Subpoena to produce Immigration papers by my ex

D

DontBother

New Member
My ex gave me a subpoena to produce all my immigration papers including my any correspondence with USCIS related to my AOS application based on GC filing through his employment, since the separation and my current H1 Visa application with in 10 days. Do I have to give all my papers?

I was thinking that it is my personal property and also I have no clue why he would ask for my papers as it is totally irrelevant to my current DV case. Currently I have Temporary Restraining Order against him for which a court hearing in scheduled on Dec 17th.
Can I do something to prevent it? For sure I don’t want to show my immigration papers to him or to his attorney in any case.
 
See a lawyer. Just because somebody sends you a subpoena, that doesn't mean they have the right to the given information. Subpoenas can be refused or challenged.
 
DontBother said:
My ex gave me a subpoena to produce all my immigration papers including my any correspondence with USCIS related to my AOS application based on GC filing through his employment, since the separation and my current H1 Visa application with in 10 days. Do I have to give all my papers?

I was thinking that it is my personal property and also I have no clue why he would ask for my papers as it is totally irrelevant to my current DV case. Currently I have Temporary Restraining Order against him for which a court hearing in scheduled on Dec 17th.
Can I do something to prevent it? For sure I don’t want to show my immigration papers to him or to his attorney in any case.
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Since the green card filing was done through his employment, it is reasonable to expect that they belong to him as well. You were the beneficiary on a petition filed by him through his employer, so I think legally you are on a thin ice. There is also the issue of whether the documentation sought are material to the issue under consideration by the court? Yes, you don't have to subpoena the immigration documents to your husband unless you are legally required to do, but a competent lawyer can evaluate the language in the court order to advise you a course of action to pursue. For example, if this subpoena is done as a retaliation against you for the case against him scheduled for Dec 17th, then you don't have to respond to it and any court of law will be glad to dismiss this subpoena as nonsense.
 
Al Southner said:
Since the green card filing was done through his employment, it is reasonable to expect that they belong to him as well.
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Not in the legal sense. In an employment-based case, the LC and I-140 belong to the employer, and each I-485 or DS-230 belong to the alien alone. I can't think of a single piece of immigration paperwork for a derivative beneficiary that "belongs" to the principal alien or employer.

I agree with the rest of the post, I'd try and quash the subpoena, or at least make the spouse defend it.
 
The subpoena has his family lawyer's signature at bottom and name and address on top and asking to produce the records in 10 days to the City Record Services (a private firm handling subpoena and legal docs).

This is a strictly DV case where I have a TRO against him and a hearing is coming up. He is desperatly trying to quash it by all means and we have a history of physical and mental abuse. In fact he was arrested last yr, but I was stupid enough to change the whole story and bailed him out. Due to this the case was never filed.

I switched to EAD (based on his employment based GC app) 2 yrs ago from my H1. And what he did is took me and my 5 yr old to India in Apr this year, under the pretext of a 3 weeks vacation, but upon reaching there abondaned us and took away my travel docs. It took me and my daughter(US Citizen) 3 months to come bk. Also apperently he wrote to USCIS about marriage nullification (as he also filed divorce in India before he came back). So, I got a notice to "Intent to Deny" my residency application from USCIS when I came back to which I filed a response and immediately switched job and got my independent H1 again.

Now why should I show him my immigration papers? In the subpeona he is specifically asking for all correspondence with USCIS since April (thts when we left for India together) and my H1 papers too.
 
DontBother said:
Now why should I show him my immigration papers? In the subpeona he is specifically asking for all correspondence with USCIS since April (thts when we left for India together) and my H1 papers too.
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You can't just ignore a subpoena. You either need to comply, or have it quashed. Do you have a family law attorney?
 
TheRealCanadian said:
You can't just ignore a subpoena. You either need to comply, or have it quashed. Do you have a family law attorney?
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Yes I have a family law attorney, but as he served the subpoena on wednesday (during child visitation), my attoney was unavailable due to thanksgiving weekend.
 
DontBother said:
Yes I have a family law attorney, but as he served the subpoena on wednesday (during child visitation), my attoney was unavailable due to thanksgiving weekend.
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Talk to your attorney when he gets back, if not back in time go to the court for subpeona and let them know you need time to arrange an attorney and they should be able to give you a continuance.
 
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