Ask The Attorney - Protection For Abused Individuals

Introduction: Getting citizenship can be very hard in the United States. Some people wait in line for over 5 years hoping for their green cards. The American dream is much quicker for those that marry a United States citizen. But what happens to a person that marries the wrong person (i.e. abusive individual) and want to get a divorce? Are they barred from getting their greencard and citizenship?

Question: Dear Mr. Cheng, I am scared. I thought I was in love when I met my husband in Hunan Province. He was so nice to me. Our marriage was so beautiful.

But right after the marriage he began screaming at me. If he was not happy with my cooking he would throw it on the ground. If he thought that I was treating his two children poorly he would hit the wall next to my face. I knew that being married to a white person would be different but this is not what I want.

I want to get a divorce. He told me that if I want to get a divorce he will report me for marriage fraud and I will lose my status here in the US. Is that true?! I need to bring my parents but I do not want to die. What do I do? LingLing - Los Angeles

Answer: LingLing, I am sorry that your American dream has become a nightmare. So many Asian women are facing this issue. Thank you for writing to me. We, as well as so many Asian-Americans, support in your decision.

Typical ways that Abusers abuse immigrants are by:

1) Isolation: The abuser will isolate the immigrant from friends, family or anyone who speaks her language. The abuser will not allow the immigrant to learn English;

2) Economic Abuse: The abuser will threaten to report the immigrant if she works at a job that pays cash only. He may not let her get job training or schooling;

3) Sexual Abuse: The abuser may call her a prostitute or "mail order bride."

4) Emotional Abuse: He may write her family lies about her so that they believe she is lucky to have such an understanding spouse;

5) Intimidation: The abuser may hide or destroy important papers related to her immigration status;

6) Using Citizenship or Residency Privilege: The abuser may fail to file papers to legalize the immigrant's status or withdraw or threaten to withdraw papers filed for her residency;

7) Using Children: Threaten to take her children away from the immigrant or threaten to report her children to Immigration; and

8) Threats: Threatening to report her to Immigration to get her deported.

Your case is very typical of an abusive relationship. The next time your husband begins abusing you, you have to call the police. You not only need to call them but you have to give a detailed account about what is going on. It is my suggestion that at least 2 calls to the police are needed before you leave your spouse.

Obviously, if safety is an issue you might not even be able to make one report. Just leave.
The general rule is that Immigration requires that you remain married for two years before they lift the conditional status. A Conditional Greencard is what is given to those that marry a United States Citizen, otherwise known as an "USC."

Those that get divorced before the two year time limit can be rejected based on a presumption of fraud.

One exception to the requirement of remaining married for 2 years is abuse. The exact rule is that you must show that your married ended within the past 2 years based on battery or some other extreme cruelty.

However, how can one prove abuse if you do not make any reports of the abuse? Hence, I suggest calling the police.

Another way to prove abuse is begin telling trusted people of the situation. Should your current husband refuse to go with you to lift the conditional status at the end of 2 years it always helps to have others, in addition to the police reports, to corroborate your story.

Lastly, you have to be able to communicate the story to immigration. Obviously, you are very traumatized by what happened. My recommendation is that you keep a diary so that when it is your time to tell Immigration what happened you can do so specifically and thereby win your case.