{"id":5850,"date":"2022-09-11T16:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/?p=5850"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:46:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T19:46:04","slug":"can-i-protect-my-immigration-status-if-i-am-about-to-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/can-i-protect-my-immigration-status-if-i-am-about-to-divorce\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Protect My Immigration Status If I am About to Divorce?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Divorce is a stressful and complex time for your family, especially if your U.S. residency status is dependent on your marriage. While it\u2019s understandable to be concerned about the impacts of a divorce, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kriezelman Burton &amp; Associates, LLC<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can help you <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/family-immigration-lawyers-chicago\/divorce-and-immigration\/\">protect your immigration status<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before you finalize a divorce, you will need to know the potential impacts on your residency status. Our attorneys can help you understand whether a divorce may put your immigration status at risk: call for a case evaluation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Does Divorce Impact a Green Card Application?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your prospective legal status after a divorce may depend on the current status of your immigration case. The immigrant spouse will probably need to rely on their own immigration status if there hasn\u2019t been a visa application based on marriage. This may be determined by whether the spouse entered the country on a temporary visa, such as one for travel or employment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A legal residency that is based on marriage grants conditional residency for no longer than 2 years. After that time period, the U.S. citizen can submit a petition to change their status to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/immigration-lawyers-chicago\/permanent-residency\/\">lawful permanent resident<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Typically, the USCIS completes an investigation to determine if the marriage was completed in good faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Common Problems in Divorce Petitions<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on your spouse\u2019s status, as well as the immigration benefits you received, a divorce can impact your status as an immigrant. For instance, an individual who is married to a U.S. citizen only needs to wait three years to receive a green card. If the individual gets divorced, however, they will no longer be qualified and therefore will need to wait the typical five years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few of the common issues include:\u00a0<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bad Faith<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>.<\/strong> If an immigrant couple divorces, it may allege bad faith in the eyes of the court. This is due to the possibility that the non-citizen is seeking a green card specifically, rather than having had married out of genuine commitment. To protect your immigrant status, you will need to use careful language in the divorce decree to show that the marriage wasn\u2019t completed in bad faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wrongful Allegations<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>.<\/strong> Even if your spouse claimed that the marriage was made in bad faith in the petition, these claims are not considered facts, as you can prove that the marriage was made in good faith by providing evidence. However, this does mean that the spouse will not be able to support your application for permanent residency. Our attorneys will work to build a solid case in your favor.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Request a Waiver of the Requirement to File a Joint Petition<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a marriage ends during the 2-year <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/family-immigration-lawyers-chicago\/conditional-resident-status\/\">conditional residency period<\/a>, the noncitizen spouse\u2019s legal status may be at risk. However, they can submit a Form I-751 to waive the joint filing requirements to obtain a green card. Often, the spouse must provide evidence that the marriage was made in good faith, which can include the final divorce decree and other documents outlining the situation surrounding the marriage\u2019s termination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certain circumstances may warrant a waiver of joint filing:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deportation would lead to significant hardship,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abuse of a spouse or conditional resident child took place,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The petitioning spouse passed away, or<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The marriage was terminated for reasons other than death.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the divorce is ongoing while the I-751 deadline occurs, and the U.S. citizen spouse denies the request for a joint petition, you\u2019ll need an attorney. Our team provides the guidance needed to protect your rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Talk to an Attorney<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Divorce is never easy, especially if your immigration status may be impacted. Kriezelman Burton &amp; Associates, LLC supports you every step of the way. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Call<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to discuss how you can protect your immigration status with our skilled attorneys.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Divorce is a stressful and complex time for your family, especially if your U.S. residency status is dependent on your marriage. While it\u2019s understandable to be concerned about the impacts of a divorce, Kriezelman Burton &amp; Associates, LLC can help you protect your immigration status.\u00a0 Before you finalize a divorce, you will need to know &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/can-i-protect-my-immigration-status-if-i-am-about-to-divorce\/\" class=\"more-link\">Czytaj dalej<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201eCan I Protect My Immigration Status If I am About to Divorce?\u00a0\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":5851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,39,38,40],"tags":[270,26,282],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family_based_immigration","category-green_cards","category-removal_orders","category-visas","tag-chicago-family-immigration-attorney","tag-green-card-lawyer","tag-immigration-lawyer-chicago","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11796,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions\/11796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}