The U.S. citizen must,however under the typical course,petition U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS,previously known as “INS”) for a green card and an immigrant visa application for his/her immigrant partner based on the marital relationship. This procedure is not constantly useful to the immigrant– in numerous circumstances,it supplies one of the most violent ways a sponsoring partner can work out control over the immigrant,by holding the immigrant’s tentative migration status over her. With a masters degree or recognized skill,one might try to qualify in other methods:
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A commonality in almost all violent marital relationships involving an immigrant spouse is the threat of deportation,typically in the kind of the abusive U.S. citizen or legal long-term homeowner spouse threatening to withdraw his/her sponsorship of the immigrant’s visa petition,not file at all,or contact CIS and lie about her in an attempt to have her deported.
Frequently,immigrants are offered the final notice that they either inform no one about the abuse and therefore,let it continue,otherwise deal with deportation. This risk of deportation,a kind of serious psychological abuse,can be more frightening to an immigrant than even the worst physical abuse you can possibly imagine. Numerous immigrants have kids and family members in the U.S. who count on them and numerous fear returning to the nation they got away,for fear of societal reprisal,unavoidable poverty,and/or persecution.
Abused immigrants who are wed to a U.S. resident or Lawful Permanent Resident or who separated their abuser in the past two years might now petition on their own for an immigrant visa and green card application,without the abuser’s knowledge or consent. In this confidential process,CIS agents are legally bound to refrain from calling the abuser and informing him/her anything of the abused immigrant’s efforts to get a green card under VAWA.
This procedure also provides momentary security from deportation for immigrants not in deportation currently (called “postponed action status”) and renewed work authorization to lawful irreversible residents who usually deal with a longer waiting duration due to visa number stockpiles.
Even more,the immigrant partner does not have to appear prior to a judge (the process is paper driven) and s/he may leave her abuser at any time,without damage to her migration status. Even an immigrant partner who is not married to a lawful long-term resident or U.S. resident but is rather wed to an undocumented immigrant or an immigrant holding a short-term work or going to visa has choices under VAWA. Given that VAWA was modified in 2001,now despite the immigrant or abuser’s status,the immigrant may get legal migration status through the new “U” visa,which allows the immigrant to eventually acquire a permit if s/he has actually shown practical or likely to be useful to a law enforcement investigation of a violent criminal activity.
The above shows that abused immigrants typically do have options. An abused immigrant does not need to continue to live with the hazard of physical,psychological or monetary damage from an intimate partner because of fear of being deported.