Getting divorced on a permanent visa, whats next?

[DialNoises 6]

Timeline: 

May 2017 - applied for I-129F
Late 2018 - I-129F petition approved, came to the US, got married within the 90days 

Early 2019 - applied for permanent visa 

End of 2019 - application got denied (due to incomplete sponsorship documentation) 

January 2020 - applied for permanent visa

January 2021 - Approved (married for 2 years at the time and received a conditional card)

Late 2023 - Receive a 10yr permanent residence card (after battle with the US to correct our card and having the governor to step in and have them work on it, no second interview was needed)

 

Speaking as the immigrant.

Hi, so in the past year my relationship with my spouse started getting rocky and things gone pretty bad in between us and my spouse finally reached out to me and said they want to end things between us, I havent filed for citizenship yet because this just happened unexpectedly and comfortably still seen a future ahead of us, unfortunately I have to respect my spouse choices and follow through. their decision is final.

 

The question is, what do I do now?

Must I notify the USCIS of the divorce? and how? 

And how does this affect my eligibility to apply for N-400 and what do I have to be worried about? 

Are there anything else I should be doing or worrying of immigration wise now that the divorce is happening? 

 

Thanks for the help!

Edited Monday at 08:39 AM by DialNoises

[Boiler 47,755]

You can apply to naturalise 5 years minus 90 days after the start date on your GC.

 

The N400 asks about your marital status etc.

 

i assume this will be mid 2028, I would not apply the day you are eligible, give it a week.

[Boiler 47,755]

Ohh if you change your address you need to notify them.

[DialNoises 6]

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

You can apply to naturalise 5 years minus 90 days after the start date on your GC.

 

The N400 asks about your marital status etc.

 

i assume this will be mid 2028, I would not apply the day you are eligible, give it a week.

 

Why 2028? isnt it 5 years from the day my unconditional card was issued? 

The issue here on top of it all is that while I can apply for citizenship 3 years after my GC under my marriage, I still havent and I am getting divorced before my 5 years are complete.

[Boiler 47,755]

Might have been some editing that impacted my reply.

 

So 2026, you can not use the 3 year rule when you are no longer in a good faith marriage.

 

theoretically under the 5 year rule the marriage is no longer relevant but I have seen cases where people have been asked about it.

[DialNoises 6]

12 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Might have been some editing that impacted my reply.

 

So 2026, you can not use the 3 year rule when you are no longer in a good faith marriage.

 

theoretically under the 5 year rule the marriage is no longer relevant but I have seen cases where people have been asked about it.

Yeah that would be 2026

Edited Monday at 09:43 AM by DialNoises

[Dashinka 26,051]

5 hours ago, DialNoises said:

 

 

The question is, what do I do now?

Deal with the divorce, and picking up after it.

5 hours ago, DialNoises said:

Must I notify the USCIS of the divorce? and how? 

No need except for any address changes.

5 hours ago, DialNoises said:

And how does this affect my eligibility to apply for N-400 and what do I have to be worried about? 

Changes you to a 5 yr rule filing, and you will need to show the divorce decree.

5 hours ago, DialNoises said:

Are there anything else I should be doing or worrying of immigration wise now that the divorce is happening? 

 

Thanks for the help!

Good Luck!

[Dashinka 26,051]

Moving this to Effects of Major Family Changes on Immigration Benefits forum as it seems to fit better there.

[.yana 628]

I'm sorry things didn't work out with your spouse. 

 

In addition to above, if I were in your position, I would also screenshot/save all the conversations between you & your spouse discussing your relationship and ending things amicably JUST in case something happens in the future, and your spouse becomes bitter & decides to make things difficult for your immigration journey. Not that they can but always good to cover your bases.

[DialNoises 6]

4 hours ago, .yana said:

I'm sorry things didn't work out with your spouse. 

 

In addition to above, if I were in your position, I would also screenshot/save all the conversations between you & your spouse discussing your relationship and ending things amicably JUST in case something happens in the future, and your spouse becomes bitter & decides to make things difficult for your immigration journey. Not that they can but always good to cover your bases.

 

It is unfortunate, I still love them too much and I still look fondly of all of our memories and I cant bear imagining a life where we are no longer together.

We have fought extreme battles with the USCIS just to be together and be married and the expenses spent over it werent cheap considering I wasn't exactly well off from the begin with, so that also means I had to go through it without a lawyer as helpful as it would have been.

It is sad it had to end this way, almost like a terrible dream I am yet to wake up from.

 

I doubt my spouse will do anything to make my immigration any difficult, but there are always surprises.

Most of our intimate and difficult conversations are done in person so that would be a bit difficult to have on record, and we have if not hundred thousand of conversation on messenger that I would hope not going through again to make a collection of screenshot highlights to present to the USCIS as the last time was extremely difficult to go through, suppose thats not very much the perk of being very communicative with your partner, haha..

But thank you for the advice!

 

6 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Deal with the divorce, and picking up after it.

No need except for any address changes.

Changes you to a 5 yr rule filing, and you will need to show the divorce decree.

