spouse petition

[saydor1]

i am a LPR with 4yrs and recently got married,, i was previously married for over 10yrs and got divorced last year may. i want to know if i can petition for my wife from africa ... as the instruction on form i-130 is confusing me.
must i be on 5yrs lpr before i can file for her.
thanks

[newacct]

There is a rule, in INA 204(a)(2)(A) that if you get permanent residency by being petitioned by a spouse, and you cannot petition another spouse while still a permanent resident within 5 years of you getting permanent residency, unless unless you are able to show by "clear and convincing evidence" that the previous marriage was not fraudulent. This "clear and convincing evidence" is a higher standard than you would normally need to prove to get a marriage green card.

USCIS regulations in 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(i) seem to say that this restriction applies if the marriage to the spouse you are petitioning occurs within 5 years of you getting permanent residency. According to this, since you are already married before you have been a permanent resident for 5 years, you are under this restriction even if you wait to petition your current spouse until you have been a permanent resident for 5 years. I am not sure why there is a discrepancy in the conditions.

So you would either need to be able to show that your previous marriage was not fraudulent by the higher "clear and convincing evidence" standard, or wait until you become a citizen, at which point your petition for your wife would not be subject to this restriction.

[saydor1]

thank you so much, my previous marriage was not fraudulent, we was married in UK In 2004 but divorced in usa 2018. what do i need to prove to them. also will it be advisable to just invite my spouse over for holiday for the time being.

thanks