Battered Spouse Immigration Laws
Usually, U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) have to submit an immigrant visa petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) representing a spouse or child, to ensure that these family members may stay back in or immigrate to the United States. But sadly there is often gross misuse of such visas or petitions by some U.S. citizens and LPRs to abuse their family members, or by threatening to hand them over to the USCIS. Resultantly, most battered immigrants are scared to report the abuse to the police or other authorities and skip it. This raises the cope of battered spouse immigration. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) allows among other things, the spouses and children of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents (LPR) to self-petition to attain lawful permanent residency. The immigration provisions of VAWA permit certain abused immigrants to file for immigration respite without the abuser's aid or information, to look for protection and sovereignty from the abuser. This is battered spouse immigration.
Who is Eligible? Eligibility to file a self-petition (an application that one files by himself/herself for immigration benefits or an application for battered spouse immigration) is attained under the following clauses: Spouse: One might file a self-petition if one is an abused spouse married to a lawful permanent resident or a U.S. citizen. Unmarried children below 21 years of age who have failed to file their personal self-petition can also be included on the petition as derivative beneficiaries. The Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 1994, which states that the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents (LPR) or United States citizens may self-petition to attain indefinite leave to stay in the U.S. Abused immigrants can file for immigration relief/ battered spouse immigration in absence of the abuser's information or permission to search for protection and sovereignty from the abuser. Such are the immigration provisions of VAWA. The self-petitioning spouse, 1. Has to be legally married to the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident abuser. A self-petition may be filed if the marriage was ended by the abusive partner's death or divorce the spouse within the two years before filing. 2. Must have been abused in the United States or otherwise the abusive spouse must be an employee of the United States government or a part of the United States uniformed services overseas. 3. Should have been abused or subjected to great physical/mental stress in the course of the marriage, or must be the father/mother of a child who was abused or subjected to explicit or implicit violence by the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse during the course of the marital life. 4. Is required to possess good moral character. 5. Must have got married with the best of intentions, not entirely for the purpose of attaining immigration benefits. |
