N400 Denied Due to Lack of GMC

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dsw13

New Member
My bestie applied N400 in 2008 after being permanent resident for 5 years thru a marriage to a USC. The application however was denied. The denial is due to bigamy and that he failed to established GMC within the statutory period of 5 years of being permanent resident. The denial further said that "it is WITHOUT prejudice to the filing of new application in the future should she meet all the eligibility requirements. Since then, there was no NTA or even notice to rescind permanent residency and/or GC to this day. She went on a short vacay last year outside the country and got in just fine with her GC.

The question is, her new statutory of 5 years to re-apply is next year. Would she re-apply? If so, would she again be denied? What would be the best course of action?
 
Did she actually commit bigamy? Or was it only a matter of being unable to find the divorce decree of the prior marriage?

If she was still married to somebody else when she got her green card through her husband, she could be deported.
 
From what I understand, her first marriage was void from the start according to Family Code/Law in her country. That said, she didn't thought that it is important to have some kind of court decree that is it indeed void from inception. When she married her USC husband, though short lived, it was in good faith. When I knew her she removed the condition by filing the 751 waiver and was granted. It was only after she had her conditional status removed that she and ex from the other country realized they do need something to legally terminate the marriage. So they did. It was granted within a year. But that was already after the fact. 2 years later, she filed the N400 and that was then the result. She mentioned the first husband in the application and said something like the marriage was not valid of some sort.

Anyways, she has then remarried to new USC husband. Knowing all previous marriages have been legally terminated, she could potentially get the new status from the new husband should USCIS order her removal or rescind her existing permanent residency?


Jackolantern said:
Did she actually commit bigamy? Or was it only a matter of being unable to find the divorce decree of the prior marriage?

If she was still married to somebody else when she got her green card through her husband, she could be deported.
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Was the first marriage retroactively nullified, so that it was void since inception, or legally has a termination date before the 2nd marriage began?

If not, there would still be some overlap with the first and second marriage, and if she got her green card through the second marriage, that also makes the green card subject to revocation (which of course would also mean naturalization denial).
 
If you would think, the first marriage was legally terminated by divorce but only after marrying the 2nd husband. That's where the overlap lied. However, after she got the denial, they then again to clear things up applied for "annulment" this time in their home country and the decission was indeed "void ab initio" which means void from the very beginning. That makes them both retroactively single.

Now on the note that the first green card maybe revoked, it's been nearly 5 years since the denial was rendered. You cannot rescind green card after 5 years. And from what I know, her permanent residency is already 10 years this years along with her GC.

Jackolantern said:
Was the first marriage retroactively nullified, so that it was void since inception, or legally has a termination date before the 2nd marriage began?

If not, there would still be some overlap with the first and second marriage, and if she got her green card through the second marriage, that also makes the green card subject to revocation (which of course would also mean naturalization denial).
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Just out of curiosity, how did this come up in the naturalization and not when filing the I751 ? I would have thought that this situation would have been exposed before getting to the N400 filing.
 
From all the things we both read from the INA, green card adjudicators don't go dig enough. N400 adjudicators are stricter. That's where all the mistakes, errors weather done innocently or not, comes out.

In my friend's situation, she didn't mind starting all over. It would have been easier had they issued her NTA coz then she can either appeal or turn around get a waiver for relief since she's been here long enough, then start over.

It is extremely stressful when you think you did all the right things and yet turned out you didn't. That's where she is. In all of this, she's already set an appointment with 3 different immigtation lawyers specializing in defense, removal proceedings and what not if it comes to it. At the end of the day, she will get another status as her new marriage stands given that all other marriages were already legally terminated. It's just a matter of correcting the errors where the error lied.


New400 said:
Just out of curiosity, how did this come up in the naturalization and not when filing the I751 ? I would have thought that this situation would have been exposed before getting to the N400 filing.
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dsw13 said:
Now on the note that the first green card maybe revoked, it's been nearly 5 years since the denial was rendered. You cannot rescind green card after 5 years. And from what I know, her permanent residency is already 10 years this years along with her GC.
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However, that 5 year limitation is only for information that was known to USCIS or the consulate at the time of adjudication. When it comes to material information that was not revealed during the green card process, they can revoke the green card any number of years later when they discover it.
 
I am right in the same situation as hers, and keen to know how she ended up solving the problem.
Did she reapply for new status? Or, she got in NTA and filed a waiver?
 
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