Immigration Corner | What happens to my filing now?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

My dad filed for me in 2003. My boyfriend married me after he realised that my papers were coming through. Things were not going well with us after a while, so, when I got a call from the US Embassy for my first interview, I told them that I didn’t want my husband on it anymore because I realised that he was cheating on me and that he only wanted to be with me because of the filing.

The embassy told me to bring in my divorce papers but, at the time I didn’t have the money to file for a divorce. I have been separated from this man for more than 12 years now and I’m waiting on him to divorce me.

My dad has since passed away, so I don’t know what will become of my filing when I get divorced. Can I get some advice about what to do?

– AS

Dear AS,

This is a most unfortunate story.

First of all, was your father a green card holder or US citizen when you got married? If he was a green card holder, the petition was voided the moment you got married, and he would have had to refile if and when he became a US citizen. If that is the case, then you have nothing to move forward with.

However, if your father was a US citizen when you got married, then the US Embassy had no authorisation to tell you to get divorced before you could decide that you did not want your husband to accompany you as you migrated. It is your decision as the primary beneficiary to decide which derivative beneficiary accompanies you when you migrate.

You may have misunderstood the intention of the embassy in that, because you married your husband after your papers were filed, your visa category changed and, when you went in for your interview, a visa was no longer available to you because the category change would have lengthened your waiting period. They may have been asking you to confirm that you were in the right category and entitled to the visa at the time of your interview.

It appears that this situation occurred more than 12 years ago and that, no matter what category you were in, if your petition was valid, a visa became available for you as the married daughter of an American citizen in the interim. On the other hand, because you have waited so long to do anything about your file, there is a very strong possibility that your case was closed and destroyed. You will not know unless you contact the US Embassy and/or the National Visa Center on the status.

If the file is still open, the next level would be to notify them of your father’s death and moving to a humanitarian reinstatement request – due to death.

Your case has several layers to be unravelled and, if you are truly interested in still migrating to the US, you need to act with urgency, because cases are not left open indefinitely.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com