Good Luck!

 

Things with moving out at the moment are dicey because I've curated my whole lifestyle here in the US around my spouse thinking we'd have a long future ahead of us, and things falling apart just so suddenly puts me in the spot, If im lucky I get to stay in the same place I am at, at the moment. however it is seems as my spouse is staying separated at a different household, unsure of if temporarily or not at the moment.

 

Now that I will be facing the 5yr rule filing, do I now have to face more difficulties during the interview like proving my relationship was bona fide? do I have to bring more than just my divorce decree? should I expect to be looked down on now that I've been gotten divorced under my 5 year residency? 

 

Makes things so much difficult because we've been very happy together and I've abandoned everything behind me going forward to the US and I've built everything I have around living here, this is and has been my home now and I have everything here, getting sent back would be absolutely devastating on top of having no where to go anymore (no family)

I have to fight to stay here now that things are getting this dicey  😞

[OldUser 10,313]

26 minutes ago, DialNoises said:

 

Now that I will be facing the 5yr rule filing, do I now have to face more difficulties during the interview like proving my relationship was bona fide? do I have to bring more than just my divorce decree? should I expect to be looked down on now that I've been gotten divorced under my 5 year residency? 

Potentially. Entire immigration history can be reviewed.

 

By the way, once you're LPR, you're not on visa. Don't say that to officer, it's confusing.

Edited Monday at 09:51 PM by OldUser

[DialNoises 6]

12 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Potentially. Entire immigration history can be reviewed.

By the way, once you're LPR, you're not on visa

I should have used my terms correctly, going to edit the main post for this, thanks!

And this is terrifying to know, preparing for the first one was a nightmare to go through, making this even more difficult considering theres so much to gather over the past 9 years involving our very involved relationship, after the LPR I started feeling more confident not to keep "documenting" our marriage, after my permanent residency was approved It was freeing to finally be ourselves and be doing this genuinely without the feel that our experiences are needed to be presented in front of the immigration office again to prove we are in a genuine relationship.

I just hope I can retrieve some of our documentation like our renting lease from a place weve moved two a few years back (and moved back from.) 

Or the time I have been saving $31k to purchase them a brand new car with my own money, unfortunately we were only able to put their name under the title because I havent retrieved my full driving license yet.

On top of losing someone so important, having to deal with USCIS this way is just something 

edit: it appears I can no longer edit my post so I will have to let it be 

Edited Monday at 09:55 PM by DialNoises

[NorthByNorthwest 459]

2 minutes ago, DialNoises said:

I just hope I can retrieve some of our documentation like our renting lease from a place weve moved two a few years back (and moved back from.) 

Or the time I have been saving $31k to purchase them a brand new car with my own money, unfortunately we were only able to put their name under the title because I havent retrieved my full driving license yet.

On top of losing someone so important, having to deal with USCIS this way is just something 

 

Note that when you file under the 5-year rule you don't need to provide _any_ documentation related to the marriage other than the divorce decree, but as others have pointed out you may certainly get asked about it, especially since only a short time has passed since you got your 10-year card. It's always prudent to have some material to pull out just in case.

[DialNoises 6]

1 minute ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

Note that when you file under the 5-year rule you don't need to provide _any_ documentation related to the marriage other than the divorce decree, but as others have pointed out you may certainly get asked about it, especially since only a short time has passed since you got your 10-year card. It's always prudent to have some material to pull out just in case.

From what I understand, they may ask about it whichever I am filing under 5yr (so I understand I can now?) or filing after the 5 year rule, they are still going to ask questions in both times?

 

And what should I be expected to bring just in case? 

leases? joint accounts? photos? conversations? bank statements? etc?

[NorthByNorthwest 459]

3 minutes ago, DialNoises said:

From what I understand, they may ask about it whichever I am filing under 5yr (so I understand I can now?) or filing after the 5 year rule, they are still going to ask questions in both times?

 

And what should I be expected to bring just in case? 

leases? joint accounts? photos? conversations? bank statements? etc?

 

Assuming you file online the system will tell you exactly which supporting documentation to include. That is all that the formal application requires, however as OldUser pointed out, the adjudicating officer  can certainly look at your entire immigration history.

Additionally, the new policy memorandum from two week ago leaves a lot of room for interpretation, suggesting that adjudicators should look at the totality of circumstances:

 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-alerts/08.15.2025-Restoring_a_Good_Moral_Character_Evaluation_Standard_for_Aliens_Applying_for_Naturalization-Policy_Memorandum_FINAL.pdf

 

It includes wording like this:

 

USCIS will place greater emphasis on an alien’s positive attributes and contributions in GMC

determinations. These positive factors include, but are not limited to:

• Sustained community involvement and contributions in the United States.

• Family caregiving, responsibility, and ties in the United States.

• Educational attainment.

• Stable and lawful employment history and achievements.

• Length of lawful residence in the United States.

• Compliance with tax obligations and financial responsibility in the United States.

 

Nobody knows what this means in practice yet, but the circumstances around your divorce could certainly be looked at.