While there are a few different ways to become a permanent resident of the U.S., marriage to a U.S. citizen offers one of the clearer, easier and faster paths. If you have a green card because of your marriage, it is normal to wonder if a Florida divorce may cause you to lose it.
Whether your green card is at risk may depend on whether you are a permanent resident or a conditional one. Nevertheless, provided your marriage was legitimate and not a sham, you probably should not worry much about losing your permanent residency after your divorce.
Permanent residency
If your marriage was longer than two years when you received your green card, you are likely a permanent resident. When you applied for this status, you proved you were in a bona fide marriage.
Unless you file for U.S. citizenship or another immigration benefit, government officials are not likely to reassess your permanent residency. This is true even if you divorce your spouse.
Conditional residency
Because marriage fraud is a problem in the U.S. immigration system, government officials confer conditional residency on applicants with marriages shorter than two years.
If you have conditional residency, you must eventually apply to remove the conditions. When you do, you must prove you are still in a valid marriage with your spouse.
While divorcing your spouse may be problematic for removing conditions, you are probably not entirely out of luck. After all, legitimate marriages routinely end in divorce.
Consequently, if you can prove your marriage was authentic, you can probably remove the conditions on your residency without your ex-spouse’s cooperation or permission.