Here's the background: My husband and I are separated, but were counseled by TWO previous attourneys to wait to file for divorce until after our I-751 was approved. We currently live in separate states. We were called for an interview last week in Norfolk, Va, and were told by the officer that, unless we were planning on reconciling and moving back in together, we would need to obtain a divorce so that we can file a waiver. It took almost year and a half to get to this point from when we filed our joint petition.

What a racket!!! I am American, English is my first language, and I have a college degree. I say this to emphasize the point that I did my homework before filing. I read the instructions and the actual statutes carefully. As I understood it, joint petitions could still be approved provided that a divorce wasn't finalized and that I still supported it. We meet criteria for a good faith marraige, so that wasn't an issue. Apparently, my ability to read and understand the English language has failed me.

In the filing instructions, it states:
"If you are still married, the petition should be filed jointly by you and the spouse through whom you obtained conditional status."

Ok, so we're still married. Granted, we no longer live together, and our romantic relationship has ended, but we're still friendly and I think that puts us in a better position than a lot of marraiges I know.

Under evidence, it states:
"Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriage upon which you were granted conditional status was entered in ''good faith'' and was not for the purpose of circumventing immigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents as you wish to establish this fact and to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to the present date, and to demonstrate any circumstances surrounding the end of the relationship, if it has ended."

We did all of the above. Even the officer said she believed our marriage was valid and that the evidence we submitted looked fine. NOWHERE did it tell us that should our living conditions change (in the year and a half time period that they took to process our application) that we would have to refile under a waiver. Now we have to pay an additional fee and probably wait another year for this to go through. What a mess...

The bottom line of this story is that we got a new attorney shortly before we went to the interview, and although he didn't advise us that this outcome was possible, we're glad that he was there. He helped convince the officer to put our file "on the shelf" until we can file for and finalize a divorce (approximately 2-3 months, according to our lawyer) and refile under a waiver so that my husband doesn't go into removal proceedings.

I hope no one else has to go through this ordeal.

Sounds like the AO was not familiar with the statutes! Sorry you got one that was going to make an issue out of a non-issue. Hang tough...and get that marriage over