Legal Question in Immigration Law in California

Re: Permenant residancy and divorce

The first question is to find out is on what date he received his permanent residence?

Re: Permenant residancy and divorce

First of all, it is important to determine the threshold issue of whether your husband was issued a two-year conditional or ten-year legal permanent resident card (green card). If you were married for less than two years at the time of filing he was probably issued a two-year card and you must deal with the issue of removing the condition on residence in two years. If you divorce before that time he would need to file a good-faith waiver and substantial documentation showing that the marriage was valid.

If your husband was issued the 10-year green card then he does not need to deal with the removal of the condition issue and if you stay together he can apply for US citizenship after three years of legal permanent residence.

If you divorce, then he will need to wait for 5 years of legal residence to be eligible for citizenship. He can send in the application three months in advance of the five years of legal residence (again, this is if you are not married). A non-contested divorce in California generally takes at least 6 months.

I would highly recommend that your husband speak to an immigration attorney with regard to his immigration matters. Please feel free to call Cindy Scribe at 415.277.1900