piper2013

John F, simply refusing to file the AoS is not considered abuse. To be considered abuse, this has to be tied to other factors of abuse, for example a well-documented and credible pattern of what USCIS understands as legitimate abuse. Similarly, if your spouse cheated on you, this is not considered abuse either, even if she got pregnant by another man. Some things are defined by the law as abuse and others are not. Refusing to sponsor for AoS on its own is not. For the USCIS legitimate abuse has to go beyond a certain threshold, which, in fact, is not easy to define, especially in cases of psychological abuse. You have to prove that you were the victim of extreme cruelty. These are subjective interpretations, especially when you are involved emotionally with someone and especially when the prize is permanent residency. For this reason, the USCIS relies on a professional evaluation. A psychologist that has experience with victims of abuse can provide such an evaluation. Your subjective emotions are something that can't convince the USCIS easily. A
According to immigration laws, the US citizen spouse is not obliged to sponsor anyone for a green card. If you read up more broadly on marriage and green card, you will discover that the refusal to sponsor for AoS alone is simply not considered abuse. It is much more complex than that. This is the reason there is a special service center in Vermont, where adjudicators trained in this matter make decisions. If in combination with other things, then the refusal to sponsor for AoS can be abusive. But I have to agree with anajnic that this by itself is not grounds to be approved under VAWA.
There is a lot written on VAWA and I'd do some reading if I were you. Your situation might indeed be difficult and you might indeed be a victim of abuse. But you need to inform yourself before you decide what qualifies for abuse and whether you are a victim. I hope you are not simply relying on a forum. This forum can be very helpful, but this is a long and complex process involving a lot of documentation. You need to do your own research. I personally spent months learning about this before submitting my application. Also, there are not silver bullets here. Every situation is unique. If you don't inform yourself and if you don't pay careful attention to the rules and requirements, odds are that your application won't be very successful, especially without a professional psychological evaluation. So you would probably benefit if you took your time and understood what VAWA is, how it works, and whether it can work for you.

John F, simply refusing to file the AoS is not considered abuse. To be considered abuse, this has to be tied to other factors of abuse, for example a well-documented and credible pattern of what USCIS understands as legitimate abuse. Similarly, if your spouse cheated on you, this is not considered abuse either, even if she got pregnant by another man. Some things are defined by the law as abuse and others are not. Refusing to sponsor for AoS on its own is not. For the USCIS legitimate abuse has to go beyond a certain threshold, which, in fact, is not easy to define, especially in cases of psychological abuse. You have to prove that you were the victim of extreme cruelty. These are subjective interpretations, especially when you are involved emotionally with someone and especially when the prize is permanent residency. For this reason, the USCIS relies on a professional evaluation. A psychologist that has experience with victims of abuse can provide such an evaluation. Your subjective emotions are something that can't convince the USCIS easily. A
According to immigration laws, the US citizen spouse is not obliged to sponsor anyone for a green card. If you read up more broadly on marriage and green card, you will discover that the refusal to sponsor for AoS alone is simply not considered abuse. It is much more complex than that. This is the reason there is a special service center in Vermont, where adjudicators trained in this matter make decisions. If in combination with other things, then the refusal to sponsor for AoS can be abusive. But I have to agree with anajnic that this by itself is not grounds to be approved under VAWA.
There is a lot written on VAWA and I'd do some reading if I were you. Your situation might indeed be difficult and you might indeed be a victim of abuse. But you need to inform yourself before you decide what qualifies for abuse and whether you are a victim. I hope you are not simply relying on a forum. This forum can be very helpful, but this is a long and complex process involving a lot of documentation. You need to do your own research. I personally spent months learning about this before submitting my application. Also, there are not silver bullets here. Every situation is unique. If you don't inform yourself and if you don't pay careful attention to the rules and requirements, odds are that your application won't be very successful, especially without a professional psychological evaluation. So you would probably benefit if you took your time and understood what VAWA is, how it works, and whether it can work for you.

