Summary

Divorce and adjustment of status


If you are not on a K1 visa your really out of luck. However if you came into the country on a k1 visa on August 12, 2008, in an important immigration decision, the court held that foreign nationals who marry their fiancé after entering the United States on a K-1 fiancé visa, and who subsequently obtain a divorce prior to obtaining permanent resident status, are still entitled to adjust to resident status. The Appeals Court held that it found nothing in the plain language of Section 245 (d) suggesting that an application that was valid when submitted should be automatically invalid when the petitioner’s marriage ends by divorce 2 years later. The Court also held that the purpose and context of § 245(d) also do not support the government's reading of the statute that requires the automatic removal of immigrants whose marriages end in divorce while their application for adjustment of status languishes in the agency's file cabinet. The Court relied on their previous holding in Freeman vs. Gonzalez, 444 F.3d 1031 and as a result of the Court's decision in Choin vs. Mukasey, Yelena's immigration nightmare finally ended. This holding continues a long line of cases (Matter of Boromand, Matter of McKee) that hold that a marriage must only be valid at inception. Indeed, the parties do not need to be married at the time USCIS adjudicates the adjustment application.  

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