Divorve while i751 pending, interview?

[TonyMichael 3]

Is that true that USCIS has made everything more strict than ever, and now they are interviewing more couples than ever for I751 petitions, so they can deny more cases? 

 

My lawyer told me that if you divorce before i751 is approved, you'll get an interview almost 100% even if your evidence is really good. 

He said it wasn't like this before but now the interview is almost mandatory for many couples, and a divorce case will be 100% interviewed. 

 

I have been cheated on by my US spouse, but I haven't been able to divorve before i751 submission because in my state it takes 6 months for the divorce to be finalized. 

So I am going to apply for i751 jointly for the time being, and then after a few months I'm going to submit divorce paper, so I can live separately from my spouse. But my lawyer told me not to divorve because that'll make the interview harder and increase the denial rate of my petition. 

 

Is this all true?? 

[Canerican 242]

13 minutes ago, TonyMichael said:

Is that true that USCIS has made everything more strict than ever, and now they are interviewing more couples than ever for I751 petitions, so they can deny more cases? 

 

My lawyer told me that if you divorce before i751 is approved, you'll get an interview almost 100% even if your evidence is really good. 

He said it wasn't like this before but now the interview is almost mandatory for many couples, and a divorce case will be 100% interviewed. 

 

I have been cheated on by my US spouse, but I haven't been able to divorve before i751 submission because in my state it takes 6 months for the divorce to be finalized. 

So I am going to apply for i751 jointly for the time being, and then after a few months I'm going to submit divorce paper, so I can live separately from my spouse. But my lawyer told me not to divorve because that'll make the interview harder and increase the denial rate of my petition. 

 

Is this all true?? 

you are correct in that you have convert your I-751 into a divorce waiver. USCIS, pre-COVID, waa saying that if you entered via K-1 visa and did not have an AOS interview it was likely you would have one for I-751. 
 

In your case, you will probably have an interview.  As long as you entered into your marriage in good faith and can prove this you will be fine.

 

Also, please fill out your timeline. Go to the top right of the website and click menu->Account->Profile and then scroll down to my timeline. Once you have clicked my timeline you then click “Add/Edit My Timeline”

[mindthegap 2,543]

Divorce is not a reason for i-751 denial

[Crazy Cat 39,538]

1 hour ago, TonyMichael said:

Is that true that USCIS has made everything more strict than ever, and now they are interviewing more couples than ever for I751 petitions, so they can deny more cases? 

 

My lawyer told me that if you divorce before i751 is approved, you'll get an interview almost 100% even if your evidence is really good. 

He said it wasn't like this before but now the interview is almost mandatory for many couples, and a divorce case will be 100% interviewed. 

 

I have been cheated on by my US spouse, but I haven't been able to divorve before i751 submission because in my state it takes 6 months for the divorce to be finalized. 

So I am going to apply for i751 jointly for the time being, and then after a few months I'm going to submit divorce paper, so I can live separately from my spouse. But my lawyer told me not to divorve because that'll make the interview harder and increase the denial rate of my petition. 

 

Is this all true?? 

My calculations show that the denial rate for ALL I-751s is somewhere around 3%.   I think your attorney is exaggerating the danger of case denial.   I would not remain in a failed marriage out of fear of an I-751 interview.  Your post history indicates you have been struggling with this question since you have been contemplating divorce since 2019.  Good luck.  I hope you find happiness for yourself.  

[TonyMichael 3]

But is is true that most cases now go to the interview? 

 

Btw, I didnt go through k1 process when I first got my GC. I did AOS from F1, and we went through a scary interview, where they separated us and asked us 30 same questions. Even though we did it with an attorney and we provided lots of evidence. 

 

That was the scariest experience. We felt like they are trying to fail us unreasonably because we are a same-sex couple and we were in a conservative state. 

 

[geowrian 22,336]

Don't stay in a marriage for immigration reasons. Nothing good will come of it by any stretch. You can divorce and do ROC fine, just as many, many, many have before you.

 

"Most" cases having an ROC interview would be inaccurate, or at least misleading IMO. I have not seen a noticeable uptick for VJ members based on their timelines, anyway.

