new I751 to give more time for divorce decree RFE??

[ChrisIR 0]

Hi Everyone,

I have been living in the US with my USC spouse for almost 2 years now, I am due to remove the conditions of my GC and filed for ROC almost two months ago. I have my NOA1 already and have done my bio metrics.

Unfortunately wife and I are splitting up but I am a bit unsure of what to do. My wife and I are on good terms and she understands my immigration situation and does not want to do anything to negatively affect me in that way. At the same time she is wanting to start the divorce proceedings.

We have looked into it and in our state it will take 6 months to finalize a divorce. I understand that I can submit a waiver application for the joint filing requirement without my divorce finalized but I will get an RFE to send my divorce decree during the process. It is highly likely that my divorce will not be finalized at this time and I will therefore be unable to send the RFE in time and be denied.

I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of how the process works but I would love to pick the brains of others and see if other people on here have been through anything similar and what you think I should do.

As I want to have the most amount of time to finalize my divorce and therefore have the paperwork ready for RFE, would it be best to cancel my current roc (not sure if that is even possible) and send in a whole new I751 which will no doubt take longer to process there by giving me more time to get my divorce papers in hand for the RFE? I have seen on here that most people just send in a request to amend their current application to include the waiver for the joint filing requirement but in my case I want to kind of "delay" the process so I am wondering if it would be a good idea to just refile the whole thing to give myself more time considering my GC has not yet expired.

How long will take it take from when I submit my waiver application to when they would ask for the RFE? I would start my divorce proceedings around the same time as I send in my waiver application so I would need 6 months to have that divorce decree ready.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time.

Christian

[Cheezees 1,514]

Once you are changing the status of your marriage (no matter how long the process actually takes), you need to immediately update USCIS. There is no situation where they allow you to "delay" informing them so that things work out "smoothly" for you.

My advice? AS SOON AS the divorce papers are filed, you MUST amend your ROC application. It may very well turn out that the finalized papers will not be available in time for the RFE and you may be denied.

Why in the world would I advise this? Because your are not the first person from your state to be in your situation. In some states, the wait is 1 year - not 6 months. What happens in those cases? Are they kicked out of the country? Banished to the depths of hell? (Hee hee) No. You just resubmit when you get the document and your "pending case" before and immigration judge magically blows away.

I can tell you what though, failure to inform in the hopes of evading the consequences of immigration law can be construed as fraud. DO NOT entertain the thought of being anything less than TRUTHFUL.

[ChrisIR 0]

Thanks so much for your response. I would definitely never mislead USCIS, not at all. My thing is, would it be better to file a brand new application or just amend my current application to include the application for a waiver of the joint filing requirement.

So worst case scenario, I do not have the divorce finalized in time for RFE and I get denied. They will still allow the case to be reopened when the divorce papers come through?? Do they do this with all cases or is it luck of the draw and I could still get deported? That would be very reassuring to know at this point and help these sleepless nights worrying about what will happen.

Also, is there a way I can send in my initial divorce files with my waiver application with some sort of note explaining that my divorce is in process and will be finalized on "such and such day"? Will that be of any help do you think?

Thanks again for your time!

[Holly2234 66]

I would suggest filing a new petition right at the very last opportunity that you can in hopes that your divorce is a little further along by then.

[ChrisIR 0]

I am wondering if someone can tell me if USCIS will accept a divorce decree from a state in which we do not live?

We live in CA and the divorce process here takes 6 months. My wife has family in Washington state and we visit quite regularly. There is no residency requirement to file divorce in Washington and it only takes 3 months for the whole thing to be processed. This will ensure that we will have the divorce finalized to respond to the inevitable RFE.

Would USCIS accept a divorce decree from Washington or would it have to be from California where we live?

Thanks so much for your time.

Chris