When your status came through the marriage.

If your permanent residence came through a marriage that was less than two years old on the day you got it, the law says you receive that status "on a conditional basis". In practice that means a green card valid for two years instead of ten. USCIS puts it simply on its own page: "A conditional permanent resident receives a Green Card valid for two years." The condition is not a punishment and it is not a second-class status while it lasts. It is a checkpoint: near the end of the two years, the government looks again at whether the marriage was real.

The ordinary route is a joint filing. The statute requires the immigrant spouse and the petitioning spouse to submit the petition together, and to appear together for an interview. The form is Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. The window for a joint filing is the 90 days immediately before the two-year card expires. USCIS says the same thing in ordinary words: "You must file your Form I-751 during the 90-day period immediately before your conditional residence expires." Filing before that window opens can get the petition rejected as too early; filing after it closes means asking USCIS to excuse the late filing with a written explanation of good cause.

The law does not leave you with nothing. It lets USCIS waive the joint-filing requirement altogether, and there are separate grounds. Three of them matter most here: that removal would cause extreme hardship; that the marriage was entered into in good faith but has ended other than by death and you were not at fault; and that the marriage was entered into in good faith and during it you or your child were battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by your spouse. The statute also tells USCIS to "consider any credible evidence" and to keep information about an abused spouse or child confidential. On timing: for the good-faith-marriage-that-ended ground, the marriage must actually be over. The regulation speaks of a marriage that "was terminated", and USCIS states in its own words on its filing-timing page: "Divorce or annulment proceedings must be completed before you file." That is a statement about a divorce that is still pending, not about the abuse ground, which has no such requirement.

The regulation USCIS applies gives a list, and it is not a closed one. For the petition itself, the rule asks for evidence that the marriage was not entered into to evade the immigration laws, and names joint ownership of property, a lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence, commingling of financial resources, birth certificates of children born to the marriage, and affidavits from people who know the relationship is real. For a waiver based on good faith, the rule tells the decision-maker to look at "the amount of commitment by both parties to the marital relationship", and names documents about combined finances, how long the couple lived together, and children's birth certificates. Both lists end with an open category, so other documents count too.

An abused spouse of a US citizen or lawful permanent resident can petition for immigrant classification alone, on Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. So can an abused child, and a parent abused by a US citizen son or daughter who is 21 or older. A former spouse can qualify if the marriage was legally ended by a divorce for reasons related to the abuse within the two years before filing, and an intended spouse can qualify where a marriage ceremony took place but the marriage was not legitimate because of the abuser's bigamy. The abuser does not need to know, agree, or take part. USCIS says so directly: Congress gave abused noncitizens the ability to petition for themselves "without the abuser's knowledge, consent, or participation in the immigration process." There is no fee to file Form I-360 as a VAWA self-petitioner. Separately, federal law forbids officials from making an adverse admissibility or deportability determination using information supplied only by the abuser, and forbids disclosing information about a beneficiary of this relief.

Federal law bars the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Department of State from making an adverse decision on someone's admissibility or deportability using information supplied only by the spouse or parent who battered them or subjected them to extreme cruelty, or by a household member who did so with that spouse's or parent's consent or acquiescence, or by the perpetrator or trafficker in a U or T case. It also bars using or disclosing information about a person who is the beneficiary of an application for T status, U status, VAWA self-petitioner classification or VAWA cancellation of removal, outside the agency's own sworn officers and employees acting for legitimate agency purposes.

They are two humanitarian statuses, separate from anything to do with a marriage petition. The U visa is for victims of certain serious crimes, and USCIS names domestic violence and sexual assault among them. The T visa is for victims of a severe form of trafficking in persons. Both allow a person to stay and work in the United States for up to four years, both can be extended in limited circumstances, and a holder of either may be able to apply for a green card later if they meet the requirements.

No. Divorce is not on the list. The affidavit of support is a contract, and the statute says it is "legally enforceable against the sponsor by the sponsored alien" as well as by governments. The regulation lists the events that end the obligation by operation of law: the sponsored immigrant becoming a US citizen, working or being credited with 40 qualifying quarters under the Social Security Act, ceasing to hold permanent residence and departing the United States, obtaining a new grant of adjustment of status as relief from removal, or dying. The obligation also ends if the sponsor dies. Divorce appears nowhere in that list. The State Department puts the same point positively: "The sponsor's financial responsibility usually lasts until the applicant either becomes a U.S. citizen, or can be credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work (usually 10 years) under the Social Security Act." And the statute is explicit that an action to enforce the affidavit may be brought against the sponsor in any appropriate court "by a sponsored alien, with respect to financial support". In plain words: a sponsored immigrant may be able to sue a former spouse who signed the affidavit to enforce it. Whether that is available in any particular case is a question for a lawyer.

The general rule for naturalisation asks for five years as a permanent resident. A person married to a US citizen can apply after three years instead, but the statute attaches conditions: three years of continuous residence after lawful admission for permanent residence, three years of living in marital union with the citizen spouse who has been a citizen throughout, physical presence for at least half that time, and three months in the state or district where the application is filed. USCIS explains what living in marital union means and what ends it: "USCIS considers an applicant to 'live in marital union' with his or her citizen spouse if the applicant and the citizen actually reside together." And on divorce, USCIS is blunt: "The applicant is no longer the spouse of a U.S. citizen if the marriage is terminated by a divorce or annulment. Accordingly, such an applicant is ineligible to naturalize as the spouse of a U.S. citizen if the divorce or annulment occurs before or after the naturalization application is filed." So divorce closes the three-year route. It does not close naturalisation itself: the ordinary five-year route remains, and the statute carries its own separate provision for a person who got permanent residence as the spouse or child of a US citizen who battered them or subjected them to extreme cruelty, which does not require living in marital union.

The criminal provision is short. Knowingly entering into a marriage in order to evade any provision of the immigration laws carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 250,000 dollars, or both. That is a serious statute and it is why the threat is used. Two things are worth stating flatly. First, the crime is entering the marriage for that purpose; a marriage that was genuine when it was made does not become fraudulent because it later failed. Second, where the person making the threat is a spouse who has battered the other or subjected them to extreme cruelty, federal law forbids officials from making an adverse determination of admissibility or deportability "using information furnished solely by" that spouse. A threat to report is not, by itself, a determination by anybody, and the accusation of an abusive spouse is not on its own a lawful basis for one.

Two kinds of people may lawfully represent you before the immigration agencies: an attorney, and a non-attorney who has been accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals and works through a recognized non-profit organization. That second category exists precisely so that people who cannot pay a private lawyer can still be represented. It is run by the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review as the Recognition and Accreditation Program, and only non-profit, federally tax-exempt organizations may apply to be recognized. The Department publishes a roster of recognized organizations and accredited representatives arranged by state and city, so you can look for one near you. Anyone who is not an attorney or an accredited representative is not authorized to give you legal advice on an immigration matter, however impressive the office looks.