Oath letter and Divorce! URGENT

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dr_khan2009

Registered Users (C)
I need to find out this for a close friend of mine.

She got married to US citizen in 2000, got her GC in 2001, applied for naturalization in 2004. She got her FP taken, got her interview and the couple ended up getting divorced in April 2005. She just received a letter from DO that she has her Oath scheduled for June. She is extremely ill due to health reasons and cant make it to oath plus her divorce is also final. She wrote letter to BCIS that she cant make it to Oath ceremony due to health reasons and would like to withdraw her application because she dont want BCIS to find out that she is divorced cuz in her marital settlement agreement the separation date is of 2001. This is due to her spouse who wanted to show to the his new spouse that they were not together for a long time. Even though she has prove that they lived together till last year. But they agreed mutually on early separation date to save each other trouble for future marriage partner's questions, divorce counseling, and easy divorce proceedings and since she was in school the whole time, she did nt think it was a problem.

Now if she gets married to a USC and reapplies for citizenship based on 5 year, are they gonna ask her for the divorce decree or separation agreement. Her divorce decree is all clean and dont state the separation date on it. Do they care when you got separated? Do they care about marital settlement agreement? Can her previous marriage early separation date have any effects on her naturalization ability?

Please help this young lady get these answers.
 
The best way to give your friend some peace to mind: she should consult an immigration attorney. It will be worth maybe paying for 30min-1hr consultation.

Since I am not an attorney or an expert, I will give my opinions as I see the situation
- separation for an extended period of time leading to divorce or reunion is quite normal. So separation could be seen as 'ok' here.
- Judging by the situation, it was wise to withdraw the N400 petition. Since at the time of oath, she was not married, she "may" have run into problems later on after oath.
- Going forward it would be better for her to apply for citizenship based on 5 yr. Green Card.
- There should be no problem when she reapplies.
- You have to mention whether you are married or divorced. During interview, INS may ask for the marriage certificate or divorce decree. When she applies again she would have to mention the marriage date, divorce date, details of her ex spouse, children on N400. Also if she remarries, she will have to fill out details of the spouse & children. This appears to be normal. Yes she will have to submit a copy of the divorce decree later on.
- Do they care about the details. Well this is a matter of interpretation. The positive thing is that, she did a right thing by withdrawing her application and has proven her compliance with the law.
- Since the marriage did not have any problems related to law & order, there should be no problem due to her previous marriage when she reapplies for citizenship.

Best wishes
 
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