YellingSeal

What has changed is that we are in the process of divorcing. The divorce is filed and I'm waiting on the decree. The local court has not finished it yet. So technically, until it is finished I am still legally married but other threads on here seem to suggest that I still apply as divorced while waiting for my divorce to be final and get the decree. USCIS does not provide lots on information on this but I wanted to have opinion and maybe experience on it. In my opinion, I'd rather file jointly first since I'm still legally married, explained that the divorce is in process and that the decree will be amended to the petition once it's available (as per their instruction since there is no in-between checkbox and they don't explain what to do for this situation)

I was about to file jointly because from my understanding, the choice is binary. Either you are legally married (I still am since I do not have the divorce decree) or you are divorced. I filed for divorce in my state and am currently waiting on the result. Could be done tomorrow or in a couple of months (the joy of bureaucracy that this forum knows too well). Everything is done. My forms are filled, evidence is gathered. The only sticking point is filing jointly or not and what extra declaration/statement can be made to provide insight/detail into what happened. I am not a big fan of filing with missing required document (divorce decree) expecting an RFE and provide the decree at that time. I've also read that people seems really against filing jointly while in the process of divorcing as that could be seen as lying. Keep in mind that while filing jointly, I have a couple of lines in my cover letter explaining that we are living at different address since X and filed for divorce in X and I'm waiting for the decree which I will send with an amendment later on. So questions are: To file jointly or not? What should I say? Explain timeline of relationship. Explain in detail what happened. Have ex-wife explain her side and sign a statement? Thanks P.S: Best case scenario is to get the divorce decree before my deadline. But this is unlikely. I still think I will call the court until 2-3 days before my green card expire to hopefully get the decree and overnight my I-751 if I'm really close to the date.

I think I understand what you mean. I think people can be in a good faith marriage when not living together. Basically the paperwork does not need to be done ASAP. The marriage was entered in good faith but does not become "not in good faith" the minute you separate but stay married. There are multiple reasons for people to not file the paperwork immediately, laziness, mental burden, potential asset/custody fight, unwillingness of one party, etc...Applying to something as "married" after a separation but still married would be "not in good faith". I think that is what you are implying I would be doing here. I don't know if you are right, it's all just semantic really. If we were to apply for mortgage today and say that we are married while we are in fact separated and living in different addresses I would agree that some kind of "fraud" is happening. But applying for a joint I-751 while separated but still married is the only thing I can do. Now would they still see it as "fraud" because when I filed the I-751 we were separated? Maybe. Seems harsh though. If that is the case then I guess the route would be to get divorced before applying (to avoid needing to amend).

Well, she will go to the interview, answer the question honestly like I will and our story will match because we don't have anything to hide and the marriage was real. I know it's still up to the immigrant officer to decide. But basically I think in some situation, people are not divorced but the sponsor is not wiling to sign the joint petition for example and that becomes a big problem. That is not the case, she will also be willing to write a letter explaining why the relationship failed.

Thank you for your response. There is a common theme online that filing jointly while separated but not divorced is not great. This seems a little weird to me especially when compared to filing a divorce waiver after getting divorced. The spouse participation seems to be a big indicator of how hard filing jointly while separated will be and in my case I will get good cooperation. Currently in the process of getting help from a lawyer. Getting divorced to help prove a bona fide marriage seems just wrong to me.

USCIS does have procedure for this exact situation. People can enter into good faith marriage and things don't end up working out.

I messed up, did not mean 30 days late but I'm 60 days before expiry instead of 90. I'm just thinking that people who applied at 90 days before expiry look better. Yes, we are separated because of marital issues. I did read about immigration basically assuming the couple is "working" on fixing the relationship if they are separated but not divorced though you can also apply while divorced.

No. Separated, living at different addresses. This was another concern of mine if we happened to get divorced after I submit my I-751. It is not in the cards right now but could happen. I read that I would need to re-apply/amend my I-751.

My case is not good. Got separated 1 year after moving. Not divorced. Moved 2 months after getting to the US and did not know I needed to notify USCIS (just did). Only proof that exist is picture together, a joint lease, testimony of less than 10 people (if they want to do it), chat logs. Applying 1 month late. Basically I think we are very likely to get an interview. My question is "Where are the interviews?" It says local USCIS on most resources but its unclear if all of them conduct the interview. Based on my state, I have to send the form to Arizona which is quite far. My sponsor (ex-wife, not divorced) would be willing to travel for an interview to the local office our zip code gives us here (https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-a-uscis-office/field-offices) but not to Arizona. Another question I have is "Should I wait for my online AR-11 to go through before submitting my I-751?" I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. Also, should I get a lawyer? Don't really have the money for it right now (the 600$ fee is already a lot) but having a complicated case makes me anxious. Though the process of even getting here was much harder and more complicated and I never used a lawyer for that. Thanks