Divorce after Conditional Green Card
When a foreigner marries a US citizen, the US citizen spouse can file to sponsor the foreign national for permanent residency (green card). If the marriage is less than two years old at the time the applications are approved, the foreign spouse will receive a conditional green card which is valid for two years. Three months prior to the expiration of that card, the couple must jointly file another application for a permanent card. But what if the marriage didn’t survive? If the marriage is over, there’s a good chance you will lose your green card but there are ways to file without your ex-spouse and we have helped many people successfully do so. Here are two examples.
Case 1:
US citizen and foreign spouse loved each other and got married. We obtained a conditional green card for the foreign spouse in about 4 months. The US citizen was transferred to a different city to work but the foreign spouse had a good job in the city where they met so they decided to work in different cities but see each other as often as they could. Even though they had a baby together, the distance apart took a toll on their marriage and they decided to divorce after a year and two months. They separated on good terms and the US citizen asked us to help the foreign spouse obtain a permanent green card. We worked with both of them and obtained a permanent green card for the foreign spouse in about 6 months.
Case 2:
Foreign spouse came to us for help and indicated that her US citizen spouse was unfaithful. Since they both had a very difficult relationship, we worked with the foreign spouse alone and built a strong case to obtain a permanent green card for her.
Many people believe that it’s impossible to obtain a permanent green card after the divorce. That isn’t the case. We have successfully helped many foreign spouses obtain permanent green cards after divorce. Feel free to call us at 305-515-0613 or email us at info@messersmithlaw.com