Terminate prior marriage to remarry, not just independent

Expensive Atty. Gurfinkel:

I entered the US on a tourist visa and then overstayed and am out of standing. My US citizen boyfriend not long ago proposed to me, and we system on finding married and acquiring him petition me.

Even so, decades ago, I married a person else in the Philippines, but he deserted me and already has one more family. We have not noticed or spoken with each individual other in yrs. Since we married in the Philippines and have been separated for so long, would there be any challenge in now marrying my boyfriend and having him petition me? I imagined a partner is deemed “dead” if we haven’t spoken in quite a few many years.

Very definitely yours,

MA

Expensive MA:

If a particular person has ever been married and that marriage was legitimate in the position/state of celebration, that marriage stays legitimate for US immigration functions. The human being are not able to lawfully marry anybody else without the need of 1st terminating all prior marriages. Usually, the relationship would be considered bigamous and void ab initio (from the beginning), and there would be no “petitionable relationship” with the US citizen partner. Any green card obtained by way of these kinds of a marital petition would be fraudulent, earning the person issue to acquiring their inexperienced card revoked and being place in deportation/removal proceedings.

It does not matter how many many years you have been divided or whether or not your initial partner has a new relatives. Unless of course that marriage is legally terminated, you simply cannot remarry anyone else.

There are quite a few methods a marriage can be terminated:

• Divorce in the US. If a human being is already in the US, they could divorce the 1st husband or wife in the US, even even though their relationship took area in the Philippines. An annulment in the Philippines would not necessarily be necessary. This is simply because if a divorce is legitimate in the put (jurisdiction) in which it was attained, then it would be valid and regarded for US immigration applications.

• Annulment in the Philippines. If a human being is in the Philippines, then annulment may be their only selection. If they are in the US, annulment in the Philippines could current challenges, since if they are out of position and have to have to travel again to the Philippines for courtroom hearings, they could be subject to the 3/10-year bar.  Also, in some situations, it could choose several years for a Philippine annulment.

• Demise of prior partner. If the prior husband or wife has presently died, then a human being could remarry as a widow or widower. On the other hand, if the past spouse was nevertheless alive at the time of the next relationship and died later, that could current troubles simply because, technically, on the date of the next marriage, the man or woman was continue to married to their first partner and the marriage would have been bigamous as of the date of marriage. Also, a “presumption of death” annulment could elevate difficulties about its legality, particularly if the dearly departed spouse is nonetheless alive.

I at the time experienced a consultation with a Filipina who had married a US citizen, and the pair arrived to me on a Friday in link with a marital interview that was to get place the next Tuesday. She encouraged that she was nonetheless married to her first spouse in the Philippines. We stopped that job interview she attained a divorce in the US, remarried the American and was afterwards in a position to get a “clean” lawful eco-friendly card.

If you program to be petitioned by a US citizen wife or husband but have a preceding marriage, I would advise you check with with an legal professional who can consider the situation and establish the best study course of motion and could make absolutely sure that you are lawfully/legally married to your new partner and that your eco-friendly card was acquired lawfully instead than fraudulently.

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