Divorcing an International Student

[sarah88]

I married an international student last year and found out one day that he had a girlfriend in his home country and he had told her he was just marrying for citizenship to make things easier on himself. I have already divorced him. Luckily I found this out before I filed any papers for his citizenship. Is there any legal action I can take against him? I've tried googleing this situation but I haven't found any cases specific enough to this one. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank You

[jk]

You took legal action against him. You sued him for divorce and prevailed. What more do you want?

[sarah88]

I have not taken any legal action against him yet. I only filed divorce papers. I have not even tried to sue him. I just want to know if it's possible to take legal action against him in this situation where no citizenship papers were filed and we're already divorced. I basically have no evidence that he did this. I can't stand that he used marriage for his own personal convenience though. If it's possible, I want to do something.

[jk]

filing divorce papers is suing him. You are suing for a divorce.

I simply do not know what else you believe might be available to you. You cannot sue him because he might have been dishonest with you (other than for the divorce).

[sarah88]

I didn't realize it was the same thing. Since it was a no fault divorce I thought it was just a simple matter of filing papers.
I'm not sure what options would be available, that's why I'm asking.
The reason I believe that it might be possible is because I've heard that it is illegal to marry just to file for citizenship. I've heard that people who are caught can be fined or have troubles filing for visas later. I realize these things I've heard are for specific cases that my situation might not qualify for. If nothing else maybe I could at least have this reported so he can't do it again. I'm just curious if anyone here has any knowledge of anything I could do in this situation.

[jk]

sarah88;627722]I didn't realize it was the same thing. Since it was a no fault divorce I thought it was just a simple matter of filing papers.

it is but technically, it is a suit.

I'm not sure what options would be available, that's why I'm asking.
The reason I believe that it might be possible is because I've heard that it is illegal to marry just to file for citizenship. I've heard that people who are caught can be fined or have troubles filing for visas later. I realize these things I've heard are for specific cases that my situation might not qualify for. If nothing else maybe I could at least have this reported so he can't do it again. I'm just curious if anyone here has any knowledge of anything I could do in this situation.

yes, those things are illegal but they are controlled by criminal statutes. You can report the situation to the proper authorities and if he is still in the US, they may actually do something because of your report. Forgive me for thinking anything other (such as you were wanting to somehow get money out of the deal which was my initial impression).


Report him to ICE http://www.ice.gov/contact/

or if there is a local office, give them a call.

With the minimal proof you have they may not be able to do anything but then again, they might.

[Dogmatique]

One does not attain citizenship immediately upon marrying a US citizen.

There is a rather long and expensive process to go through before he would qualify.

Move on with your life.

For what it's worth, proving marital fraud is incredibly difficult to do. Given that you never filed anything, it becomes impossible to prove. He gained no immigration benefits from his marriage to you.

[sarah88]

Thank You very much for your reply. This is what I was looking for. I'll look into reporting it to ICE.