What Happens to My Green Card Application After Divorce?

As an immigrant with a pending green card application, you may understand that filing for divorce against your spouse may make your life exceedingly more difficult. Nonetheless, you may need to listen to your heart and assure yourself that this decision is ultimately in your best interest. Nonetheless, out of spite, your spouse may respond by withdrawing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) consideration. If this happens, please read on to discover the potential fate of your application and how one of the seasoned Lancaster County green card lawyers at Lupton Law LLC can help you maintain your lawful presence in the United States in any conceivable way.

What happens to my pending green card application once I get a divorce?

Simply put, if your sponsoring United States citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse cancels their petition, your eligibility for a marriage-based green card may terminate soon after. They may execute this by sending a formal, signed letter to the USCIS office handling the case, which discloses your case number, legal name, and a clear statement of their withdrawal. Here, they may not even need to provide a reason for their action, meaning no evidence of your ongoing divorce proceedings is necessary.

As a consequence of their withdrawal, you may be placed at risk of losing your lawful status in the country, depending on your current visa. In other words, you may begin accruing an unlawful presence. If this went on for anywhere between 180 days to one year, you may receive a three-year ban from re-entry, or 10 years if this went on for longer than a year. These bars may trigger after you leave the U.S. and attempt to apply for an alternative immigration option (i.e., another family-based visa, an employment-based visa, etc.) at a U.S. consulate office.

If I already have a green card, will a divorce affect my eligibility for citizenship?

After your Form I-130 is approved and your green card is issued, it may be too late for your spouse to revoke their sponsorship, even after your divorce. This is because you have already become a permanent resident of the United States. However, being that you are no longer married, you may not qualify for the three-year naturalization rule typically associated with a marriage-based green card. Before, you may have been eligible to apply for citizenship after only three years of permanent residency. But now, you may have to wait the standard five years.

Even after waiting five years, your past relationship with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident may pose challenges in your citizenship interview. Here, when a USCIS official may revisit your prior green card filings, your spouse’s withdrawal or attempt to withdraw their sponsorship, and your subsequent divorce may raise red flags for them. That is, they may question whether you entered this marriage in good faith or if it was just an attempt to gain easier access to immigration status and benefits. In a worst-case scenario, they may accuse you of marriage fraud.

So, if you wish to gain more clarity on the situation you are dealing with, the best way to get it is by consulting with one of the competent Lancaster County green card lawyers. Get in touch with our team at Lupton Law LLC today.