H1B approved, meanwhile divorced from US citizen making pending I485 invalid

[samuraijack]

Hi,

I entered US on a K3(aug 17, 2004) and applied for I485(based on the marriage to a US citizen) which is still pending after even being interviewed(nov 2005). Actually I was having problems with my wife so asked my company to sponsor me which they did and I have my H1B approved from the US embassy on oct 17, 2007. I am waiting for my passport to come back with visa after the administrative processing. Meanwhile in the US my wife filed the divorced and got the final dissolution judgment few days ago. I am still drawing salary from my employer. I am going to send letter to USCIS to withdraw my I485. I was wondering is it ok to keep getting paid even I am divorced or I should ask them to put me on unpaid leave of absence until I go back and activate my H1B since my ability to work in the US was based on my pending I485 which is not going to be valid anymore. Also If I keep getting paid, what kind of consequences I should expect in the future due to this situation.

 

[manwithnoname]

Since your H-1B is approved, you can change your status to H-1B by getting the vsa stamped from one of the U.S. Consulate from either your home country or Canada/Mexico. Next, ask your employer to sponsor for an immigration petition.

 

[TheRealCanadian]

I am going to send letter to USCIS to withdraw my I485.

I don't see why you would want to do that until you go back to H-1 status.

I was wondering is it ok to keep getting paid even I am divorced or I should ask them to put me on unpaid leave of absence until I go back and activate my H1B since my ability to work in the US was based on my pending I485 which is not going to be valid anymore.

Your pending I-485 remains valid until it is denied. It was not automatically canceled when the marriage ended.

 

[samuraijack]

Since your H-1B is approved, you can change your status to H-1B by getting the vsa stamped from one of the U.S. Consulate from either your home country or Canada/Mexico. Next, ask your employer to sponsor for an immigration petition.

Please accept my gratitude for answering my questions so quickly. I think I was not clear in my questions. let me explain it for you. I appeared for a visa interview in the U.S. Consulate in my home country and got the visa approved. Now I am waiting for the passport to come back with the visa stamped on it after the administrative processing which may happen in couple of weeks as the visa officer at the consulate assured me.

The next question I asked was since we are divorced so I want to withdraw my pending I485 as soon as possible to get rid of my ex completely. Another reason for doing this is that I might get married again soon(my parents are arranging this for me), so to take my new wife with me to US I guess I will have to withdraw everything which was based on my previous marriage.

Q1-Should I withdraw my pending I485 while I am here in my home country or wait until I enter the US on H1B and do it there?
Q2-And can my getting married so soon after the first divorce result in visa problems for my new wife?
Q3-If I continue to work on my current "pending I485" status although the basis on which it was filed has been terminated(my marriage to US citizen), could it cause me any future problems.

I am asking this because a lawyer once told me(although I don't believe much in this statement) that USCIS can say that since I knew that I am divorced or going to get divorced but still I continued working on that status so I had bad intent. Which can cause me problems in either getting the visa or later with my immigration petition through the company.

I highly appreciate any help.