Please Help Divorce/485

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fak005

Registered Users (C)
All:

Please provide your feedback on following scenario.

A husband filed for immigration of his wife as an applicant in his I-485. The husband filed for I-485 based on I-140 (employment based).

If husband and wife have had divorce after filing for I-485 and fingerprinting has been done, EAD received, can the wife continue to use her existing EAD and wait for green card to arrive or the whole 485 application gets cancelled for wife.

Please advice urgently

Thanks
fak005
 
As long as divorce is not informed to BCIS and husband with draws specifically the wifes application, the process should continue.

If he does, then unfortunately it comes to square one.

In this case, wife's application is sponsored by "husband".
 
The wife's I-485 is 'dependant of the primary applicant'. If there's a divorce, she no longer is a dependant of the primary applicant. Therefore, technically her I-485, along with her EAD and AP, are no longer valid. I believe the wife's I-485 cannot continue, as there is no humanitarian basis in this kind of situation (unlike when the primary applicant gets killed in an accident or act of terrorism).

You should consult with a good immigration lawyer.
 
So if the husband died in an accident, the wife can continue with I-485 application based on the humanitarian. Is that true?
 
Luk12, don't kill yourself! Getting the I-485 approved in case of the primary applicant's death is tricky too. For example, I remember after 9-11 that the INS rejected a few cases first and than later approved them after the widows appeared with tears on TV talkshows. But is was not a clear cut case and the poor widows were lucky that the INS gave in eventually.
 
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Helge is right - it is not a breeze! You must have a very very good/strong/convincing case that the death of the primary applicant would cause severe hardship to the dependent(s), if the application was denied.
But at least, the chance that BCIS is going to reopen the case is higher than the one where divorce is the primary reason for the separation.
 
I am not joking here. My husband filed employment based I-485 in Nov, 2001. He passed away recently. I am still in the recovering of loss of my dear husband. I didn't inform his death to BCIS. Do I have to do that? We prepared the application all by ourselves without lawyer's help.

Luckily his case was approved two weeks ago without RFE and interview. Apparently BCIS is not informed by my husband's death. Do you think it is my duty to report this? Strangely a RFE issued for me one week after his approval. I don't know what this is about. I haven't received the RFE yet.

My question is that if BCIS approves my case after I send the RFE back. can I go to local BCIS for stamping? Will they question about absense of the primary applicant's stamping (this can not be done, he is already gone)?

Any helpful suggestions or advices will be appreciated. I am struggling life here.
 
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Luk12, first of all my condolences.

Your situation is fairly tricky and probably nobody on this board here can give real good advice in your case other than to get in touch with a capable lawyer. Don't inform the INS before you had a chance to discuss your situation with a lawyer first.

Good Luck!!
 
Thanks, helge.
I consulted a few immigration lawyers a while ago before my husband's case got approved. Here are the opinions from those lawyers. Technically I can't continue with my I-485 application since the primary is deceased. If nobody informs BCIS about this, probably my case can continue on. But if BCIS issues RFE or call interview on my husband's case, his case will be terminated and mine is too. They can not do anything to help me.

I have worried about RFE or interview for my husband all these days. Surprisely his case got approved without RFE or interview and all the worries went away. But new worries raised up. My case is still pending while his case is approved. First I thought the dependent's approval may come later like the cases reported in this forum and I just wait. But the waiting result is a RFE instead of approval last week as per online message. I don't know what the RFE is about. So far I haven't received it.

Helge, you are right. Probably I should contact the lawyers again since there are some update information in my case.
 
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luk12, my condolences to you. I feel that since his case is approved your RFE could be non-employment based like Medical or something, so, you can easily handle that RFE and then your case can be approved.

Good luck! This is just my personal view but I am really not sure of its legal perspective.
 
Hopefully the RFE is for something simple and you can just submit it and get approved. It would be kind of sneaky, but I wouldn't feel bad about it if I were you. Sometimes you have to be sneaky to get there you want to be. Also, if the BCIS would have worked on your case in a timely manner then you wouldn't be in this situation to start with.

In a few days you will know what the RFE is all about, but because your husband got already approved your RFE should really be something very minor.

Also, technically your are now the widow of a greencard holder and not the widow of a primary applicant, maybe that makes a difference? I hope so. All the best to you!
 
luk12, my condolences...

Hopefully this RFE is simple.
what was your status before AOS H4/H1

I hope you are getting the social security compensation, just an FYI you can get this even if you are living outside the country in several listed countries.

Good luck...
 
fak005,

I think if you its is a mutual seperation then it will be for the seperated couple to decide what to do, if it is a divorce with a court order then BCIS should be informed.
 
Thanks, all. I got RFE yesterday. It is about the legal evidence for my name change.

When I came into America, I changed my first name by myself without through legal process. Right now, all my documents existing in US are using my new name, like driver license, social security number, bank account and credit card. But my passport still shows the old name. So I wrote a letter to explain the situation when I filed I-485. But still BCIS is requesting the legal evidence for the name change, which is reasonable. Because these days the security system is pretty much intense.

I went to local court today and submitted the application for name change. Probably I will get the certificate within one month (one week if they are working efficiently). Then I can send the court order about name change back to BCIS. I am still holding my breath until all of this is over.
 
Can you change your name by simply submitting a form at the local court ? Can we do that here, since we are foreighners ?
I guess that you are changing your name to the one that appears in your passport. Am i right ? What will happen to your SSN, Credit history etc ?
Since you have done some research on this topic, can you please give more details about name change? My first name appears differently in my SSN and Passport. I put my middlename as first name in the SSN aplication.

I wish you good luck for getting the GC. Talk to a good lawyer like
Rajiv Khanna (if possible).
 
Hmm .. I thought name change involved something more than just filling out a form .. Don't you need witnesses (those who were present when you were born or close relatives), court proceeding, etc?
 
Even I am using the new first name all the time in America, but I haven't offically changed yet. I also put my old first name (the one in the passport) as my middle name in my credit card, SSN and driver license et al. Right now I like to officialy change my name to the one shown up on the SSN, credit card as BCIS requested.

The requirements for the name change:
Copy of birth certificate
$185 fee
Fill out the petition and order forms for name change
Fill out part of the judicial intervention form

Then your case will be assigned to a judge, who will give the order after reviewing your case. You don't have to show up while the judge makes the order. You will be informed once the order is given. Then you come back to the court again and pick up the certificate for the name change. If you like, you can have an affidavit published in the news paper indicating that your name is changed. This can be used as a record except the certificate.

I will update the process for my name change in the future. So far as I know, you can change your name through court even you are a foriegner.
 
My condolences

luk12, my condolences to you. Did you talk to any attorney about going for stamping alone once you get the approval, will there be any complications involved as your husbend was approved but didn't get stamped?.
 
Hi luk12,
Your's is a difficult and unfortunate case. You need good wishes from every one here and with a little luck, you can get your GC.
My feeling is that you can't goto stamping without a good lawyer.
Take the services of a good lawyer (Indian lawyers may not charge you much because of your situation) and follow their advise.
Wish you good luck,
Satish
 
All I can pass on is condolences, and good wishes. I personally think that in case of your approval, you can go alone to the passport office, and get ur GC stamped.

Once again Best wishes to you.
 
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