My husband threatens a divorce – is deport next?
QI am a U.S. citizen who moved to Pakistan when my family arranged for me to marry a man there. My husband and I lived in Pakistan until I came back to the United States to give birth to our first child. When our second child was due, I moved back to the United States and petitioned for my husband, who eventually came here with a permanent green card. We are constantly bickering and he doesn’t pay his fair share of family expenses. My husband has threatened to divorce me. If we divorce, will he get deported?
Name withheld, Jersey City A divorce won’t lead to your husband being deported. If a marriage was bona fide or real at inception, it is lawful and valid for immigration purposes. With two children together, and your years living together, it’s clear your marriage was bona fide, if not successful. Can a person receiving Medicaid get permanent residence? I am a U.S. citizen. My husband is receiving Medicaid. He suffers from a chronic health condition. He came here legally and once I file for him and he gets a Social Security number, I can add him to my health insurance. I’ve heard that he can’t get a green card if he is receiving public benefits.
Name withheld, by email Having received Medicaid won’t disqualify your husband from getting permanent residence. It’s true that to get a
AQAgreen card, your husband must prove that he is not “likely to become a public charge.” But being a public charge means having to rely on means-tested government benefits — benefits that you qualify for because you have low or no income.
Receipt of noncash assistance such as Medicaid, food stamps, WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Head Start, similarly don’t bar permanent residence. Moreover, the word “likely” in the public charge test refers to the period after your husband gets permanent residence. From what you write, he should be off Medicaid by the time of his immigrant visa interview.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick.