Under U.S. migration law,immigrants may get a permit (“U.S. permanent residence”) by marrying a U.S. resident. The U.S. person must,however under the regular course,petition U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS,previously referred to as “INS”) for a green card and an immigrant visa application for his/her immigrant partner based upon the marital relationship. This procedure once finished leads to the immigrant’s attainment of U.S. permanent residency– i.e.,consent to live and work in the U.S. on a permanent basis. However this process is not always advantageous to the immigrant– in numerous circumstances,it offers among the most violent ways a sponsoring partner can work out control over the immigrant,by holding the immigrant’s tentative immigration status over her. With a masters degree or special skill,one might try to obtain a green card in other methods:
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A commonality in almost all abusive marriages involving an immigrant partner is the danger of deportation,typically in the kind of the abusive U.S. resident or lawful irreversible homeowner partner threatening to withdraw his/her sponsorship of the immigrant’s visa petition,not submit at all,or contact CIS and lie about her in an effort to have her deported.
Often,immigrants are offered the demand that they either inform nobody about the abuse and therefore,let it continue,otherwise face deportation. This hazard of deportation,a kind of extreme mental abuse,can be more terrifying to an immigrant than even the worst physical abuse possible. Numerous immigrants have children and member of the family in the U.S. who rely on them and numerous fear going back to the country they left,for worry of social reprisal,unavoidable poverty,and/or persecution.
Abused immigrants who are wed to a U.S. resident or Lawful Permanent Resident or who divorced their abuser in the previous two years may now petition on their own for an immigrant visa and green card application,without the abuser’s understanding or permission. In this private procedure,CIS representatives are legally bound to refrain from contacting the abuser and informing him/her anything of the mistreated immigrant’s attempts to get a green card under VAWA.
This procedure likewise offers short-lived protection from deportation for immigrants not in deportation already (called “deferred action status”) and renewed work authorization to lawful long-term citizens who usually deal with a longer waiting duration due to visa number backlogs.
Further,the immigrant spouse does not need to appear prior to a judge (the process is paper driven) and s/he may leave her abuser at any time,without harm to her immigration status. Even an immigrant spouse who is not wed to a lawful irreversible local or U.S. person but is instead wed to an undocumented immigrant or an immigrant visiting or holding a short-lived work visa has alternatives under VAWA. Since VAWA was modified in 2001,now regardless of the immigrant or abuser’s status,the immigrant may obtain legal immigration status through the new “U” visa,which allows the immigrant to eventually get a green card if s/he has actually shown likely or handy to be valuable to a police investigation of a violent criminal activity.
The above shows that abused immigrants typically do have choices. An abused immigrant does not have to continue to cope with the risk of physical,psychological or monetary damage from an intimate partner since of worry of being deported.