conditional resident and husband has been jailed for 5yrs

[justashooter 430]

agreed that he will probably only do about 30% of the actual sentence in jail, and will be released "on parole" for the balance of the sentence.

he may be a nice guy that got railroaded, but that kind of situation usually does not end up with a 5 year sentence.

OP, you need to get your head clear, find out the truth, and take care of yourself. you have enough practical problems to worry about now. if you have close family or older friends who have their life under control, go to them for advice. if not, try a catholic or methodist church, and look for a pastor or preist who is 60 or so. they will be willing to listen and help you figure out what you are going to do.

[Skeeter211 2]

WOW surprised at all the responses accepting "conditional" marriage. I don't recall the vows saying, "til death do us part IF you always love me IF you dont go to jail IF you do marriage my way"

Oh...so let's say a spouse is an alcoholic that continually beats his foreign spouse, goes to jail and gets out, only to resume his drinking and beating her again. I guess love will keep them together so she can get beat some more. You suggest that she should just forgive him until he beats her to "death do us part"? Sorry, but he made his choice and I don't think she is obligated to put up with it for the rest of her life. It's up to her whether she believes him and wants to give him a second chance. To say that someone should forgive criminal behavior and just live with it for the sake of love and marriage, in my opinion, is not a good option. Criminal behavior is a choice.

I also agree with the poster that said 5 years for a first offense of possession of stolen property is hard to believe...at least in criminal justice in California. Granted, other states might be different. It makes me wonder if there is more to his past that she doesn't know about. It also makes me wonder if he has an accompanying drug use history..

As I said, the choice is yours if you want to forgive him and give him a second chance, but I think the theory that you owe it to your marriage to stick with this guy and if you love him you will forgive him, is no more valid than the "divorce him no matter what" approach.

Other than all of our subjective opinions, I would say to seek and follow the advice of an attorney.

[^KK^ 3]

I really appreciate the fact that moderators are keeping this forum on the right path. This is a great thing.

[Krikit 1,163]

That was a lovely post, MNcouple.

This is his first time in jail, this 5yrs was because he had a public defender, but pls i want see ways to help my situation, if you have something to contribute to my questions let me know, i'm really down and out.

If this is the case than he likely won't get all 5 years, or at least he wouldn't in Canada but it's my understanding that our laws arn't all that different. I would wager to say that he will be granted parole at his first parole hearing.

But thats neither here nor there but you did ask if you should wait five years, so truthfully I don't think it will be five years.

Unfortunately, the criminal justice system in Canada and the criminal justice system in the US are miles apart.

Jogging, please do a google search for prisoner support groups in your State. Prison Talk is also an excellent support and information site.

God bless.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Obviously people have different opinions on how to interprete marriage vows, so I'll ty to leave emotions totally out of this and focus on the ROC process via I-751.

We have to prove that we shared a life with our spouse, mingling of housing and finances being the two pillars.

I like to compare the OP's situation of that of a military spouse. Husband or wife is on duty out of the country for the past 6 months before filing for ROC. Spouse stays at home. I venture to state with confidence that JOINT filing is the one and only way to go.

Would the spouse of a soldier file singularly, just because the other half is on a tour of duty and they might have some martial problems? No. As long as the OP wants to stay married, she's still "together" with her husband, even if he hasn't been able to sleep at home for the past frew months.

[jogging 0]

Thanks everyone, i appreciate all taking out time to give an opinion, it's alot of information and i'll see my attorney on monday, will keep you all posted as events unfold, i know God will see me through, Thanks.