When Marital relationship Is Not Enough for Immigration
Under U.S. migration law,immigrants might get a permit (“U.S. long-term residence”) by marrying a U.S. person. The U.S. person must,however under the typical course,petition U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS,previously known as “INS”) for an immigrant visa and a permit application for his/her immigrant partner based on the marital relationship. This process once finished leads to the immigrant’s attainment of U.S. irreversible residency– i.e.,permission to live and work in the U.S. on a long-term basis. But this procedure is not constantly advantageous to the immigrant– in many circumstances,it provides among the most violent ways a sponsoring partner can exercise control over the immigrant,by holding the immigrant’s tentative migration status over her. With an advanced degree or recognized skill,one might want to qualify in other ways:
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A commonality in practically all abusive marital relationships including an immigrant partner is the hazard of deportation,typically in the type of the violent U.S. citizen or lawful permanent citizen partner threatening to withdraw his/her sponsorship of the immigrant’s visa petition,not submit at all,or contact CIS and lie about her in an attempt to have her deported.
Often,immigrants are offered the demand that they either tell no one about the abuse and thus,let it continue,otherwise deal with deportation. This hazard of deportation,a kind of severe psychological abuse,can be more terrifying to an immigrant than even the worst physical abuse possible. Numerous immigrants have children and member of the family in the U.S. who rely on them and lots of fear going back to the nation they escaped,for fear of social reprisal,inevitable hardship,and/or persecution.
Mistreated immigrants who are wed to a U.S. resident or Lawful Permanent Resident or who divorced their abuser in the past 2 years may now petition on their own for an immigrant visa and green card application,without the abuser’s knowledge or consent. In this private process,CIS agents are lawfully bound to refrain from contacting the abuser and telling him/her anything of the abused immigrant’s attempts to obtain a green card under VAWA.
This procedure also offers momentary security from deportation for immigrants not in deportation currently (called “delayed action status”) and renewed work authorization to lawful long-term citizens who normally deal with a longer waiting duration due to visa number stockpiles.
Even more,the immigrant spouse does not need to appear before a judge (the procedure is paper driven) and s/he might leave her abuser at any time,without harm to her migration status. Even an immigrant spouse who is not married to a legal irreversible local or U.S. citizen but is rather married to an undocumented immigrant or an immigrant going to or holding a short-lived work visa has options under VAWA. Given that VAWA was amended in 2001,now regardless of the immigrant or abuser’s status,the immigrant might obtain legal migration status through the new “U” visa,which enables the immigrant to ultimately get a permit if s/he has actually proven likely or practical to be valuable to a law enforcement investigation of a violent crime.
The above shows that abused immigrants frequently do have choices. A mistreated immigrant does not need to continue to deal with the threat of physical,psychological or monetary damage from an intimate partner since of fear of being deported.