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HUSBAND'S BIGAMY MAKES HER "SINGLE"
FOR IMMIGRANT MOTHER'S PETITION
by Michael J. Gurfinkel, Esq.
Dear Atty. Gurfinkel:
In 1992, my immigrant mother petitioned me as single in the F-2B
category (single adult child of greencard holder). Since 1982,
I have had a live-in partner, and we have two children, born in
1983 and 1988. Aside from me, my boyfriend had another woman.
My boyfriend decided to marry me in 1997, before the City Mayor.
I later learned that he had already married the
other woman in 1991, and never had that marriage annulled.
When I recently went to the Embassy for my visa
interview on my mother's F-2B petition, I was denied, because
they found my Marriage Contract, and said that because I was married,
my mother's petition was void. Is there any hope for me?
Very truly yours,
I.D.
Dear I.D.:
By law, a person who is under petition by an immigrant (greencard)
parent in the F-2B preference category, cannot get married. Instead,
the person must remain single until he gets his visa and arrives
in America. If the child marries before receiving his greencard,
the parent's petition is considered automatically void, as of
the date of the child's marriage. This is because a greencard
(immigrant) parent cannot petition married children. They
can only petition single children.
However, there still may be hope in your case. If
your marriage was not valid, then you could still be considered
"single". There are certain marriages which are considered
"void from the beginning". (This means that even though
a person entered into a marriage with another person, it is as
though the marriage never existed.) One type of marriage
which is considered "void from the beginning" is a bigamous
marriage, meaning that the couple entered into a marriage, but
one of them had an earlier, valid marriage to another person.
In your case, although you married your boyfriend
in 1997, it would appear that he was already married to
another woman back in 1991 . Therefore, your marriage to
your boyfriend could be bigamous and, under applicable law, would
be considered "void from the beginning". Under those
circumstances, it is possible that even though you went through
a marriage ceremony with your boyfriend, you could still be considered
"single", because your marriage was void from the beginning.
I have handled similar cases where, although a child
had a marriage contract on file for them, we were able to prove,
to the satisfaction of the Embassy, that, under applicable law,
the marriage was considered "void from the beginning".
After fully documenting and presenting the client's case, the
Embassy issued the visa.
I would suggest that you seek the assistance of
a reputable attorney, who can analyze your situation, and assist
you in establishing that even though you were married, your marriage
was void, and that you (as well as your two illegitimate children)
could all be entitled to visas.
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