Odds of approval after divorce (removal of condition)

[LJ033 1]

Hi everyone,

 

I am not divorced yet and I know no one can give me a definite answer, but this is very stressful and I'd like to see if you guys think that I will be approved.

My wife and I met in Europe in 2016, I came to US to study in 2018 on an F1 Visa. We married in January 2021 and I got my conditional 2 year green card in July 2022, we did not have to do the in person interview. USCIS asked us to send more evidence, which we did and it was then approved. Fast forward to now and we are currently doing couples counseling and it's not going well, I have very little hope that it is repairable but we have not yet started a divorce process. if we do end up divorcing, I am confident it wont be ugly and we will resolve it peacefully. We can apply for removal of condition in April 2024. I will have the following evidence:

- Proof of joint living for our entire marriage (leases)

- Tax transcripts that we have filed jointly for our entire marriage

- Bank statements of join accounts (checking and savings)

- Bills, mail and wedding invitations with both our names

- Pictures & videos with both our families as well as pictures of our wedding (which was absolutely beautiful)

- Proof of couples counseling

- Proof of honeymoon trip as well as a number of other trips.

- Affidavits, might even be able to get one from her step dad but definitely from our friends. I also think i can get one from her swearing it was bona fide.

- Health insurance, she is on my health insurance from my job

 

The main thing that concerns me is that while we do have joint accounts, we both put in a percentage of our salaries to those account and still keep some things separate. Also, shortly after we marriage, I had her sign a postnuptial agreement, to protect myself from current and future rental properties that I acquire in the US for investment purposes. I don’t know if any of that needs to be disclosed as it is not the reason for our marital issues.

 

Please let me know what you guys think.

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by LJ033
More info

[Boiler 43,721]

On what basis do you intend applying to remove conditions, It does not sound like you have a Good Faith marriage.

[LJ033 1]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

On what basis do you intend applying to remove conditions, It does not sound like you have a Good Faith marriage.

Why not? What does not sound good faith about it? Well one thing is she wants kids now and I don't but the main thing is we just want different things in live and we live our lives completely differently and that causes constant friction. 

[Boiler 43,721]

3 minutes ago, LJ033 said:

Why not? What does not sound good faith about it? Well one thing is she wants kids now and I don't but the main thing is we just want different things in live and we live our lives completely differently and that causes constant friction. 

we are currently doing couples counseling and it's not going well, I have very little hope that it is repairable 

[OldUser 5,072]

Based on what I see, it looks approvable.

 

The only thing that may weaken the case is postnuptial agreement.

 

In terms of managing finances, not every couple merges 100% of income, that's OK.

 

Based on the fact you never had AOS interview, the chances of I-751 interview following the divorce are higher than usual in my opinion.

Edited November 20, 2023 by OldUser

[LJ033 1]

7 minutes ago, Boiler said:

we are currently doing couples counseling and it's not going well, I have very little hope that it is repairable 

Im not understanding what's wrong with that?

[LJ033 1]

1 minute ago, OldUser said:

Based on what I see, it looks approvable.

 

The only thing that may weaken the case is postnuptial agreement.

 

In terms of managing finances, not every couple merges 100% of income, that's OK.

Now the question is does the USCIS even need to know about the postnuptial agreement? Most likely if we divorce, we most likely won't even need to enforce it as Im fairly sure we can resolve things amicably without the postnup. If that is the case, we can just pretend it doesn't exists, its not files anywhere or anything?

[Boiler 43,721]

1 minute ago, LJ033 said:

Im not understanding what's wrong with that?

I did not say anything was wrong with it.

[Rocio0010 5,572]

10 hours ago, LJ033 said:

Now the question is does the USCIS even need to know about the postnuptial agreement? Most likely if we divorce, we most likely won't even need to enforce it as Im fairly sure we can resolve things amicably without the postnup. If that is the case, we can just pretend it doesn't exists, its not files anywhere or anything?

I don't think you will have issues if you divorce and need to remove your conditions on your green card if you divorce. You seem to have solid proof, such as joint bank accounts, leases, health insurance, etc. I also do not think the postnuptial agreement is something you need to disclose. If they ask, of course you will be honest about it and explain what it is and why you did it, but if they don't, no need to say anything about it. And I doubt they will ask you about it, because how will they know?

 

Ultimately, a postnuptial agreement does not mean the marriage isn't bonafide imho.

[mindthegap 2,543]

Divorce is not a reason for I-751 denial. Officially anyway. 

