Q&A: Will divorcing my husband affect my child’s right for immigration?

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Question: Husband is U.S. Citizen and sponsored foreign wife on conditional K visa. Wife’s petition to lift condition on her visa is pending. Wife’s son from prior marriage is now in U.S. on visitor visa. Wife and husband are in divorce proceeding. Wife wants husband to petition for/support son’s immigration. He is willing, but insists on informing USCIS of impending divorce. Does fact that husband and wife are in divorce (but not yet divorced) preclude husband from sponsoring her son for immigration? Does it adversely impact the petition in any way?

 Answer: By law as long as they are married the US citizen husband could petition for his step child provided the child was under 18 when he married the mother of the child.  However, if the USCIS knows that the divorce is pending, it may affect its decision (at least it may delay the decision and then denies it after the divorce).