Annulment and Permanent residency

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NV

My wife and I got married in 2007. She is a US citizen, and I was at the time a foreign national from Europe. I became a permanent US resident through marriage, and am now applying for US citizenship.

My wife and I have had some really bad times recently, and we are now about to engage a divorce procedure. Recently, she came to me and said she wanted to have an annulment instead of a divorce, as she feels the marriage took place under false pretexts, which is not true at all! She said we got married for me to have the green card, which is not true! We had been together for 3 years before we got married!

I feel she is mad at me and thinks that by having an annulment, I will lose my US residency (since I got it through marriage) and that I will be thrown our of the country (eventhough my resident card is valid until 2019).

I have built my whole life here, and I am really scared now. Any suggestions/tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much!

borreman said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NV

My wife and I got married in 2007. She is a US citizen, and I was at the time a foreign national from Europe. I became a permanent US resident through marriage, and am now applying for US citizenship.

My wife and I have had some really bad times recently, and we are now about to engage a divorce procedure. Recently, she came to me and said she wanted to have an annulment instead of a divorce, as she feels the marriage took place under false pretexts, which is not true at all! She said we got married for me to have the green card, which is not true! We had been together for 3 years before we got married!

I feel she is mad at me and thinks that by having an annulment, I will lose my US residency (since I got it through marriage) and that I will be thrown our of the country (eventhough my resident card is valid until 2019).

I have built my whole life here, and I am really scared now. Any suggestions/tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much!

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You really need to be consulting an immigration attorney regarding your immigration status.

You should also be consulting a family law attorney to see if she has any grounds for an annulment.

I suspect that she has no grounds for an annulment unless you are not disclosing critical information here, and I suspect that your immigration status is not as much at risk as you think it is since you have a green card that is good until 2019.

However, you need to get those consults with those attorneys.

It doesn't sound like she's got grounds for an annulment.

Nevada Annulment

In order to get an annulment, she would have to PROVE that you obtained it falsely. Claiming that you did it solely for a green card won't cut it without proof (particularly since you were together for 3 years before marriage).

In addition, NV has an unusual requirement (actually, it's understood in most states, but it's actually spelled out in NV). That is that to use dishonesty as grounds for an annulment, she must separate as soon as she finds out about the dishonesty. Since you've been married for 3 years, that's going to be hard to do.

On the negative side (for you), NV's description of 'dishonesty' seems a little bit of a lower burden than in other states.

Other than wanting to be vindictive, why does she want an annulment rather than a divorce? The divorce is likely to be easier and cheaper unless there are property division issues. Or maybe she's concerned about the support form she signed in getting your residency. Legally, she would be obligated to support you indefinitely if she signed that form.

I would see an attorney, but I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it in the meantime.