Immigration Corner | What can I do about my husband’s status?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

My husband went overseas to work a few years ago, for a few months (on his visitor’s visa) and he is still there. We are in the process of a divorce as he has found another partner.

I am the holder of a US visa and I have travelled several times, the last time being late 2022 to visit family and friends. I applied for my three-year-old child’s visa and got an interview date three years later (due to COVID-19). I went to the Embassy. When I applied, I was still with my husband so I included on my child’s visa application that he was overseas as I didn’t want to lie, and he truly was overseas as stated.

During my interview with the Embassy personnel, he inquired about my marital history and travel history. I advised I was getting a divorce and that the longest time spent in the US was four months during work and travel in college.

The officer proceeded to tell me that I no longer qualified for a visa, and cancelled my visa and rejected my child’s visa. I am currently not sure what to do.

Concerned

Dear Concerned:

Your situation is all too familiar. One spouse leaves on a tourist visa, overstays and starts a new life in America. We cannot foresee how faithful a spouse will be once there is a long-distance separation – some relationships survive and reunification is the goal. Other times it leads to a permanent break as in your situation.

The spouse who becomes undocumented in the United States, places the spouse outside the country in the unenviable situation where the Jamaican spouse’s visa becomes tied to the now estranged spouse’s undocumented US status. The Jamaican spouse who is applying for a visitor’s visa or for the renewal of a US visa must be truthful on their visa application. In some instances, the Jamaican spouse loses all contact with their spouse in America as they have moved on from the relationship, and in some cases, they remain in contact with their spouse in Jamaica.

In all applications for a visa application, the applicant must be 100 per cent honest on the application. If they know that their spouse is in America, they must so state and if the relationship is severed and they have no idea where their estranged spouse is – they must inform the consular officer.

In your situation, you applied for a minor child’s visa and that exposed your own visa leading to its revocation. Once your divorce is final, you can reapply for the visa with your divorce documents to show that you have no connection to your then ex-husband’s status or whereabouts. Keep in mind that any non-immigrant visa application requires you to convince the consular officer that you have enough ties to your home country that you will visit America and return home at the end of your stated visit.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com