Where to start?

[Davidq]

I just returned over the weekend from visiting my future wife in Beijing.

 

We had a wonderful time together and we are both very much in love with each other.

 

We now have a problem to deal with. She is not legally divorced! She has been separated from her husband for 5 years now. The reasoning behind not getting the divorce finalized yet was because of her young daughter and the situation with the apartment they own together. After many discussions over what we need to do I told her I would contact people here. I am not much of a writer here on the forums but I read everything I can to prepare myself for what is coming in the future.

 

Now my question. Are we going to have a problem with our pending paperwork and interview because she was still married at the time I visited her? She says there is no paper proof that they are separated. I will be going back in February for the Chinese New Year.

 

She will be getting the divorce finalized in the coming couple of weeks. Still many items she is trying to work out with her husband payoff for joint ownership on apt, whether he is going to let her daughter come to US or not....etc.

 

We are wanting to get started with hiring a lawyer but need to wait till the divorce is final. We are being very cautious of not making any mistakes. So any advice would be helpful.

 

Thanks

 

Your wealth of information here is outstanding. Thank you all for letting me view the many discussions here at CFL.

 

David Q

[dnoblett]

No problems visiting and becoming engaged to a person who is seperated, however you CANNOT file I-129F until AFTER her divorce is final, you will need to attach a copy of divorce decree to the I-129F petition.

 

You need to be free and able to marry before you file the I-129F.

 

Note, in my case and with many others we did NOT use a lawyer, the paperwork and process is straight forward. There are guides for this here on CFL and also on VJ.