Divorce question

[gabcgr12 0]

Is there a minimum time that the US petitioner should be divorced from former wife before filing? I have been seperated for 5 years living 2300 miles apart. My divorce is still pending. I will file K1 for my fiance of 1 year immediately after I receive the final divorce decree.

Will this be held against us? Is there a minimum wait time?

[raymaga 25]

There is no legal wait time. As soon as you receive your divorce, you can submit your application.

I was the beneficiary, and as soon as I got my divorce, we applied for the K-1 visa. My divorce was not even an issue.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Is there a minimum time that the US petitioner should be divorced from former wife before filing? I have been seperated for 5 years living 2300 miles apart. My divorce is still pending. I will file K1 for my fiance of 1 year immediately after I receive the final divorce decree.

Will this be held against us? Is there a minimum wait time?

There's no minimum wait time. If you're both eligible to marry then you can file a petition. Whether it will be an issue depends on the consulate, and also on the circumstances. Is your ex-wife an immigrant? Did she immigrate through marriage to you? If the answer to these questions is "yes" then they'll either conclude you have a penchant for foreign women, or perhaps you're easily manipulated into helping people immigrate, or maybe that you're not being manipulated at all but are a willing participant.

Some consulates can get anxious about a recent divorce because it can be an indicator of a particular type of visa fraud. There are different scenarios they might suspect, depending on whether the petitioner or beneficiary is recently divorced.

If the petitioner is recently divorced then the scenario they might suspect is that the petitioner was recruited to help the beneficiary immigrate, and only obtained the divorce temporarily so that they could qualify to petition for a fiancee or spouse. One of the indicators they'll look for is any sort of connection between the petitioner and family members of the beneficiary's in the US. Another is if the petitioner made multiple trips to visit the beneficiary, or sent regular remittances to the beneficiary, but the petitioner has low income that barely qualifies them as a sponsor. This makes it look like the beneficiary's family is helping to fund the process, and providing money to help gather the necessary evidence, and possibly even paying the petitioner for their "services". They'll also look to see if there's any ongoing relationship between the petitioner and their ex-spouse, such as if they are still living in the same house.

If the beneficiary is recently divorced then the scenario they might suspect is that the beneficiary is playing the petitioner to get a visa, and intends to drop them like a hot potato once their immigration status is secured. At that point, they'll remarry the previous spouse and petition for them. Their level of suspicion rises if the beneficiary filed for divorce after meeting the petitioner. They'll also look for evidence that the beneficiary still has a relationship with their ex-spouse.

Both of these scenarios are very common in some countries, and practically unheard of in some others. I'd say the Philippines probably falls somewhere in the middle.

[JJ and Patty 9]

As long as you wait until the divorce is finalized and you submit the signed divorce decree (copy) with the petition paperwork then you should be fine.

[gabcgr12 0]

My soon to be ex was an immigrant but, we were married for 23 years and raised 2 kids. like I said we have lived separately for the last 5 years and the divorce took so long due to financial constraints. My fiance and I have been together for a year. During that time we have spent about 150 days together in person as my job has me traveling quite a bit. we have stacks and stacks of proofs for our relationship......I am just a little concerned with the consulate allowing their personal beliefs or morals cloud their judgement. In a perfect world a man would get a divorce before starting a new relationship but, we don't live in a perfect world.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

have proof ready that you lived in separate homes the past five years.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Is there a minimum time that the US petitioner should be divorced from former wife before filing? I have been seperated for 5 years living 2300 miles apart. My divorce is still pending. I will file K1 for my fiance of 1 year immediately after I receive the final divorce decree.

Will this be held against us? Is there a minimum wait time?

The requirement is to be free to marry.

[payxibka 10,044]

have proof ready that you lived in separate homes the past five years.

why?

[baron555 934]

Is there a minimum time that the US petitioner should be divorced from former wife before filing? I have been seperated for 5 years living 2300 miles apart. My divorce is still pending. I will file K1 for my fiance of 1 year immediately after I receive the final divorce decree.

Will this be held against us? Is there a minimum wait time?

No time limit but the divorce must be final and recorded with the county prior to filing.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Actually if you live in a state that has a waiting time after a divorce before you can remarry you must wait out that time.

[TeddyHoney 42]

My soon to be ex was an immigrant but, we were married for 23 years and raised 2 kids. like I said we have lived separately for the last 5 years and the divorce took so long due to financial constraints. My fiance and I have been together for a year. During that time we have spent about 150 days together in person as my job has me traveling quite a bit. we have stacks and stacks of proofs for our relationship......I am just a little concerned with the consulate allowing their personal beliefs or morals cloud their judgement. In a perfect world a man would get a divorce before starting a new relationship but, we don't live in a perfect world.

My case was similar to yours. My ex is Filipina. I married her in the Phils and filed for her and her son on what was then Immediate Relative VISAs. We were married more than 13 years, not quite 23 though. My current fiancee is Filipina also and I filed the I-129f for her K-1 about 6 weeks after I got the divorce decree from the divorce of my first Pinay wife in my hands. My fiancee is here now and my divorce nor the time element between the decree and the I-129f filing never came up as an issue. I filed a regular copy of the decree for the I-129f, but submitted a certified copy for my fiancee's interview (which they never asked for!), but she did use it for her CFO Seminar where they DID ask for it.

As someone already mentioned, one of the more crucial requirements is that you are both free to marry. As for you, you will be when you get that divorce decree in your hands. Actually as soon as the judge signs off on the divorce, but you need the divorce decree to file the I-129f petition and other things later.

Hope this helps!

[TeddyHoney 42]

My soon to be ex was an immigrant but, we were married for 23 years and raised 2 kids. like I said we have lived separately for the last 5 years and the divorce took so long due to financial constraints. My fiance and I have been together for a year. During that time we have spent about 150 days together in person as my job has me traveling quite a bit. we have stacks and stacks of proofs for our relationship......I am just a little concerned with the consulate allowing their personal beliefs or morals cloud their judgement. In a perfect world a man would get a divorce before starting a new relationship but, we don't live in a perfect world.

Oh, and btw - my ex and I seperated for one year before I met my fiancee, but we were still married for another 2 years after that before we finalized the divorce. So again, like you, I met and visited my current fiancee while I was still married, but my ex and I were already separated. I had relationship with my current Pinay fiancee for 2 years prior to my final divorce and another year and several months after that. Point is though, that none of that ever came up for the I-129f, in the interview or at the CFO seminar.

Again, hope this helps!

[easyriders2011 14]

I was still married when my wife and I met. Our total time line overlaps for almost a year. It has nothing to do with being qualified. I proposed two weeks after my divorce was finalized. A lot of different things happen in life for a lot of different reasons. I don't have to explain myself to anyone but my wife and my conscience.

Both of those are clear. You only got one shot at life and if you are not happy then you need to do everything you can to fix it or bail out which ever makes the most sense for your situation.