
Quoting
at2470
Thanks for this. I think I understand the basic fact pattern. If differs a bit from mine, inasmuch as the citizenship was started in the first (true marriage).
Funny read. One has to expect Bambrough (the real husband) wasn't at all happy with the surname "Chin" all over 'his' kid's birth certificates! Perhaps that had something to do with the subsequent divorce. Li (wife-defendant) had a fake marriage with Chin BEFORE her divorce of Bambrough. She told INS she was lawfully married to Chin and that was the basis of her application. When in fact, she couldn't be married to Chin because at the time of the Chin marriage, she was still married to Bambrough. So, if she had just waited until after the Bambrough divorce, she would have been okay??
Isn't there just some law/case out there that just comes right out and says "any 'marriage' while you are still married isn't a marriage at all"? Answering my own question, I'm guessing that is the Bigamy statues?
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Perfect...Thanks Mr Know It All. Family Code 2201 (a) (1) is directly on point. Thanks a Million! I'm going to research cases involving this section. Disagreeable pointed me to an online resource.
Today I made an appointment with an attorney versed in divorce and immigration. She has a counter-part who is very well briefed in immigration issues (even teaches the topic at an elite law school). I hope to have more answers than questions by this time next week. As for the taxes, I suspect nothing could go forward before we know where we are going on the possible bigamy and immigration fraud issues. So I'm anticipating having the attorney(ies) pointing me to someone at a later date (but well before I file taxes next year).