Advice on vawa

[Rs&Ms 0]

Hello everyone, I follow trends here for so long never thought I would be questioning and about vawa, but that’s how it is. We got married in May of this year.  I discovered my husband's abusive behavior, drug use and gambling, I tried to keep the marriage either way, but I couldn't stand it any longer, I confronted him and we argued badly.  I ran away from home and canceled our joint account, there was nothing there, but I was afraid he could put any debit on my behalf, we were going through financial problems because of his addiction he became a big expender, He has a job as salesman but I never see clue of it at home, I was keeping it up with the jobs I do cleaning houses. For all that we were renting a room, I have almost no proof of address.  Do I qualify for vawa?

[Timona 3,943]

No..But here's the VAWA thread. 

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/765476-vawa-part-23/

[carmel34 3,531]

9 hours ago, Rs&Ms said:

 I discovered my husband's abusive behavior, drug use and gambling, I tried to keep the marriage either way, but I couldn't stand it any longer, I confronted him and we argued badly.

For VAWA you need documentation of abuse.  Did you file a police report, or did you ever call police when he was abusive?  Was he ever arrested for domestic violence?  Do more research on VAWA and the requirements under the law.  What is your current immigration status?  If you have a conditional green card, you can file for removal of conditions (I-751) with a divorce waiver.   If you have no status, did not file for adjustment of status, or are still waiting on adjustment of status, you may have to return to your home country. Good luck!

Edited September 11, 2021 by carmel34

[Diane and Chris 651]

Did you receive your EAD yet?  You need this in order to do any type of work. Best of luck moving forward. 

[TBoneTX 43,069]

12 hours ago, carmel34 said:

you may have to return to your home country

A gentle correction:  you may have to leave the United States.

[Rs&Ms 0]

18 hours ago, carmel34 said:

For VAWA you need documentation of abuse.  Did you file a police report, or did you ever call police when he was abusive?  Was he ever arrested for domestic violence?  Do more research on VAWA and the requirements under the law.  What is your current immigration status?  If you have a conditional green card, you can file for removal of conditions (I-751) with a divorce waiver.   If you have no status, did not file for adjustment of status, or are still waiting on adjustment of status, you may have to return to your home country. Good luck!

Hi, thank you for your reply. Yes, I have evidence and police report, my concern was that we moved twice after the marriage and still didn’t receive any important mail from that address. I wasn’t gathering any documents for the i130 yet, nor planning to do so until we were well established in our new house and job. But life happens. 

[Rs&Ms 0]

Thank you everyone who replied.

[Demise 1,096]

On 9/11/2021 at 3:32 AM, Rs&Ms said:

Hello everyone, I follow trends here for so long never thought I would be questioning and about vawa, but that’s how it is. We got married in May of this year.  I discovered my husband's abusive behavior, drug use and gambling, I tried to keep the marriage either way, but I couldn't stand it any longer, I confronted him and we argued badly.  I ran away from home and canceled our joint account, there was nothing there, but I was afraid he could put any debit on my behalf, we were going through financial problems because of his addiction he became a big expender, He has a job as salesman but I never see clue of it at home, I was keeping it up with the jobs I do cleaning houses. For all that we were renting a room, I have almost no proof of address.  Do I qualify for vawa?

Maybe. As long as the husband is a US Citizen or a Green Card holder. VAWA requires a few things:

1. Spouse is a USC or LPR

2. You're currently married or divorced for less than 2 years

3. You suffered battery or extreme cruelty from your spouse

4. You entered the marriage in good faith

5. You resided with your spouse at some point

6. You are a person of good moral character.

 

I personally think that dealing with their addiction and gambling (among with some other things you likely didn't list), could constitute extreme cruelty, extreme cruelty is established by a pattern of abusive behavior, a death by a thousand cuts if you will. I would definitely recommend speaking to a lawyer and getting a psychological evaluation done. If you have police reports, restraining order, etc, that also helps.

 

Also what step in your immigration process are you? Out of status, on some visa, waiting for AOS, conditional green card, permanent green card?

 

23 hours ago, carmel34 said:

For VAWA you need documentation of abuse.  Did you file a police report, or did you ever call police when he was abusive?  Was he ever arrested for domestic violence?  Do more research on VAWA and the requirements under the law.  What is your current immigration status?  If you have a conditional green card, you can file for removal of conditions (I-751) with a divorce waiver.   If you have no status, did not file for adjustment of status, or are still waiting on adjustment of status, you may have to return to your home country. Good luck!

Unlike a U-visa VAWA doesn't actually require you to document the abuse via the legal system. USCIS does acknowledge the fact that a lot of domestic violence or domestic abuse incidents just go completely unreported.

Being out of status or even an entry without inspection wouldn't disqualify OP as VAWA applicants can adjust regardless of those things. Leaving could also be detrimental as it could trigger a re-entry bar, VAWA applicants can get around it if they can link them being out of status to the abuse, but a connection has to be established (e.g. K-1 entrant that got the rug pulled from under them by the spouse, but something like EWI years before you even met the spouse wouldn't fly for that exemption making staying and filing for AOS the better option).

Edited September 12, 2021 by Demise

[Rs&Ms 0]

3 hours ago, Demise said:

Maybe. As long as the husband is a US Citizen or a Green Card holder. VAWA requires a few things:

1. Spouse is a USC or LPR

2. You're currently married or divorced for less than 2 years

3. You suffered battery or extreme cruelty from your spouse

4. You entered the marriage in good faith

5. You resided with your spouse at some point

6. You are a person of good moral character.

 

I personally think that dealing with their addiction and gambling (among with some other things you likely didn't list), could constitute extreme cruelty, extreme cruelty is established by a pattern of abusive behavior, a death by a thousand cuts if you will. I would definitely recommend speaking to a lawyer and getting a psychological evaluation done. If you have police reports, restraining order, etc, that also helps.

 

Also what step in your immigration process are you? Out of status, on some visa, waiting for AOS, conditional green card, permanent green card?

 

Unlike a U-visa VAWA doesn't actually require you to document the abuse via the legal system. USCIS does acknowledge the fact that a lot of domestic violence or domestic abuse incidents just go completely unreported.

Being out of status or even an entry without inspection wouldn't disqualify OP as VAWA applicants can adjust regardless of those things. Leaving could also be detrimental as it could trigger a re-entry bar, VAWA applicants can get around it if they can link them being out of status to the abuse, but a connection has to be established (e.g. K-1 entrant that got the rug pulled from under them by the spouse, but something like EWI years before you even met the spouse wouldn't fly for that exemption making staying and filing for AOS the better option).

Wow thanks a lot for that guidance, I really appreciate that. 

[Demise 1,096]

19 minutes ago, Rs&Ms said:

Wow thanks a lot for that guidance, I really appreciate that. 

I would recommend getting documents proving that you cohabited and entered marriage in good faith (rental agreements, join bank statements, credit card statements, insurance policies, basically anything that's got your address and both your names on it). That's where most RFEs crop up.