Abbey B

19 hours ago, Boiler said:

How could it not be GC Fraud if the basis for application was a Fraudulent Marriage?

The annulment doesn't say fraudulent marriage..it just says that the marriage was "void of the essentials of marriage due to the defendant misrepresenting himself" so essentially...it meant that he 'lied' about his intentions. My immigration lawyer said that it would not impact his green card status...but either way--he will be leaving the country and withdrawing his green card application. 

In the end, I decided against an annulment and am going the divorce route because after 1 month of thinking about it and talking with you all on VJ.. I truly just want to go about it the most fair and just way, which would be a divorce. 

19 hours ago, Villanelle said:

Good catch! Honestly overstay/illegal presence issues give me a headache and I try to avoid them at all costs. 

So it seems the only immigration issue for him once the 864 is pulled (whenever she decides to do that) and his ability to return to the US as a tourist or however in the future will be having a divorce decree stating fraud.

Abbey- you do realize almost all immigration processes involve some sort of background check/identity check. He may well have to present his divorce decree. Once they see the wording of fraud on it- he is going to have issues. Even if you try to argue it wasn't GC fraud- the bottom line was it was still a fraud. If he defrauded you, or if he defrauded the US or if he defrauded Mexico. It doesn't matter who- it matters that he did it. 

 

I also re-read one of your posts and you said something curious to me. That 3 months after marriage he no longer wanted X Y and Z. Saying its fraud means (to me) that he never wanted X Y and Z in the first place. As someone else suggested if he did want X y and Z but quickly changed his mind, well I don't think that's fraud. But if he never intended to have those things with you === well, that is misleading and wrong. If that was the case you need to decide how best to handle it. You have every right in that case to have a negative item added to his lifes paperwork . Some people view doing that as the actions of a bitter person and others view as it both deserving and appropriate. You have to look at yourself in the mirror everyday- no one else. Make a decision you can live with. 

I am thankful for all the VJers who helped me with this.. The lawyer only recommended an annulment because the story can be 'slanted' in a way that we do actually qualify for one (based off my husband 'lying' about his intentions of staying here)....but in the end...I know that the annulment will hurt him more than it benefits me so I have decided to withdraw it and go for a divorce. 

17 hours ago, portorusa said:

Annulment is very difficult to prove. Especially on the grounds of fraud.

Why are you so sure that he had lied to you, anyway? Do you have a document to prove it? Like something in his writing to admit he had lied? 

Have it ever occurred to you that he honestly hoped for a good marriage of a life time with you? That he, too had his dreams and expectations and honestly hoped for the best? Like you, he was sure he was in love and that things will be wonderful with you?

But it did not work out as he hoped. And he is disappointed and hurt, just like you. He realized that a real life turned out to be different and that he was not happy with you.

And then he did the right thing, and moved out. 

If he stayed and pretended that everything is hunky-dory and waited to get his green card, and then moved out, that would have been fraud.

Instead he ended the marriage before getting his green card. Moreover, he expressed his wish to return to his home country.

I think your ego screams “fraud” because you are unwilling to admit the truth, that the marriage failed, and most likely not only because it was his fault, and his fault only.

Just divorce, withdraw your Affidavit, and move on. 

This just hit me hard. 

Thank you for taking the time to write a response like this--it made me hear what maybe I didn't want to hear but as much as I want an annulment to get rid of the marriage, this may be the best decision to just get a divorce. I know he didn't want to hurt me or have any bad intention, he just knew we weren't working out, after 4 years of dating. 

I have a call with my divorce attorney today to discuss the two options before serving the papers to him. I already filed the papers, I just didn't serve him yet. They were filed as "annulment as first option and if he does not agree, then a divorce as the second option" but now I don't even know if I want to even mention the annulment. When he sees "fraud" he might get upset and make this emotionally worst for both of us...

19 hours ago, Boiler said:

Sounds like the annulment is on the basis that he will agree to admit fraud.

This is true...and I don't know yet if he will. I have already filed for it but I haven't served him because of this fear. He said he will only agree to it if he knows it won't affect his future immigration. 

Just now, Boiler said:

They are separate but obviously related, especially where you are seeking to obtain an Immigration Benefit (Green Card) based on a fraudulent marriage.

