Both marriage and engagement are common ways for foreign nationals to legally enter the United States. Immigrants who develop relationships with United States citizens may be eligible to enter the country as a spouse or a fiancé.
However, there is never any guarantee of a marriage lasting indefinitely, despite the best intentions of the people involved. Infidelity, abuse and conflicts of values can all theoretically lead to divorce, even after one spouse left their home and entered the United States to commit to the other person.
Divorce can be disruptive in any situation. For example, it has the potential to cause major complications for an immigrant spouse. Do those who secure green cards through marriage face removal from the country if they divorce?
Divorce can affect green cards
The duration of the marriage is a key consideration when determining if divorce is likely to impact an immigrant’s status. Both fiancés who enter the country to marry with a K-1 visa and new spouses of citizens have to remain married to solidify their immigration status.
If the marriage is less than two years old when an immigrant fiancé or spouse enters the country, they typically receive a conditional green card. A conditional green card is only valid for two years instead of 10 years.
The immigrant spouse must apply to remove the conditions on their status before the green card expires. That process generally requires that the immigrant spouse remain married to the citizen spouse. After they remove the conditional status from their green card, their legal right to remain in the country no longer relies on their marital status.
In cases where immigrant spouses cannot wait longer than two years to divorce, they may be eligible for other forms of legal protection. U visas, for example, are available to immigrants who are victims of crime and who participate in the prosecution of the criminal.
Learning more about family-based immigration, including conditional green cards, can be beneficial for spouses and fiancés entering the country to connect with their partners. Continued marriage is typically a requirement for those intending to remove the conditional status attached to their green cards, but divorce does not always impact an immigrant’s status.