03 Dec 2025 USCIS Updates Guidance on Marital Petitions, Part I
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated its Policy Manual (PM) on spousal petitions. The PM sets forth rules, regulations, policies, guidance, and basic do’s and don’ts when pursuing various immigration benefits. When a couple is pursuing a marital petition, it is critical that they follow and meet the requirements contained in the PM. Otherwise, their case could be denied, and the beneficiary could even be placed in deportation/removal proceedings.
According to the PM, USCIS “must ensure that marriages are between two people who are legally willing and able to marry and that marriages are legally valid, bona fide, and consistent with the laws and public policy of the United States.” This new guidance “will enhance USCIS’s capabilities to identify marriage-based fraud in the initial stages of the immigration process.”
Some of the highlights or key points of marital petitions include:
- If a person is ever caught in a fixed marriage, they are banned for life from ever having any other petition approved on their behalf. In other words, not only will this marital petition be denied, but if they divorce and later marry for true love, the new spouse’s petition will also be denied. Or, if they later have a U.S.-born child who turns 21, that child’s petition would also be denied because the fixed marriage ban lasts a lifetime.
- The key to a real marriage is that the parties show that “the marriage was entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading immigration laws, and that the spouses intended to build a life together at the time they were married.” In other words, on their wedding day, did the couple intend to have a life together? It does not matter how long the marriage lasted, as long as, at the beginning, they intended a life together. Even if the marriage is no longer viable or the couple has split (but have not yet filed for divorce), it could still be possible for a marital petition to be approved, as long as they intended to have a life together on the day they were married.
- If a marital petition was denied because USCIS thought it was a fixed marriage, it is possible to get around the lifetime ban if the same petitioner files a new petition with better evidence and proof that the marriage was bona fide.
- In order for a couple to marry, they must be “unmarried” to anyone else at the time of their wedding. If either party has a previous marriage that has not been terminated at the time of the wedding (through divorce, annulment, death, etc.), then their marriage would not be valid, and any petition would either be denied, or if that unterminated marriage was later discovered, the green card could be revoked. I’ve come across many situations where a spouse “forgot” they were previously married and went ahead and married a U.S. citizen without terminating the first marriage. Any petition by that American or green card obtained through that marriage, would be denied or revoked. You can only have one spouse at a time!
If you are married and are considering filing a petition, you may want to consult with an attorney who can assist in evaluating the situation and the couple’s eligibility, and whether the beneficiary is eligible to obtain a green card in the U.S., making sure the evidence of the bona fide of the marriage is sufficient, help prepare you for the interview and accompany you, to greatly increase the chances of success. In a future article, I will discuss more highlights of USCIS’s PM on marital petitions.
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