For this instance, I will obviously withdraw the application and the sponsorship so he can't get the green card....but just want to be sure it won't affect a tourist visa (not a marriage based visa) moving forward for him...

Well the 

9 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Not sure why you do not pull the affidavit now.

 

Admitting to a fraudulent visa application would be a life time ban, theoretically a waiver would be available dependent on what sort of visa was being applied for but with this on his record not sure how likely it would be for a waiver to be successful.

Well the visa application (K1 to AOS) is not fraudulent. It was rather that the MARRIAGE was (those are legal terms of an annulment--"the marriage was void of the essentials of marriage" aka he promised a life with me, promised me a family and promised to stay in the US with me but then following our marriage 3 months ago, he no longer wanted a life with me, no longer promised to stay in the US and no longer wanted a family). 

As one other person posted...immigration and marriage are two separate things but I just want to be sure that the grounds of the annulment (lies/fraud) will not impact his immigration for a tourist visa in the future..

17 hours ago, Villanelle said:

You seem to have a few more concerns based on the follow up posting you made... There are two different things going on. One is immigration and the other is divorce. While they are intertwined they are still individual stand alone processes.

 

For a divorce- that happens in a family court. Family court does not care about ones immigration status. You are viewed as equals in the case regardless of legal status. It is possible to complete a divorce or annulment from another country. That would be his issue to figure out though, not yours. Divorce laws also dictate things like spousal support- both during the divorce and what will be awarded if anything in the final decree. Some states will take into account the 864 when deciding spousal support. Your 864 should not be considered valid until he actually gets a GC issued though so it shouldn't be an issue. Speak to your divorce attny about this. 

 

Immigration wise if you pull the 864 (which you need to do so that he is not issued a GC causing your 864 to become enforceable) but when you pull the 864 he will no longer be in a period of auth stay and would be subject to deportation. As long as the petition is pending he is safe from deportation but you run the risk of the GC being approved. 

 

Because he entered as a K and it's has passed the 90 days the K gave him- he is going to have problems returning to the US in the future. Again, this is not really your concern- just an FYI> When someone on a K files AOS they get the "auth stay" to cover them from when the 90 days expires until they get their GC. However if they do not get a GC- starting at 91 days each day is counted against them and depending on how many days he accumulates he may have a ban. That is why he might WANT to leave before the divorce process is complete.

Thanks so much for your response to this--super helpful.

My lawyer also mentioned that he can complete the divorce/annulment from another country, which is good to know. I don't think the GC or even the AP/EAD will get issued in time since we just received our NOA1 a month ago...I can't imagine the annulment or divorce will take longer than 3 months and we will then cancel the AOS/EAD/AP application entirely.

My last concern about an annulment (for him...since I do still care about him of course) is that the 'fraudulent' marriage does not affect his immigration status in THE FUTURE. I know he will want to get a tourist visa again one day to visit...(not to visit me, but just the US in general) and I want to be sure that the annulment won't affect his ability to visit again (since the annulment is based off of HIS lies about wanting to stay here--of course, these are just the 'terms' for an annulment and my husband is aware of that). 

Thank you all for the answers and your concerns. The terms of an annulment are actually up to the judge, so I am not concerned about the 'fraud' or not fraud--that is just how the case is positioned in order to get the annulment. My lawyer has successfully completed annulments regularly in the state of NJ.

I am less worried about whether it is a divorce or an annulment, I just was mostly concerned about the sponsorship status and what the consequences would be if I were to pull I-864. 

Would he have to leave the country immediately? I want him to be present in the US in order to complete the divorce/annulment and if I pull the I-864, he may have to leave right away..making the divorce proceedings that much harder to complete. 

We did not have a religious ceremony and we did do our best (after 4 years of being together) to make it work, however, in the end, it just wasn't mean to be as hard as it is...

This is very hard writing this as I was very involved with VJ during the K1 visa process and was so excited when my fiance came here to marry me from Israel.

He came in January, we married in March and as of June 9th he moved out of the apartment to stay at an AirBnB and is going to go back home after our divorce is done. We had many fundamental issues, he was not willing to work on them or seek counseling, and he kept telling me he wanted to just go home because he couldn't see a future here. 

Long story short, we already filed for AOS, EAD and AP back in May--he went for his biometrics and NOW I have filed for annulment. We have no kids or assets together other than our joint bank account which is now been closed. 

