For Citizenship and Unconditional Green Card

[docanushkam 0]

Hi ,

I dont know whether this is the right place to post this topic or not. This is my 1st post though.

I registered in this forum after googling it out regarding a problem my office coleague is facing. I am completely new to these concepts thus have to ask like a newbie only.

She married a foreigner a year ago.He is a fine and good man but they are not going well as they are finding newer differences between each other regarding personal & professional life.And now they want to divorce as he has found some lady of his nationality and he say she understands him more.This new fiance is a US citizen and ready to marry him.

But my friend and her husband still love each other a lot and she wants him to become a citizen of USA without any hassle. He has received his 2 yr conditional green card already and working.

Now as i was looking through this post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry2191089

English Muffin has posted "Three years after receiving his first (2 year) GC your husband can get citizen - as long as he's still married to you".....

i) So he means after 3 yrs of getting ones conditional green card, one can apply for citizenship or may be a 10 yr conditional green card. Is it true ?

ii ) They are looking everywhere for good advices for : ideally when can they divorce and he can marry this lady but still can get his 10 yr unconditional green card / citizenship .

I wd appreciate all helps and advices.

Thanks a lot !!

[pushbrk 13,413]

Hi ,

I dont know whether this is the right place to post this topic or not. This is my 1st post though.

I registered in this forum after googling it out regarding a problem my office coleague is facing. I am completely new to these concepts thus have to ask like a newbie only.

She married a foreigner a year ago.He is a fine and good man but they are not going well as they are finding newer differences between each other regarding personal & professional life.And now they want to divorce as he has found some lady of his nationality and he say she understands him more.This new fiance is a US citizen and ready to marry him.

But my friend and her husband still love each other a lot and she wants him to become a citizen of USA without any hassle. He has received his 2 yr conditional green card already and working.

Now as i was looking through this post http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry2191089

English Muffin has posted "Three years after receiving his first (2 year) GC your husband can get citizen - as long as he's still married to you".....

i) So he means after 3 yrs of getting ones conditional green card, one can apply for citizenship or may be a 10 yr conditional green card. Is it true ?

ii ) They are looking everywhere for good advices for : ideally when can they divorce and he can marry this lady but still can get his 10 yr unconditional green card / citizenship .

I wd appreciate all helps and advices.

Thanks a lot !!

The only thing you have wrong is that a ten year green card is not the same as citizenship.

Have your collegue look at the step by step guides here.

[docanushkam 0]

Thanks Pushbrk...i know citizenship and green card is not the same.I googled it and found that after they are given a 2 yr unconditional green card , they have to remove condition after 2 yrs to get a unconditional 10 yr green card and still then he is permanent resident and not a citizen.As per English muffin said is it true that after 3 yrs of getting the 2 yrs cond. green card he can be a citizen ?

Now whats ur advice when can they divorce and he can marry & can still go on for getting a uncond. 10 yr card and finally a citizen..... will it be ok to divorce & marry before getting the 10 yr thing ?

Looking for more helps ...... Thanks.

[Heliosphan 1]

Thanks Pushbrk...i know citizenship and green card is not the same.I googled it and found that after they are given a 2 yr unconditional green card , they have to remove condition after 2 yrs to get a unconditional 10 yr green card and still then he is permanent resident and not a citizen.As per English muffin said is it true that after 3 yrs of getting the 2 yrs cond. green card he can be a citizen ?

Now whats ur advice when can they divorce and he can marry & can still go on for getting a uncond. 10 yr card and finally a citizen..... will it be ok to divorce & marry before getting the 10 yr thing ?

Looking for more helps ...... Thanks.

The 3 year route to citizenship depends on being continuously married to a US Citizen i think. if he divorces and remarries I think he might reset a clock. But I can't say I'm sure about that though.

[ELW 5]

The 3 year route to citizenship depends on being continuously married to a US Citizen i think. if he divorces and remarries I think he might reset a clock. But I can't say I'm sure about that though.

I agree with the above. Removing conditions and getting the 10-year green card is dependent upon being married to the same USC. One cannot just continue the process by marrying another USC. After divorce and marrying another citizen, the process will probably start all over again. That means another AOS process and granting of another 2-year conditional green card and after that, a 10-year green card.

One can file for citizenship if married for the same USC for three years. Or, being a legal resident of USA for at least 5 years. So in that case, he could still divorce now, remarry, begin the process all over again and file for citizenship once his 5 years in USA is complete.

Obviously I don't have personal experience in this matter and am just guessing the above. Therefore, your co worker and her husband would do best to consult a learned immigration lawyer to get all the facts before proceeding with a divorce.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

Even though he's already a permanent resident, it's on a conditional basis, so it's dependant on the marriage to the USC. If they divorce before he gets his permanent (10-yr) GC, I think he would lose his permanent residency and would have to re-apply for AOS. But this is something to ask an immigration lawyer about.

[classicrock68 0]

Even though he's already a permanent resident, it's on a conditional basis, so it's dependant on the marriage to the USC. If they divorce before he gets his permanent (10-yr) GC, I think he would lose his permanent residency and would have to re-apply for AOS. But this is something to ask an immigration lawyer about.

I was married to a US citizen many years ago and we were having problems in our marriage earlier on. Although, we had stayed married through my process and way beyond- not due to the immigration process. we both did not want to call it quits and I'm sure she would have helped me get my process done if we chose at the time to go down that path (we are divorced now), but I had talked to my immigration lawyer at the time and did not care about the Green card process (I was almost there through my employment based process before I married my ex-wife, however, for reasons that made sense at the time, I quit my employment based process and spent more money to go through my US citizen wife (so she knew immigration was never on my mind as I had started the process almost 6/7 months after we were married).

Anyways, my lawyer had said that even though I did not have my conditional GC, (I had not had my interview even yet) we had gotten married not for immigration benefit (in my case it was very easy to prove, as I had quit my employment based process.. I was at the I-485 stage already). It is the 'intent'. Was the marriage entered into not to evade immigration laws but for other reasons. Differences can and do occur during the process and people get divorced. So, it is not the end of the world. It is more common than one would think and I was told that they did not see any problem in my case. I chose not to go down that path as I wanted to give our marriage more time. But, the petition can continue even though the marriage is dissoved before the process is complete. Definitely, talk to an immigration lawyer.

Although, it is easiest to stay married, but life is more important that immigration. In any case, if he already has a conditional GC. I see no reason for him to wait till he removes the condition (1 year and 9 months after he gets the conditional GC, he can start the removal of conditions process (I-751, I believe). I had done that myself without the help of a lawyer. It had taken almost a year before I was ready to file to become a US citizen. In fact, I remember being told by one of the local immigration office USCIS reps (at one of those infopass appt thingies), that I need not wait for my I-751 approval to come through and could/should file for my US citizenship at 2 yr and 9 mos even though my I-751 was not approved.

So, the process can linger on and there is no end to it is how it feels. Why delay what is imminent when he can start his life with another person he is in love with and engaged to already...

My suggestion is. Life is more important than staying in an unhappy marriage. You never get the years back and waiting this out could potentially hurt his current engagement. In your friend's case, he is already engaged to another US citizen, so really there should not be any problem. He should definitely work with an immigration lawyer, I think his current spouse is understanding and even willing to help him. He is lucky to have someone supportive. Not everyone does that and he could potentially be in a bigger hole...my 2 cents...