 

Sounds like you had a Stokes interview. Not idea why off-hand...could have been random.

[TonyMichael 3]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Don't stay in a marriage for immigration reasons. Nothing good will come of it by any stretch. You can divorce and do ROC fine, just as many, many, many have before you.

 

"Most" cases having an ROC interview would be inaccurate, or at least misleading IMO. I have not seen a noticeable uptick for VJ members based on their timelines, anyway.

 

Sounds like you had a Stokes interview. Not idea why off-hand...could have been random.

I'm the one who wants to divorce already. There's no love after my spouse cheated on me multiple times. 

 

But my lawyer told me that I should stay married and just "bare with it". 

He is saying that because I lack enough evidence, and USCIS will most likely doubt our marriage.  

My husband and I dont have joint bank account because of our very different spending habit. And my lawyer said joint bank account is one of the most important evidences, and if you dont have it, you should submit other money commingling like joint loan/mortgage, none of which I have.

 

And he even told me that it's not a good idea to submit a  letter explaining why we dont have a joint bank account UNLESS USCIS sends me an RFE. He said overloading with letters like that from the beginning could raise a question and might make it look like you are trying to cover up something. 

 

But on VJ, many say just put a letter in as evidence explaining why we dont have joint finances. I'm so confused what to do. 

 

[annab864 55]

It’s a bit weird how your lawyer is almost pushing you to lie to USCIS for the sake of ROC. If the marriage isn’t working out it should be ended, as one of the main reasons to obtain a GC through marriage is to show that you are happy together. Otherwise it comes off as a lie to USCIS. 
I just got divorced myself after waiting for ROC for almost a year (11 months to be exact). As soon as I received my final divorce decree I sent it to USCIS office. Can I say I am anxious? Yes, but I would rather go through this process alone than lie that everything is okay in the marriage, when it’s not! 
Good luck! 

[jakelake 222]

Just curious, is your spouse willing to go to the interview with you, if there is one, and will support your getting a permanent green card?

[TonyMichael 3]

22 minutes ago, jakelake said:

Just curious, is your spouse willing to go to the interview with you, if there is one, and will support your getting a permanent green card?

Yes my husband said he would help because he is the one who cheated on me. And we have been together for 7 years. 

 

But still, it would make it harder for both of us to meet other people. We both know the divorce is the best option for everyone but my lawyer said we should stay married because we lack evidence (financial comingling).

[Walbrzyszanka221 62]

I would not stay married just for ROC. Divorce even if your lawyer is saying otherwise. It might make things harder for when you apply for citizenship when USCIS will see that you got approved for ROC but then you got divorced. I filed jointly with my husband but we separated in February of this year and the divorce was finalized two weeks ago. I am already working with a lawyer on this. For peace of mind, I would file for divorce and maybe talk to another immigration lawyer.

 

I was more worried about the case moving forward, like being approved, while the divorce was pending but now that the divorce is final, all ties were cut and I am working on changing to divorce waiver, I feel much better. Granted, it might be because 1) I have been in this country for over 19 years and basically grew up here (went to school, working, paying taxes and etc.) and I have solid evidence that the marriage was real. 

 

Stay positive, your mental health is much more important. If you need any help, let us know

[mindthegap 2,543]

Get a better lawyer.

 

 

[Villanelle 4,121]

I would get as many free consults with local attnys that you can. As posted the data on VJ does not support what you were told, nor is there any official policy stating such things. But VJ is broad in collecting data.Its gathered from all over the US, a local attny would know more about what is going on in your local area. 

