Hello, my name is Tuyana Kupisk.
I'm an immigration attorney, licensed in New York and California.
Today I'd like to talk today a bit about divorce.
If you are married to a US citizen or green card holder
and you're thinking about divorce, in some cases we are able to help you.
It depends on when a divorce takes place.
If you are divorcing prior to obtaining a green card
conditional green card, for example
or maybe you qualify for permanent green card immediately
and you did not receive it yet, then that might usually be a problem
with a few exceptions about which I could talk later.
If you are divorcing after you obtained your conditional green card
and you are planning to file for a permanent green card, we are able to help you.
You have to know that USCIS will give extra scrutiny to your case
to make sure that your marriage was not fraudulent,
that you did not marry just with the sole purpose of obtaining a green card.
You would have to show that your marital union was true.
Maybe you had children together, maybe you bought property together.
If you did not, maybe there are other things that could serve as evidence of your marriage
such as bank statements, some kind of insurance, etc.
You could sign up for a consultation with us. We'll see how we can help you.
If you are planning on divorce after obtaining permanent green card
then that should not be an issue.
There are some formalities you have to comply with
when filing for your citizenship, but overall you should be okay.
If you're divorcing and you have been a victim of violence
from your US spouse or green card holder spouse
or perhaps it was a parent or child who has a green card or is US citizen,
then you could qualify for a green card as a victim of domestic violence under VAWA
Violence Against Women Act,
which applies equally both to men, women regardless of gender.
Maybe you have a police report, maybe you have a restraining order from a court in your state.
That would be evidence of the violence that took place.
If you don't have anything like that then we have to look at other facts.
We will request a statement from you in regard to the violence,
maybe we'll send you to american psychologists or psychotherapists
to get the report in regard to the violence you have suffered.
In most cases, we are able to help our clients who have suffered domestic abuse.
There is less known visa U.
It's kind of a long way to get a green card, but it's possible.
There is a quota of 10,000 U visas per year,
so the wait time could be up to 6-8 years or longer.
However, if you've been a victim of violence, domestic abuse
and your spouse is not a US citizen or does not have a green card,
nevertheless, you still could qualify for U visa.
Overall there are over 20 various crimes which may qualify you for U visa.
One of the requirements is you have to get certain documents from police,
or maybe FBI, or some kind of governmental agency
stating that you have been a victim or a witness of a crime
and you were willing to cooperate or you have cooperated with the government
and that would be the first step in filing for U visa.
There's even less known T visa for people who were victims of trafficking.
It could be sexual trafficking, it could be labor trafficking and
in some cases or in most cases were able to help our clients as well.
So please sign up for a consult, we'll see how we can help you.
Thank you!