Separation shortly after Greencard

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MasterArcht

Registered Users (C)
Dear forum members, this is on behalf of a friend of mine. He and his wife have been married for almost 2 years now and he recently got his conditional greencard. Unfortunately, he barely missed the chance of getting an unconditional one by a month and this has complicated his current marriage problems. Here is the story: Shortly after the interview, his wife said she wanted to move back to her home state (to be close to her family, she claimed), but because his job prospects were better in their current state of residence, he did not want to move. Furthermore, his wife was under pressure from her family who apparently did not like him much and did everything they could to drive a wedge between them. He was unemployed at the time, so they used this against him and pressured her to leave him and come back to them. They even filed a false police report against him claiming that they were worried about their daughter's life, as a result of which cops paid him a visit in the middle of the night. Anyways, despite my friend's pleas, she finally said she had to go back and left him.

Now he has a conditional greencard, a good job, but she has moved away. So they are not living together anymore. I am not sure whether she'll ever come back to him -- even if she wants to, her family may not let her. I advised him that given this set of circumstances, for immigration purposes, he should not wait until the 2nd anniversary of his greencard to apply to remove conditions, but he should apply right away. Of course, I believe this requires that they get officially divorced, which he is not ready to do yet (he doesn't want to, but I think he may have to). What do you recommend that he do? Does he have a case of spousal battery given what she and her family have done to him? Should he get divorced right away? I am not experienced in this area of immigration matters, so your suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you.
 
Any suggestions on how he should proceed? Should he seek to get divorced immediately? They are not living together anymore, so we're not sure how he can remove conditions on his greencard.
 
Just wait until the divorce is done or 2-year GC anniversary is approaching - whichever is sooner. In the mean time collect as much evidence of bona-fide marriage as possible. When the time comes - file the waiver.
As far as the marriage is concerned - just let it be as this point. Don't file for divorce.
 
VisaNutz said:
Just wait until the divorce is done or 2-year GC anniversary is approaching - whichever is sooner. In the mean time collect as much evidence of bona-fide marriage as possible. When the time comes - file the waiver.
As far as the marriage is concerned - just let it be as this point. Don't file for divorce.
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Thank you for your response. Given that the couple no longer lives together, and not even in the same state, how can my friend gather evidence of bona-fide marriage? Do you mean evidence of marriage until the separation? Why should he wait and not file for divorce, and then file to remove conditions immediately?
 
According to my research, one needs to get divorced before he can file to remove conditions by himself, is this correct? What if divorce is not finalized by the 2nd anniversary of the greencard?
 
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