Immigration

While I can’t speak to your specific situation, I’m spoke to a colleague about whether an abusive spouse can stop or interfere with the citizenship process after an application has been submitted.

There may be a difference in what information applies based on whether a person is a conditional green card holder (valid for 2 years) or full ten-year green card holder. Sometimes, people apply for naturalization while an application to remove conditions is pending. If this is the case for you, it would be best to talk to an immigration attorney to discuss options.

If someone is a 10-year green card holder, generally, an abusive spouse may not be able to interfere with an application for citizenship without claiming “fraud.” An abusive spouse could possibly tell immigration officials the marriage is not real, or “fraudulent,” and that they lied on immigration and citizenship applications. However, this could also hurt the abusive spouse, as lying on an immigration or citizenship application is illegal.

One possible effect on a victim of leaving an abusive spouse during a citizenship application may be when they can legally file. Generally, a person may be able to file for citizenship because they are married to a U.S. citizen after three years of marriage and living with the citizen spouse. If someone is no longer living with and married to a U.S. citizen, they may have to wait five years instead of three.

Immigration can be a very complicated legal issue. It is often best to speak to a lawyer to figure out what the best options are. Again, you can find free and paid lawyers on our website. You can also see organizations that help immigrants on our website

In terms of your question about whether an abusive citizen husband can take kids from a victim who is a lawful permanent resident: when you say “take your children,” do you mean get custody (legal responsibility for the care and control of the children)? Or do you mean your husband has threatened to kidnap or hide the children from you?

Generally, any parent may not have the right to take the children from the other parent just because one parent is a citizen and the other is not. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says on their website that immigrants who are going through domestic violence still have “the right to ask for custody of your child(ren) and financial support. Parents of children under the age of 21 often are required to pay child support for any child not living with them.”

Please note that WomensLaw is not affiliated with USCIS, and cannot vouch for the information on their website. I provide it for your information only.

Generally, even if one spouse is a citizen and the other is a lawful permanent resident (LPR), determining custody (who gets to raise the children) is still a matter for the courts. Custody can generally be part of a divorce case, or a separate case. You can read more about custody in STATE on our website. (HYPERLINK)

You also asked if your husband could take the children. Again, I’m not sure if you’re concerned he may take the children and keep them from you. Generally, a parent who takes a child and hides the child from the other parent may be committing a crime. In general, if people are legally married, most states consider the parents to have equal rights to the child so that either parent may be able to have the child in his/her possession. However, many states also have parental kidnapping/custodial interference laws that apply to married couples as well as unmarried couples that may prohibit certain behaviors (such as concealing the whereabouts of the child, for example). If this is your concern, please write back and I will give more information about parental kidnapping.