Do I even need to get divorced?

[Tj12]

Hi all, I searched extensively but I can't seem to find an answer. 

 

I married a Thai women last year and filed an I-130 to bring my spouse over to the US. 

 

Since I filed the paperwork, I have visited her a few times in Thailand and it is just not the same as when we were together and I was living there last year. The paperwork has been "Received" for 11 months with no further action from USCIS. 

 

She seems unhappy, posts our business all over social media if the smallest thing makes her mad, makes me practically beg and apologize for not calling her; I came to the conclusion enough is enough and don't want to be with her. 

 

At this point we don't even talk on the phone anymore. Over text on Line we both agreed to part ways. I don't want to travel back to Thailand (expensive) to get a divorce (if she even shows up to the Amphur) 

 

If I meet somebody else and want to get married in the future in the United States (I am still in my 20s!), do I have to worry about being married in Thailand? 

 

Can I just cancel the USCIS application and call it a day? 

 

I am tempted to just block her and move on with my life for many reasons not outlined above. 

 

Weird situation, any advice would be great. 

 

Thank you very much! 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Tj12

[richard_smith237]

Someone will come along shortly with some decent advice. 

 

Firstly, are you legally married in Thailand? (i.e. paperwork signed at a local Amphur office in Thailand)

 

One thing to consider are the bigamy laws in your home country.

 

Would the divorce be contested in anyway? a non-contested divorce will be much simpler and quicker. 

 

It's best to get this sorted one way or another so you can move on.

Contacting Lawyers in Thailand to see whether you can proceed with a divorce remotely will give you the best answers. 

 

https://www.sunbeltasia.com/divorce-in-thailand?gclid=CjwKCAiA5o3vBRBUEiwA9PVzal9NTYQz2JLDSR-sj3WnI2KdrZiEjOm-Hv7UIDcqTZGX_hT9r3-G6hoC3cYQAvD_BwE

 

 

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[CharlieH]

Cancel the US paperwork as the relationship no longer exists.

Contact a local US attorney for how you stand legally etc in your country.

Then follow as described above ^^^ re: Thailand.

[Monomial]

If you legally married her in Thailand, which means you went to the ampur and filed the paperwork, then you are legally married in the US as well, even if you never tell the USA. If you ever get married again without legally divorcing your spouse, then even if you can hide it from everyone, you will be committing bigamy which is a criminal offense in the USA. It just isn't worth it.

 

Simplest and cheapest way is to hop on a plane and come back to Thailand. Pay your ex whatever is necessary to attend and sign the divorce papers. If you want to divorce overseas, you will need to do it according to the laws of the country you are in, and it will almost certainly be more difficult and costly than a flight to Thailand.

 

If you never legally married her in Thailand, then you can simply walk away. But it sounds like you did it legally if you filed an I-130. She wouldn't have been related to you otherwise.

 

 

 

[NCC1701A]

6 hours ago, