Divorce & Immigration
Divorce & Immigration:
Nothing affects a person’s life quite like divorce, often, this includes immigration status.
If you are the non-US citizen, the effect depends on when your spouse seeks divorce: before filing an I-130 petition for you or after filing it, before or after an interview on your I-485, before or after your I-751, petition to remove conditions has been filed or interview scheduled or attended.
If you are on a dependent visa and the principal files for divorce or does not include you on the application for permanent residence, threatening divorce, you need to know your option.
If you are the US citizen or permanent resident, what are your obligations if you filed the I-130 along with the I-864, affidavit of support, and how, if at all, are those obligations changed by a prenuptial agreement (prenup or premarital agreement)?
What about the opposite side, how can divorce be impacted by the immigration case?
The I-864 is more and more often used to seek maintenance (alimony).
The dependent visa holder is going to be without employment authorization, unable to support her or himself, how will that affect the duration of maintenance?
If there are domestic violence issues, will seeking an order of protection negatively impact the non-citizen spouse? Are the abuse allegations legitimate or brought to improve (mostly based on bad advice) chances of removing conditions on residence?
These questions and very practical ones, like ability to divide property in a foreign country by a US state court, depend on the circumstances of each particular case.
You need legal advice prior to making any decisions. Please contact us (below) or complete our short intake form here.
