Totally off the wall question

[NickF]

We have a married couple living near us here in suburban Denver, and I have an odd set of questions. Doesn't rerally involve ChunMei and me, but I was curious how US immigration law works in this case.

 

The situation:

1. It appears that they are divorcing. They've been married for about ten years.
   
2. He is a German citizen teaching Chinese and German language at a local parochial school here in the US. He has all of the necessary paperwork to remain here, but is not considering US citizenship.
   
3. She is a Chinese citizen and came here with her husband about 4 years ago. I assume she's here legally as his spouse, but don't know what documents that requires.
   
4. They have a seven year old daughter.
   
5. She wants the divorce and will be filing shortly. Custiody of their daughter will be joint.
   
6. He's planning in staying in the US for the foreseeable future.
   
7. She wants to remain in the US so that she can be near their daughter when she doesn't have her with her.
   

 

What are the immigration ramifications inherent in all of this? She's asked ChunMei to help her find an American man to marry so she can stay here in the US and get a green card. ChunMei and I want no part in this, but I was curious.

 

ChunMei says that her friend says that all she needs to do is to find and marry an American citizen, and she's good to go. Says a lawyer told her that she'd be eligible for an immediate two year green card. That sounds a little fishy to me.

 

As I said, ChunMei and I think it would be a really bad idea to get involved in this whole bag of snakes, I for one would really not want anybody I know to get involved with this woman because she's one of the"little emperors" and feels entitled to anything she wants. And has the emotional stability of a 5 year-old.

 

Anybody know anything about how this might play out?

[dnoblett]

Key question; do they both have green-cards?

 

I assume German citizen has green-card possibly work based, then perhaps she too has a green-card too based off of him.

 

If they both have green-cards, then there is no problem.

[NickF]

Hmmm...interesting.

 

But I still pity anyone who would get involved with this lady.

 

Her current husband is a really nice guy, making reasonably good money, and he's mentioned to me the fact that she's physically abusive to him.

 

God help the next guy. As I said before, ChunMei and I wouldn't touch this situation with a ten foot pole.

[Beachey]

If they have only been here about 4 years he could be on some form of work visa. Typically they are good for 3 years and renewable once. Does she work? Most of these work visas do not automatically grant an accompanying spouse the right to work. And it appears the child is not a US citizen so she might have zero basis to stay in the US unless she can find someone willing to marry her.

 

Though I agree, stay away from this the best you can.

[warpedbored]

As his wife she would be eligible for a visa that allows her to be here with him. That doesn't make her a permanent resident alien. Her visa may just allow her to live here with him. If that's the case simply marrying another American wouldn't automatically get her a green card. They would have to file an I-130 and hope she get's approved. The key would be intent. For example if a foreign woman were here on a student visa, met and fell in love with an American and they married that would be perfectly fine as long as she didn't come here with the intent of finding an American to marry. The same would apply to this woman. It is already established that she came here legally. One could also assume she didn't come here with the intent of staying. Once divorced though I believe she would be out of status. If she were to marry an American right away it would look fishy but it's hard to tell what would happen. My guess is she would likely be allowed to stay.

[warpedbored]

After doing a little digging I learned that if her German husband were here on an H 1-B visa she would be eligible for an H 4 visa. If this is the case she would not be allowed to work or get a Social Security number. She could get an ITIN number for tax purposes and a driver's licence. Since her visa category is dependent on her husbands visa she would be out of status if they divorced.