New Jersey Immigration Lawyer Discusses Sponsoring a New Spouse
As a experienced New Jersey Immigration Lawyer, I am often asked by clients about how to file to sponsor a new partner. One woman in particular came to my office recently. She told me she had gotten her green card four years ago through marriage to a prior spouse. Then she was divorced about a year or two ago. Now, she’s about to get remarried in the next few months. She wants to know if she, as a green card holder, can sponsor her new, soon husband-to-be.
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It’s a little bit of a complicated answer. Immigration generally holds to the rule that if you got your green card through marriage to a spouse, then you must wait five years until you can convey any sponsorship benefits on a subsequent spouse. But there are several exceptions.
One exception is if you can prove and show the bona fides of your first marriage and that you were not married just to evade the immigration laws. The most common example would be birth certificates of children born to that marriage. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about waiting five years.
The second example is if your marriage terminated through death of your first spouse. Then there’s no issue of bona fides. In general, if you did not have any children together, and your marriage was terminated through divorce and not death, then you must wait five years until you can sponsor your spouse-to-be. You can get married at any time, but it will not be possible to file the papers. It will be difficult to get an approval by immigration if you do not wait five years.
Have you found it difficult to try and sponsor your soon to be spouse? Contact our professional New Jersey Lawyer for guidance.
This educational blog was brought to you by Susan Scheer, an experienced New Jersey Immigration Lawyer.