My question and concerns are:

• Given that I am his sponsor, do I have any legal obligation or liability during the divorce/annulment process? 
• If we end up divorced instead of annulled, can he try to get alimony from me because I was his sponsor?
• If we end up annulled, does the "fraud" stay on his record? I tried to get an annulment based off of a 'fraudulent marriage' because he promised a life here with me, promised a family and promised to stay in the US but 3 months after marriage, he does not want to stay here, does not want a family and does not want to be married. 

We are not talking and I am concerned what he can do and what he can try to get out of me given that I was his sponsor. 

19 hours ago, Shiran said:

This is easy. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/compliance-search Check if 15 days shows up on compliance check, if it doesn't this is non issue. If person has AP, there is very little reason to not travel. Yes, admittance with AP and even GC is not guaranteed, and obviously there was a case recently due to Trump's travel ban when GC holders were briefly affected, but everyone needs to evaluate their own risk tolerance.

Thank you @treppenwitz @Dazz for the guidance--and apologies to the group if this blew up. I think both of you have some good points and I want to think that we are okay to travel given the evidence. 

Also, thanks @Shiran for sharing the link. It for some reason says travel info is unavailable but maybe I'll check back in it with it. 

Congrats to everyone who got their NOA1 & biometrics in this thread... I'm seeing some people did--waiting on ours still as we sent it in on April 30. Being patient. 

13 hours ago, treppenwitz said:

Admittance on a K-1 is based on the intent to marry within 90 days. There is no provision in the INA nor Field Manual that AOS must be submitted within a certain time period.

CBP denying @Abbey B entry for 15 day-overstay is not realistic. The above is fear mongering.

Thank you both @treppenwitz and @Dazz for the insight. It definitely makes the decision to leave much harder..(as we originally planned to do a 2nd wedding in Israel A.K.A a 2 week trip on AP but maybe it is best we wait until GC). 

I do want to point out that I also was under the impression of what @treppenwitz said regarding K1 law to marry within 90 days, which we did, but nothing was signed or stated in the I-129F, I-797 or anywhere else that said we needed to FILE within 90 days...and it looks like there is some research that supports that fact. 

On 4/30/2019 at 11:47 PM, Dazz said:

I entered in December 2017 and just filed a month ago, you'll be fine!

That's good to know! My only question is about the advanced parole...if we get the travel document and leave the country (for example 2 weeks long) and come back in...will they consider the original I-94 from the K1 visa an overstay? I heard that once the I-94 expires, it is considered an overstay and I wouldn't want that to be a red flag while traveling and coming back into country..

Just here to say that I barely made it onto this thread group but here I am...sent in the package today finally (15 days after the I-94 expired). We got married within 90 days but filed 15 days after the 90 day K1...I hope this won't be a problem  

When applying for the I-131 with I-485 and I-765, there is an option to request multiple-entries, which we checked off and are applying for.

I heard that when you apply for I-131 for multiple entries that you need to place a separate cover letter on top of the form explaining why you are requesting multiple entries. Something to the effect of...’I wish to visit family for the holidays and understand that the green card filing can take an uncertain amount of time, so during that time and I am requesting you consider my application for multiple visits through advanced parole.’ 

Has anyone else done this and is this required?

17 hours ago, K1visaHopeful said:

That's kind of a funny topic, hey.

The "better" the employer, the more they offer in medical benefits for their employee but less likely to support that employee when experiencing a better quality of life (marriage, dependents).

The "more run of the mill" employer will still offer medical benefits for their employees and is willing to offer benefits to their employee's dependents at a good rate even though the brunt of the cost is still on the employee in terms as meeting their deductible. 

Kind of crazy.

It really is crazy..less likely to provide more benefits when that employee has better quality of life. 

And yup, they don't offer any 'spouse plan'. I would just be adding him as a dependent as they don't give special rates for 'bundling it'--just the same cost of a separate individual. 

17 hours ago, yuna628 said:

You can apply to the exchange as soon as you have an NOA1 for the AOS, if not by then, the next earliest with the EAD. If you have applied for AOS not too long after marriage you qualify under special enrollment, wait too long though and you can be phased out into the next open enrollment period.

