category through the mail, and I do not know if I can file a divorce case with out getting consequences from the INS government agency or losing my residence in US.

I have to US children that I have to take care and that actually I mentioned during my process, and I cannot afford to live them alone again…

My questions are:

· Does this affect my permanent residentship? Will I lose it? Or,

· Can I change the residence category (IR1 category) to the Divorce one with no consequences?

· Can I file a divorce before making this change? Or,

· When will I be able to do this? For how long should I wait before filing the divorce?


Kindly answer my questions.

Sincerely,

Matias

[newacct]

You can get divorced. It shouldn't affect your green card.

Divorce is more of an issue for conditional permanent residents (people who were married for less than 2 years when they became permanent residents become conditional permanent residents) because they have to file for Removal of Conditions by a certain time (2 years after getting the green card). But even for conditional permanent residents, they can successfully do Removal of Conditions after divorce, as long as they show that the marriage was bona fide when they got the green card.

However, you are a non-conditional permanent resident. You never have to do Removal of Conditions, and thus it probably won't come up.

It's possible that if you apply for naturalization (which is optional) that they will look into your marriage. And since you guys filed for divorce so soon after you became a permanent resident based on the marriage, you might have some explaining to do. It's best to gather evidence of bona fide marriage and comingling of finances, etc. up to now, in case it will be useful later.

[matiascamargo]

Thank you so much for the reply. So, with this being said, Can I divorce with out notify the INS agency and wait for more time before let them know? And alsobefore changing the card? I really do not need to change my green card status right now, and the only reason of my worries are because my wife is pushing so hard to get the divorce done now... and even if I do not change the status on this green card, I will have to divorce soon. Please kindly reply!

[newacct]

Thank you so much for the reply. So, with this being said, Can I divorce with out notify the INS agency and wait for more time before let them know? And alsobefore changing the card? I really do not need to change my green card status right now, and the only reason of my worries are because my wife is pushing so hard to get the divorce done now... and even if I do not change the status on this green card, I will have to divorce soon. Please kindly reply!

You don't need to let anyone know or change anything.