OP have you and your husband thought about going to marriage therapy? Your marriage is very young and both of you are going through a lot of changes right now, it could take up to a year to adjust. Going from single to being married is tough for some folks. Please, try therapy, it can give you both strategy to help with adjustment and how to cope with living with a person you may or may not know very well. The fact that your husband and you worked together to file the green card tells me you guys both think that the marriage might be worth saving. Good luck

I personally did NOT send all bona fide proofs again. I had submitted all these with the I-360. I also did NOT submit police clearances again. I had submitted these with the I-360. The instructions for the I-485 hint that re-submitting police clearances (for a second time) is NOT necessary. In my case, I would have had to submit 3 of these, because I lived at 3 separate places, some of which are far from one another. This is not easy and it would be a waste of time and efforts if it is unnecessary. If it is not necessary (which is how I read the I-485 instructions) to send these again, I wouldn't. I had submitted all my bonafide marriage stuff with the I-360, which was approved. I have no more bonafide proof stuff, so I didn't send anything about bonafide with the I-485, which I filed separately and after the I-360 was already approved. I did submit a copy of my birth certificate with the I-485, because the instructions for I-485 explicitly state that this must be sent along with the I-485 form. By the way, when I was filing for I-360 I did NOT submit my own birth certificate - because the instructions didn't ask for it.
In short - and this was my point above - I have NEVER submitted the same documents twice. Also have NOT received any RFEs - at least so far. I did fingerprints a month ago.
Anajnic, before asking Sandranj (or anyone else) for advice, I ALWAYS read the instructions for myself and only then ask. Yes, I first device my own understanding of things based on what I have read and researched - that's right, and I don't think it's unfair. I only ask questions when I am not absolutely clear about something and want reassurance. I don't think it is rude or bad of me to share with people what my understanding of something is. I am only trying to be helpful. These are things that are confusing and that's why we have a forum - so that we can discuss them openly. So your criticism telling me (somewhat rudely - and this is the second time you do this) to stop devising my own understanding is really not very appropriate. I have not been rude to you, and I would appreciate the same of you. Thanks.

Hi sandranj,
Thanks for sharing this. I am already divorced but I hope it won't be a problem that my spouse filed for divorce first. My situation was such that I had to move to a different state and I was preoccupied with survival for months. Soon after I left my abusive spouse, she was already in a new relationship and it seems like she rushed for the divorce so that she could be "in the clear" again. In the meantime, I was out of the state, without any resources and basically trying to make it. These were my top priorities. The formalities around the divorce were not a priority for me at a time when I was trying to simply survive and seek therapist help. I recently went back to the town we lived together and went to the Court. I picked up the divorce degree, which says that I did not appear at the divorce hearings. I really did not want to see her again, I did not know when the hearings were anyway, and it didn't really matter to me - I knew we were going to be divorced, so, given that I was completely broke, I did not want to deal with any of that.
Your comment that it looks more credible if the victim of abuse files first seem correct - however, this would matter for the abuse, NOT for the good faith of the marriage. As far as I understood, they are not supposed/allowed to ask about the abuse at the interview. Who files for divorce first should have nothing to do with the good faith of the marriage.
Here is what I found:
"The 1990 act further assisted battered foreign nationals by making other changes to the INA joint
petition waiver provisions. It added language to the INA instructing the Attorney General to
establish by regulation “measures to protect the confidentiality of information concerning any
abused foreign national spouse or child." It also broadened the existing waiver based on
termination of a good faith marriage by eliminating the requirement for battered foreign nationals
to have been the ones terminating the marriage and for good cause. Thus, foreign nationals who
had entered into good faith marriages that subsequently terminated could apply for the waiver
regardless of who had terminated the marriage and for whatever reason. The House Judiciary
Committee report justified these changes as follows:

In many cases there are obstacles that prevent a battered alien spouse from initiating a
divorce, such as lack of resources to pay for a lawyer; ethnic or cultural prohibitions against
divorce…. Often, aliens are denied the waiver because they cannot satisfy the “good cause”
requirement under no-fault [divorce] laws."