I had already paid for a 'grandfathered' type private plan, which was quite expensive as it was and offered pretty poor coverage. When we married I immediately added my spouse onto my plan, and it was rolled over into a new type plan. The cost was around $600-700 per month for a while, but then continued to skyrocket by a year and a half in upwards of nearly $900 and the benefits were no better. This ate through savings, and made us seriously consider going without as by that time his employer was only offering a PT position so no insurance offered. Luckily he was offered FT position, and the insurance was fantastic for both of us. I think it works out somewhere around $200 + a small amount for a dental plan every month and employer picks up the rest, which is a staggering amount. This has paid off tremendously this year with a $48,000 hospital stay last month.

 

For most, unless your income qualifies, the exchange does not offer that much of a difference in savings, but it can help certainly sometimes and get you some care when you need it. When it comes to employer offered insurance though, usually that is best, unless there are specific circumstances that do not make it cheaper in the long run. For instance, the plan you find on the exchange might be cheap if it is a bronze plan, but consider how much you will shell out with deductibles + copays making it.. well.. kinda junk. Can the employer offered insurance give you anything better than that even if you are paying more up front?

Safe to say that healthcare is extremely expensive but extremely necessary. Crazy amount for your hospital stay and thank God you were covered. Unfortunately, my employer can only provide the same coverage plan that I have so we can't really 'shop' around within the carrier. We may just have to settle for the $800 each a month until he gets his EAD..better to be safe. 

12 hours ago, Zeebubs said:

Have you looked into expat insurance?  I am going to cover myself for the shortfall between landing in the states and getting married, since travel insurance does not cover you if you are not returning to your point of origin.  I've had quotes for $220 US a month (minus outpatients which is another $140, and before I've declared any pre-existings).

Thanks for the thought. We did not look into it...that is not a bad cost but will have to take a look and compare and what specifically it would be covering. Sometimes the higher premium comes with more coverage, which he will need. 

7 hours ago, Loren Y said:

Check out my post from less than a week ago. 800 seems high, but it is needed......

 

 

That is so nervewrecking! Hope all is well now and thank god there was coverage. I know it is needed and think we will go this route...

12 hours ago, Sarah&Facundo said:

Once you are married, you can apply for a plan on the Exchange. Keep in mind you must do that within 60 days of getting married because it qualifies as a "change of life" event. I see you are in NJ. We are too and did this without an issue last year. We don't pay anywhere near $800 so that might be your best bet. It will be a LOT easier if he has a SSN to apply with as well. You can apply for that right away if you haven't already.

Hi jersey neighbor  Thank you and yes we did get his SSN already. I think the employer insurance may be our best bet only because the coverage will be better than if we went with exchange and from what I'm seeing in this thread...it may be worth it because God forbid something happened and he racks up a big hospital stay like some others explained, then it could pay off to have the better coverage. 

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

You can get cheaper no doubt, need to check coverage, 

Yeah...that's what we're doing. Checking out individual plans on the market place...looks like decent coverage so far and he really just needs it for a few doctor appointments until he gets work authorization...

25 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Best wishes!

 

Yes, I added my spouse to my plan after marriage. It was basically $400/month out of pocket for each of us ($800 combined).

 

It was worth every penny, though. My medical bill 3 weeks ago was $133,000 and I paid $0.

Holy....that's INSANE. So happy for you that you had coverage. Life is worth the money and I hope you are doing better now! 

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Most states will not permit Medicaid for the first 5 years of a new immigrant’s stay. This starts from when they get the green card. Notable exceptions are NY and CA, as well as for certain emergency conditions, or pregnancy in some states.

 

Look at the exchange or private insurance and compare. While $800 is a lot, it’s likely your best option. Healthcare is expensive.

Okay, we are looking at exchange now and can try to compare. I feel like we can get something for half that price. 

What did you guys do? Did you go on your spouses employer plan? 

6 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

How much do you pay as single through work?

My plan is $749 but my work covers $750 of health insurance so I'm technically not paying "anything" so we would be paying $750 for his + dental and vision which comes out to $810 to add him. 

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

He could look at options through the Exchange or Privately, but usually an Employer plan is best.

It just seems like $800 a month is excessive for healthcare. I know it is necessary to have it but I thought maybe we could find one more affordable and wasn't sure if he would qualify for medicaid given his immigration status.