 

The way it works is you submit your package to the service center. They process it there and evaluate it. In very simple terms they group them into A B and C. C is stuff that has problems, suspected of fraud, something significant. They all get interviews. A is for cases that are textbook perfect. Majority is approved w/o interview- small percentage is sent for interview for quality control. B is where the majority falls. B would meet all the requirements on the surface but theres something about it where they dont feel its at the A level. A large portion are approved w/o interview and a percentage sent for interview for quality control. The service center sends the ones that they flag for interviews to the local offices. C will always get the interview. A and B the local office can decide to interview or waive depending on their workload. It is possible in your area that the local office does not waive as easily as some other areas may be inclined to. Especially for divorce cases or same sex cases if its a conservative area. So that may be what the attny is talking about. So again, speak to other local attnys and see if they view things the same. Sometimes attny fear monger in order to get you to retain their services. Im not sure if that is what the attny you spoke to is doing. Typically they will advise you how they can submit a better package- but his advice seems to be to send a basic package and respond to what they want. Eh. I dont think thats a very good strategy. Sending a basic package ensures you are going to get an RFE which you will then need to pay the attny to respond to. They would be setting you up to need services.  

 

Some general info- You can (and must) submit a joint package if you are still legally married the date you file. Or you need to use a waiver (you can file as divorce even if you are not divorced). You have to pay attention to the dates. You must submit something in the window of your card expiring. ROC processing is taking a very long time so you most likely will have the final divorce decree before they adjudicate you. So you can submit it as a divorce waiver, eventually they will RFE for the divorce and you probably will have it to reply with. If you dont you say so and they will set an interview. You will most definitely have it by the interview. You can also submit it as a joint and then amend it to a divorce waiver any time in the processing- as long as you do it before approval. They can not approve a joint when you are divorced- so you want to make sure you amend it once the divorce is final because if they approve it as joint when you are divorced you will have problems. 

 

Co-mingling of finances are a big part of ROC. Do you guys have joint taxes? Everyones financial situation is unique. Not every couple has joint accounts. Not every couple has both working. You need to show you guys share expenses regardless of whose accounts things are paid from. That you both benefit from the money earned and its not a roommate situation where you just share an address but are each doing your own thing. You can read through the threads on the ROC subforum. There are plenty of posts about people in similar situations and lots of ideas on what to show when only one person has income or they have separate bank accounts. This is why a letter of explanation is important. USCIS does not put the pieces together. You need to show them the complete picture. 

 

[TonyMichael 3]

I already paid some good amount of money to my lawyer, and I already signed the contract..

I am not sure if I should let my money go to waste... 

 

I don't have joint account with my spouse because of the very different spending habits. I mean, we do have a joint checking account, but it has been mainly I put little money every time and my spouse uses it because he has been jobless for 1.5 years, and he has had no income.

But I dont put money in it for bills and stuff because my spouse would spend whatever available money on alcohol, weed etc. 

Thats why we have always kept our finances separate. I have paid all the bills for both of us from my own checking account. The joint checking account was used more for me giving my spouse some allowance (little amount) every few days. 

 

Even if he had a job, we both know our spending habit is very different where I save every penny and he lives paycheck to paycheck because he wants to spend his money on the stuff I mentioned above.

 

And my lawyer told me he would NOT include a letter explaining all this at the time of I751 application because front-loading all these letters might make it look suspicious or look like we are trying to cover something up. So he said this kind of letter should be included if we get an RFE.

 

What do you all think? I feel like a letter explaining why we don't have joint finances is not too much or suspicous.  

[jakelake 222]

Your lawyer is right concerning not sending a letter at this time. You have already filed and should only send a letter if you get an RFE.

 

Because things are not working out now between the two of you does not mean that the marriage was not in good faith.

USCIS is looking for evidence that shows that the marriage was in good faith. What can you provide or explain to USCIS that will help your case? Not being in good terms now does not mean that you were that way when you entered the marriage.

 

Having said that, the question is what attracted you two to each other? You have already stated that you have completely different spending habits. Did you know that coming into the relationship? Did you know that money was spent on alcohol, weed, etc?

 

You mentioned that your spouse is willing to go the interview with you. Are you okay with that? I think that you should file for divorce and wait for a waiver.

 

The question to the VJ community is, even though they are not in good terms now, is it okay for the spouse to go the interview with him even they get a divorce? I think that if they go together and establish that the marriage was in good faith, that is all that matters. If they explain that they are planning on divorcing now, I don't see that as a problem. They did file together when they were in good terms.