Here at Cuevas, Garcia & Torres, P.A., we get many questions regarding marriage and divorce when it comes to lawful permanent residency. It is understandable that immigrants in Miami-Dade who are divorcing would be concerned about their residency status. What happens if you gained legal resident status through your marriage to a U.S. citizen or legal resident, but now your marriage has failed? Will you soon face deportation procedures?
According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, you are granted conditional permanent residence within the country upon your marriage to a legal resident up until the two-year anniversary of your marriage. After that point, immigration officials should review your marriage and determine whether it was conducted in good faith. Things would likely get complicated if you are divorced or split up from your spouse. The reason for this is because the USCIS estimates that every year, thousands of immigrants marry legal residents in order to fraudulently gain residency status. In many of these cases, the false marriage does not stand up.
You may still have options after your divorce. If you can prove that you entered into your marriage in good faith, that you or your children were subject to abuse or hardship by your ex-spouse or if you had children during the marriage, you may have a better chance of showing immigration officials that you had no fraudulent intentions to enter the country by marriage.
The laws surrounding conditional permanent residence are complex, especially if your marriage ends in divorce. Learn more about gaining residency status by visiting our page.
