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Sourgrapes

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california

my and i are getting a divorce. my wife was an immigrant when i married her. we have been married for 4 1/2 years and she is now a US permanent resident. currently, doesn't have job. i am legal sponsor for her based on the immigration paper i had to fill out or once she became a permanent resident that responsibility is no longer mine?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california

my and i are getting a divorce. my wife was an immigrant when i married her. we have been married for 4 1/2 years and she is now a US permanent resident. currently, doesn't have job. i am legal sponsor for her based on the immigration paper i had to fill out or once she became a permanent resident that responsibility is no longer mine?
Nope...its still your responsibility.

You really should have spilled all the "beans" when you first started posting, you would have received better overall advice.

You started posting about spousal support about three weeks ago, and this is the first time that you have mentioned that she was an immigrant sponsored by you...talk about leaving out criitical info...sigh.
 
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Proserpina

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california

my and i are getting a divorce. my wife was an immigrant when i married her. we have been married for 4 1/2 years and she is now a US permanent resident. currently, doesn't have job. i am legal sponsor for her based on the immigration paper i had to fill out or once she became a permanent resident that responsibility is no longer mine?
The responsibility is yours until one of these things happen:

She dies
She leaves the country permanently
She becomes a naturalized citizen
She has earned enough qualifying social security credits (iow, worked for about 10 years).

Divorce does not end your obligation either.

Worst case scenario? She sues you for support using the I-864 (and so far the courts have consistently ruled in favor of the immigrant) and you're on the hook for support up to about $1000/month. Theoretically this could be for the duration of her life (believe it or not, if YOU die she does have standing to sue your estate, although there have been no published cases of this happening yet).

(example: if she is not working, you get to pay the full amount, which is 125% of the federal poverty level guidelines. At least one court has ruled that the immigrant is not obliged to mitigate by finding - or at least searching - for a job, which does seem quite unfair to the sponsor. Similarly, if she earns say $600/month, you're only responsible for the remainder - about $400/month.)

Best case? You are very nice to her and offer to pay for her to become naturalized; she gets many benefits from this (she'd be able to get state aid for one thing) and you will no longer be obligated to ensure support. If she's genuinely broke she might just jump on that...but as with everything else, there's never a guarantee.

ETA: LdiJ is absolutely right - the immigration situation is perhaps the single most critical factor in your case; it can change absolutely everything. Everything. And we're not exaggerating here.
 
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Proserpina

Senior Member
Actually there is another consideration.

She might not be aware of the sponsorship obligation - and if she isn't aware of it she won't file suit.

Get thee to an attorney, and sharpish. I have a few case law references which I'm going to add in a minute or two - just wanted to add this post before I forget!

ETA: I can't remember how to fix obnoxiously long URLs, but here's one anyway. It mentions the more well known cases and might be a handy research tool.

http://www.venzonlawfirm.com/law2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57:articlesponsorsbeware&catid=31:general&Itemid=30


WHOA NELLY. Hang on a sec. She was already an immigrant? Please elaborate on this because it can once again change things completely.
 
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