Question about GC for spouse who was married before.

[cr.marsh]

ok Hello everyone,

My question is that I am about to be naturalized and my fiance was married before.Now she is divorced. I am waiting to be naturalized to be able to get her over. She has visited on her visitor visa 10 yr multiple a couple of times with no problem.
My question is that her passport shows her to be married still to the previous husband,even though she has retained her maiden name. She has proper divorce papers showing her divorce though.
When I apply for her AOS or K1 would it be an issue that she never changed her status in her passport from the country of origin? When they interview us, can we show just the divorce papers or the status needs to be changed in the passport as well?
All her bank accounts and property papers etc are in her maiden name.
Also,is there a chance that we can initiate this request of change of status in the passport at the consulate here in the US instead of the home country?What are your suggestions?
Thanks for any help.

[Jackolantern]

Also,is there a chance that we can initiate this request of change of status in the passport at the consulate here in the US instead of the home country?That depends on the services provided by the consulate of her country. You or she will have to call them to find out (or look at their web site, if they have one). Many consulates do provide passport services for their citizens, so there is a chance of doing it that way. Just be prepared for the possibility of paying a higher fee compared to renewing/reissuing it directly in her country itself, as well as some extra processing time.

[cr.marsh]

I understand. thank you Jackolantern. I was just thinking that it may be more convenient to get it done here.

[Jackolantern]

I was just thinking that it may be more convenient to get it done here.I would expect that, unless she is from Canada or Mexico and lives close to the border.

However, the consulate in the US may not want to do it unless she is living (not just visiting on a B1/B2 visa) legally in the US, so that would require her to wait until AOS if they have a rule like that. When I renewed mine some years ago, they wanted to see a long-term visa (like H1 or F1) or some other evidence of legal US residence.

I don't know if it is a legal requirement under US law for her to change her passport in this situation, but marriage-based GC interviews can be very subjective, and it definitely does not look good if her passport says she is married to somebody else.

[Triple Citizen]

Her passport actually has a field should marital status?
Regardless, she will need to show the divorce decree as part of the K-1 visa process. So she should be fine.

When I apply for her AOS or K1 would it be an issue that she never changed her status in her passport from the country of origin? When they interview us, can we show just the divorce papers or the status needs to be changed in the passport as well?

[Jackolantern]

Her passport actually has a field should marital status?Yep, it's not uncommon to have the marital status and name of the spouse. My country's passport even has a space for the wife's picture. I'm single, so it's empty, and I think it is now optional even if you're married ... but if the picture was there and I got divorced, I definitely wouldn't want it still there if I married somebody else and was interviewing for a marriage-based green card.

[Triple Citizen]

If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me which country's passport you hold? I am just curious. On older Pakistani passports, there was a field for father's name. Since Pakistani passports have gone machine-readable now, that field has disappeared. I know on older Saudi passports, the male adult could have his wif(v)e(s) and his children's photographs and biographic information.

My country's passport actually has a space for the wife's picture.

[cr.marsh]

Thank you for your help.I have done some more research and I believe it can be done right here at the consulate after she comes here and we file for AOS. There is clear provision for the same.
Thank you Triple citizen and Jackolantern.

[Jackolantern]

If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me which country's passport you hold? I am just curious.I am from the West Indies, but I won't say which particular country because those countries are so small that it doesn't take much to personally identify a person if you know the country combined with a few more details which they have revealed on the web.