One potential reason that people can get a green card to live in the United States is that they have gotten married. Perhaps you are an immigrant from another country, but you met an American citizen and the two of you decided to tie the knot. Once you were married, then you moved to get a green card so that you could stay in the United States with your spouse.
But now you’re thinking about asking your spouse for a divorce. You’re just concerned that doing so would eliminate the reason why you were given the green card in the first place, and then you would be deported. Is this a realistic threat that you face?
Only if your marriage appears fraudulent
In most cases, this will not be an issue. The government does not deport people simply because they got a divorce. Even legitimate marriages end. People get divorced every day, whether they are immigrants or citizens. It could be problematic if you don’t have your green card yet, but if you already have it, you will typically get to keep it even after the divorce.
That being said, there are some cases in which the government determines that a divorce makes it appear that the marriage was fraudulent. If this happens, they could attempt to revoke the green card. Generally, this just happens if they think that the entire marriage was a sham and was done only so that you could obtain the green card, not because the marriage was actually legitimate.
Unfortunately, there are sometimes situations in which people face accusations of green card marriage fraud when they know that they didn’t do anything wrong. If you find yourself in this position, you need to know what legal options you have.