In practice, they absolutely do view it as a factor.

 

Just concentrate on as much quality evidence together as possible. Pro tip: if you have correspondence/documents from you both attending couples counselling (appointment letters, receipts, or whatever), then include them... it's actually an excellent piece of evidence that shows it was a legitimate marriage that you were trying to save. 

 

11 hours ago, LJ033 said:

Now the question is does the USCIS even need to know about the postnuptial agreement? 

 

Nope. I would not mention that at all, unless they specifically ask about it. That is of course a perfectly sensible and standard thing for many people when entering into a legitimate marriage, but in this context others may view it as suspicious, and given this process is completely subjective and half the time made up on the whims of whoever you are dealing with, it may cause issues. 

[GEOntificator 272]

12 hours ago, LJ033 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I am not divorced yet and I know no one can give me a definite answer, but this is very stressful and I'd like to see if you guys think that I will be approved.

My wife and I met in Europe in 2016, I came to US to study in 2018 on an F1 Visa. We married in January 2021 and I got my conditional 2 year green card in July 2022, we did not have to do the in person interview. USCIS asked us to send more evidence, which we did and it was then approved. Fast forward to now and we are currently doing couples counseling and it's not going well, I have very little hope that it is repairable but we have not yet started a divorce process. if we do end up divorcing, I am confident it wont be ugly and we will resolve it peacefully. We can apply for removal of condition in April 2024. I will have the following evidence:

- Proof of joint living for our entire marriage (leases)

- Tax transcripts that we have filed jointly for our entire marriage

- Bank statements of join accounts (checking and savings)

- Bills, mail and wedding invitations with both our names

- Pictures & videos with both our families as well as pictures of our wedding (which was absolutely beautiful)

- Proof of couples counseling

- Proof of honeymoon trip as well as a number of other trips.

- Affidavits, might even be able to get one from her step dad but definitely from our friends. I also think i can get one from her swearing it was bona fide.

- Health insurance, she is on my health insurance from my job

 

The main thing that concerns me is that while we do have joint accounts, we both put in a percentage of our salaries to those account and still keep some things separate. Also, shortly after we marriage, I had her sign a postnuptial agreement, to protect myself from current and future rental properties that I acquire in the US for investment purposes. I don’t know if any of that needs to be disclosed as it is not the reason for our marital issues.

 

Please let me know what you guys think.

 

Sorry to hear it is not going well. I went through a divorce and removed conditions based on good faith marriage. It happens a lot. Your evidence looks pretty good to me. The list looks like what I had pretty much 1 to 1. I hired a good lawyer who filed this for me and got approved without an interview. I think in your case since you did not have one during AOS there is a good chance you will be called in but who knows. It took me 28 months so brace yourself for the long wait.

Edited November 20, 2023 by kvito28

[LJ033 1]

1 hour ago, kvito28 said:

Sorry to hear it is not going well. I went through a divorce and removed conditions based on good faith marriage. It happens a lot. Your evidence looks pretty good to me. The list looks like what I had pretty much 1 to 1. I hired a good lawyer who filed this for me and got approved without an interview. I think in your case since you did not have one during AOS there is a good chance you will be called in but who knows. It took me 28 months so brace yourself for the long wait.

Thanks thats very reassuring. Wow 28 months. So if its that long by the time the condition is removed you're almost ready to apply for naturalization right?

[GEOntificator 272]

9 minutes ago, LJ033 said:

Thanks thats very reassuring. Wow 28 months. So if its that long by the time the condition is removed you're almost ready to apply for naturalization right?

Yep. That is right.

[MMRF 14]

We have a pre-nup and we did not include it. It's none of their business and it's not required.

[A110 80]

Based on my observation there are two forms of "denial":

1. They keep denying/ or making the process take long in the hope that they will tire you out.Usually these are like the majority of the denials.
2. They have very concrete evidence that the marriage was a sham and deny based on that knowing the judge will also vote in favor of the marriage being a sham. 

 

Most people who have plenty of evidence and are/were legit couples fall into category one as category 2 is usually for more organized stuff where a lawyer tried to organize something or it was part of a major scam/operation.The only caveat is sometimes people in category 1 end up in an interview and say too much or get nervous and say something stupid which will push the officer into category 2. That being said unless there is very explict evidence the whole thing was a sham the denial becomes a question of how much you are willing to dispute it and provide evidence to prove the agency wrong.

The only thing I would add to your list of documents is ID's showing you live together.