How Does Divorce Affect an Immigrants Green Card Chances?
Immigration law in America allows an immigrant to gain permanent citizenship of the United States by marrying a citizen of the country. The immigrant is given a Green Card by the United States government once married in order to allow them to remain in the country. After an American citizen marries an immigrant, the citizen can request from the government an immigrant visa and a green card to be issued to their new spouse from the Citizenship and Immigration Services department.
While it seems to be a simple process at first glance, this is not the case. This is because sponsoring a spouse and allowing them to stay in the country is seen as being one of the easiest ways of sponsoring spousal abuse, because of the threat of deportation the American citizen can use to threaten his or her new spouse.
The American Government enacted in 1994 a law called the Violence Against Women Act, also known as VAWA. In 2001, this act was further ammended and is a great help in preventing immigrant spousal abuse. This law allows immigrants married to a citizen of American to apply for Green Card status on their own, without the consent or knowledge of their spouse. On top of that, if an immigrant has been abused, he or she can continue with their application for a Green Card, even if they have already applied for a divorce due to the extreme cruelty of their partner.
In any case, the immigrant should always contact a lawyer specializing in VAWA cases to represent her in court. The lawyer knows the cases, knows the procedures, documents and everything else that the divorced immigrant will have to go through in order to get the Green Card. Some of the proof required include proof of marriage, proof that the couple lived together for a certain period of time and proof that the divorce was granted due to spousal abuse.
In any case, always speak with a VAWA lawyer if you have left your spouse due to abuse and still want to get your Green Card to be allowed to stay in the United States.