Common law mirage - a cause for denial of K1?

[dghiassi 0]

My fiance has been separated from her spouse of 6 years for approximately 16 months.

While she never married, she may have a public record of a common law mirage. Does this count as a real mirage or is this just a Brazilian law which is not relevant to the Visa process.

Meaning, if she does have a public record of a common law mirage - do I need to wait for her to have it removed before I can apply. Or, can i claim that she has never been married.

any help in this regard would be greatly appreciated, am deeply in love and very sad and frustrated to be apart from her.

Thanks very much...

Danny

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

My opinion is it is not a real marriage as per K-1 definitions. But I am not 100% as you state it is officially recorded. Oh, BTW, your choice of the work "mirage" made be laugh. There are many marriages that are really only mirages!

[YuAndDan 153]

I would wait and have this removed and attach a copy of statement that it was annulled before filing. USCIS and consulate can have strict interpretations about being "Free to Marry".

[DerekJ 0]

The general rule of thumb in the US is that a marriage is valid if it is deemed valid in the jurisdiction in which it was entered into unless of course the marriage is violative of some compelling state interest (ie you're "married" to a 9 year old). In the US, some states recognize common law marriages and some don't so recognition may vary. In Brazil, it seems that there is some solemnity in recognizing the common law marriage as it may have been recorded in some way. If that is the case, then the advice to wait to have the recording removed and documentation of such in hand is sound.

Edited January 15, 2008 by DerekJ

[Steve'sGirl 0]

I'm not an expert in Brazilian family law, but if common law marriage is binding there (you mentioned that the marriage is officially registered) then your fiancee is not free to marry.

Either way, to be on the safe side, I would file for this common law marriage to be dissolved. This way you will avoid any unecessary complications during the already tedious K1 process.

Good luck!!! You'll make it through this rough time!!!