Greencard for Abused/Battered Spouses and Minor Children

When an undocumented immigrant, meaning someone who doesn’t have a green card, marries a United States Citizen or a Lawful Resident of the United States, that undocumented individual generally has the expectation that their United States Citizen Spouse or their Lawful Resident Spouse will submit a petition on their behalf so that they too might obtain lawful resident status in the United States. 

But what if the United States Citizen Spouse or the Lawful Resident Spouse refuses to even start the filing process for his or her undocumented spouse, or has started the process but refuses to continue? 

What if the US Citizen Spouse or Lawful Resident spouse uses the fact that he or she has the power to file or not file for the undocumented spouse as some sort of bargaining chip to assert control over the undocumented spouse? 

What if the United States Citizen Spouse or Lawful Permanent resident spouse subjects his or her undocumented spouse to physical abuse or extreme cruelty simply because they know that the undocumented individual is so desperate to get their “papers” that they would stay in the marital relationship no matter how abusive it is and would not report it to the police simply because they want a green card?

It is this sort of situation that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), recognizes and seeks to address and prevent.  VAWA is the United States Government's way of saying, “we know that there are undocumented individuals, in particular women and children, who remain in abusive marital relationships hoping that their abusive spouse will file for them.”  The US Congress has therefore made it lawful for these abused spouses to file for themselves without the help of their US Citizen or Lawful Resident Spouse.  In submitting a self-petition under VAWA the undocumented spouse needs to establish five basic criteria:

     

1. That he or she was or is married to a United States Citizen or a Lawful Resident.
2. That the marriage was entered in good faith, meaning that it is bona fide
3. That he or she resided with the United States Citizen or Lawful Resident
4. That he or she was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty and
5. That he or she is a person of good moral character, meaning no major criminal convictions

If the abused spouse is divorced from her abusive US citizen or lawful resident spouse, then the abused spouse has two years from the time of the divorce to submit her self-petition under VAWA.  The abused undocumented individual should also bear in mind that he or she can also file for his/her minor children as derivatives when she submits her petition under VAWA. 

Are you this undocumented individual who can identify with this situation? If you are, there is help for you. Please drop us an e-mail, give us a call or use our blog to voice your opinions or concerns on the matter.

Smith & Stephenson LLP resolves immigration concerns for individuals and businesses. We are a full-service Immigration Law Firm and represent clients in all areas of immigration law, including family based immigration and employment-based immigration. If you have immigration questions, we have answers. You can call our Law Offices 24/7 at (212) 400-7147. Our Immigration Law Firm is located in New York, New York. Our firm serves primarily clients from the Tri-state area, however, we offer telephone consultations and we can help clients all over the United States and throughout the world.