Two years ago I got together with my current wife who is from Canada. We went through all the paperwork and time to receive her conditional residency. We have yet to file the I-751 and planned on it in 2016. Over a month ago the marriage fell through. I decided I had enough and told her I wanted a divorce. Instead of staying and dealing with the divorce, she fled back home to Canada. Now I am in the process of filing for divorce in my county and proceeding from there. What options do I have? Or what must I do? Do I need to contact USCIS and let them know of the situation? I do not want to sponsor her anymore. If she continues to stay in Canada what will happen next year once we are suppose to file the I-751? Thanks for the help.
Giacomo Jacques BeharImmigration AttorneySan Diego, CACA licensed ·
The options you, as the USC soon to become ex-spouse of a foreign national who has not yet removed the "conditions" on her temporary green card have is to simply go on with your life and divorce if you must. That's all. You don't need to worry about your estranged wife and/or "contact USCIS", for even if you did, that wouldn't do you much good at this stage..
Whether to file the I-751 or not is your estranged wife's problem and concern; not yours. If she decides to to hang on to her "green card" status and decides to file the I-751 on her own, she will do so, and will most likely request a "waver" of the joint-filing requirement, by most likely asserting the "good faith" marriage exception (at the marriage's inception - that's all the law cares about.)
I think she should worry about her immigration situation and not you. Well, if she already received her conditional green card and would want to have a green card without condition, I assume she will try to remove the condition herself after the divorce.
She may be concerned with her permanent residence if she wants to remain a lawful permanent resident. She may file the I751 requesting a waiver of the joint filing requirement based on several remedies. You do not need to be involved with that filing or you may submit an affidavit to explain how the marriage was valid but is now defunct if she requests you to do so.
Remember that you, as the once-sponsor of your foreign wife, must continue to file the I865 when and if you move from the place of residence at the time you and she filed together for her conditional residence. You remain obligated under the affidavit of support you filed (I864) unless or until you die, she dies, she naturalizes to become a U.S. Citizen, she rescinds or abandons her lawful permanent residence or she works for 40 social security credits (10 years).
If you want to inform CIS you may. If it’s time for her to file I-751 and she does not, then she’ll lose status. Likewise if she files (assuming you are still married) without your signature and you’re still married, they’ll deny it because your signature is needed. Now if you get divorced, she can file it herself (assuming she went back to the States).
