Hi! One of my friends is currently involved in the process of getting divorced. The conditions on her residence have been removed (VAWA type of thing) and she is waiting for an actual GC to come in the mail. Her spouse has filed papers for an annulment and claims that marriage shouldn't have happened, because she lied and stuff. If the court declares their marriage void and null, will my friend have her residency revoked? What are the chances? What is most likely to happen?
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Consequences of an annulment for a GC holder.
- Thread starter Allan28
- Start date
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Filing a case alone for an annulment (or any case) doesn't mean asking party would definitely get what s/he is asking for; rather everything must need to be proven in a court of law. Plus, obtaining an annulment is VERY hard/tough unless there is a compelling reason existed, i.e. one of the parties was underage at the time when marriage occurred or was married before (not divorced), or lied about having serious disease, or did not disclose about not having intention to have children with new spouse, etc.
As for annulling the marriage based upon immigration fraud (as asking party usually claims that respondent defrauded him/her to gain immigration benefit), then it is VERY hard to prove, almost none to zero, unless there is something in writing about admitting this fact by the respondent. Plus, family court judges normally DO NOT annul the marriage even if there are satisfactory evidences to do that. Because they know that alien-respondent would get deported if they would annul the marriage. They are normally very sympathetic to aliens. So, the chances are- a marriage won't get annulled even if a party would wish for it so desperately.
However, there are always some judges who are biased. Thus, it could be possible that judge might annul the marriage. If that would happen in this case, then she should try her best not let her marriage be annulled. Thus, she must need to research and study similar cases in her state which is easily to find in Law Library or online. And if her marriage does get annulled, then she must need to appeal the decision of lower court in the higher court; otherwise she would get deported in the future.
Read one of my postings here-
http://immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=209284
Just you to know, I practiced immigration, matrimonial (NJ laws) and Bankruptcy laws very aggressively. And I started my career by handling VAWA cases for State sponsored advocacy agency.
Good luck.
As for annulling the marriage based upon immigration fraud (as asking party usually claims that respondent defrauded him/her to gain immigration benefit), then it is VERY hard to prove, almost none to zero, unless there is something in writing about admitting this fact by the respondent. Plus, family court judges normally DO NOT annul the marriage even if there are satisfactory evidences to do that. Because they know that alien-respondent would get deported if they would annul the marriage. They are normally very sympathetic to aliens. So, the chances are- a marriage won't get annulled even if a party would wish for it so desperately.
However, there are always some judges who are biased. Thus, it could be possible that judge might annul the marriage. If that would happen in this case, then she should try her best not let her marriage be annulled. Thus, she must need to research and study similar cases in her state which is easily to find in Law Library or online. And if her marriage does get annulled, then she must need to appeal the decision of lower court in the higher court; otherwise she would get deported in the future.
Read one of my postings here-
http://immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=209284
Just you to know, I practiced immigration, matrimonial (NJ laws) and Bankruptcy laws very aggressively. And I started my career by handling VAWA cases for State sponsored advocacy agency.
Good luck.
Last edited by a moderator:
JohnnyCash, thanks a lot for your sophisticated answer!
Good to realise that obtaining an annulment is very hard, although, the fact that her PR status DOES get revoked just because her abusive/retarded husband gets the annulment is really dissapointing!!
Can a judge's decision be affected by mere sympathy, rather than the evidence presented by the petitioner?
Good to realise that obtaining an annulment is very hard, although, the fact that her PR status DOES get revoked just because her abusive/retarded husband gets the annulment is really dissapointing!!
Plus, family court judges normally DO NOT annul the marriage even if there are satisfactory evidences to do that. Because they know that alien-respondent would get deported if they would annul the marriage. They are normally very sympathetic to aliens.
Can a judge's decision be affected by mere sympathy, rather than the evidence presented by the petitioner?
JohnnyCash
Volunteer Moderator
Allan28 said:Can a judge's decision be affected by mere sympathy, rather than the evidence presented by the petitioner?
The whole point is-if plaintiff (the husband of your friend here) would present compelling evidence to the Court (Judge) that the respondent (your friend) lied to him prior to their marriage about her age as she was underage at that time, or lied about being single while she was actually legally married with someone else, or did not tell him about her intention of not having family with him, or did not tell him about having any disease which affected him too after the marriage and etc, THEN judge would have no other choice except to annul their marriage.
But, Judge would not annul the marriage if her husband would claim that she married to him just for immigration benefit and lied to him about her true intention. Like I said that this kind of allegations are very hard to prove in the court unless someone has hard evidence like something in writing. In this kind of situation, Judges normally end the marriage thru divorce than annulment.
You should also know that even though your friend's husband has filed for divorce, yet still your friend can also counter-claim for anything she likes especially asking for divorce on the same action.
It is my suggestion that she should hire a lawyer to protect herself. Saving money might cost her chances to live her forever. This is one of the situations wheren aliens should not think about money if they wish to live in this country because annulment of their marriage would make her deportable in the future for sure. And I think her husband is aware of this fact somehow, which made him to seek annulment of their marriage than divorce.
Good Luck.