If USCIS discovers that you have entered into a marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws, you may face numerous consequences, including imprisonment and monetary fines. You will also be barred from submitting other immigration applications in the future.
When you apply for a marriage green card, you must ensure that you have submitted the correct forms, the required evidence, and the correct filing fee. However, if you make a mistake in your application, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will almost always give you at least one opportunity to correct the error.
If you want to file a joint but your spouse is neither a U.S. citizen nor a U.S. tax resident, you must have either a Social Security number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). You do not need to have legal immigration status to obtain an ITIN.
Getting divorced from your abuser will not affect your VAWA application. However, if you get married before your VAWA application is approved, USCIS will deny your VAWA application. Even if USCIS does not discover your new marriage until after USCIS approves your VAWA application, USCIS will revoke the approval of your application.
If you already have a pending Form I-130 application, you can still file a VAWA petition. You do not have to withdraw your Form I-130 application before you can apply for VAWA. If your Form I-130 application was filed by your abuser, you can transfer the priority date of your Form I-130 to your Form I-360 VAWA application.
Becoming a U.S. citizen will not affect your application for your wife. The processing times are currently the same for the spouse of a U.S. citizen and the spouse of a green card holder. Becoming a U.S. citizen might affect your application for your wife’s children.
If you are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and marry someone who has a child, the child might qualify as your stepchild. If you married the child’s biological parent before the child turned 18 years of age, the child is your “stepchild” for immigration purposes. You can apply for your stepchild to immigrate to the U.S. the same way you would apply for your own biological child. You are not required to legally adopt your stepchild before you can apply for your stepchild to immigrate to the U.S.
If you meet the following criteria, you can file an application for naturalization even if your I-751 petition for removal of conditions is still pending with USCIS.
You can apply for a green card through VAWA even if you have not divorced from your abusive spouse. Often, the non-immigrant spouse cannot leave or divorce the abuser because of limited financial resources and threats to their safety from the abuser. USCIS does not penalize an abused spouse for remaining in the household with their abuser. When you submit your VAWA petition, you should write a personal statement that explains the abuse you suffered and why you have not divorced from your abusive spouse.
One of the benefits of being a U.S. citizen is that you can submit a K-1 visa to allow your foreign fiancé(e) to travel to the U.S. However, to qualify for a K-1 fiancé(e) visa, you and your fiancé(e) must have met in person in the two years prior to filing the K-1 visa application. If Covid-19 has prevented you from meeting your fiancé(e) in the past two years, you may be ineligible to apply for a K-1 visa.
The sponsor can count the intending immigrant’s income in his household income if the following requirements are satisfied: (1) you have the same principal residence as the sponsor and (2) your income will continue from a lawful source even after you obtain your green card.
You cannot apply for naturalization yet. You must be a permanent resident for a certain number of years and be in “continuous residence” before you may apply for naturalization. To be eligible for naturalization, you must satisfy the following conditions.
To apply for a green card on the basis of suffering battery or extreme cruelty, you must submit evidence to show that you lived with your abusive spouse. However you do not have to be living with your abusive spouse at the time you file your VAWA green card application. You can wait until you are living separately to file your VAWA application.
If you do not have a U.S. passport or certificate of naturalization, you will have to submit Form N-565 to apply to replace your certificate of naturalization. In the meantime, if you have a copy of your original certificate, you can provide that to your new employer along with proof of filing Form N-565 or receipt notice so they know that the request for a replacement is in process.
You can still prove that you are a person of good moral character. USCIS evaluates each petition on a case-by-case basis and may consider any conduct, behavior, acts, or convictions. Whether a VAWA petitioner is a person of good moral character is a discretionary determination made by USCIS.