ALL spouse's divorce certificates crucial for N-400 application if filing after 5 yrs.?

M

makaba

Registered Users (C)
My husband was divorced twice before we got married but has only a divorce certificate of his previous (2nd) marriage in his possession. His first divorce was long ago and he cannot even remember where he (or his ex-wife) filed for divorce nor when exactly. He was in the military and moved several times during that period. We contacted his ex-wife (of his first marriage) and she also lost her divorce papers during moves around the country. She is also remarried.

I have been in the US for 12 years (and married to him for 15) and my N-400 application is not based on marriage to a US citizen. I have all other documentation, and nothing else would stand in the way of my application.

Does USCIS require ALL the spouse's divorce certificates in my case? Since I cannot provide the exact date of his first divorce on my application, I am afraid they could deny me citizenship because of that.

Does anybody know if this will be a major obstacle and what I can do?
 
Given that you are not applying for citizenship based on marriage, and you are not the one who got divorced, it is unlikely that they'll ask for anything more than your current marriage certificate.

If they ask for the old divorce decree, cross that bridge when you get there. He probably had to produce it when marrying his second wife, so he may be able to obtain a copy of it from the city/state where he married that wife. If a copy is insufficient for USCIS, he can use the information on the copy to obtain a new original from the place that issued it.

Did you obtain your green card based on marriage to your husband? If yes, both divorce decrees probably were provided to INS during your green card process, and thus would be in your immigration file. So if asked for the old divorce decree, you could point out that fact to the interviewer and hopefully s/he'll find it in the file.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
poongunranar said:
Yes. You need them because they need to rule out bigamy.
Click to expand...
An applicant's spouse former marriages do not define whether the applicant themselves committed bigamy.
The IO can ask for the spouse's divorce decrees, but they are not a factor in determinating whether the applicant committed bigamy.
 
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