california marriage divorce immigration
Should foreigners file divorce in the US if they would do it in their home country embassy in the US?
<p>If two foreigners come to the US with F-1 and F-2 visas, while they got married in their home country, if they file a divorce request in their own country embassy and it gets approved and they get divorce by their home country law:</p>
<p>1- Should the dependent person(F-2 visa holder in this case) leave the US as soon as divorce accepted in their home country?</p>
<p>2- If the dependent person wants to get married again but with a US citizen within the US, should s/he file a divorce also in the US or it is not necessary?</p>

<p>On this point, US law isn't concerned with acceptance by a foreign country, it is only concerned with US law – under US law, are the couple divorced. When they are, the F2 visa holder is then out of status. Whether or not they <em>should</em> then leave the US is a complex personal question. They are not legally <em>required</em> to leave, as long as they adjust their status. When (assuming) they file their I-751 petition, they can ask for a waiver of the joint filing requirement. There is a chance that they will be denied the waiver if USCIS feels that the marriage was a sham marriage (which could be supported by the F1-holding spouses allegations in the divorce proceeding).</p>
<p>Assuming the couple are not yet divorced and the F2 spouse wants to marry a US citizen, they would need to first get a divorce. The usual pattern for divorce laws is that you must be a resident of the jurisdiction to get a divorce in that jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction gets to set its own rules for residency. Currently, Nevada requires 6 weeks residency by a party in order to file for divorce, but there is a meme that some decades ago, simple presence in Nevada was sufficient. As far as I know, no jurisdiction allows divorce proceedings to be filed by parties who are not present in that jurisdiction (which then implies &quot;Yes, in the US&quot;).</p>
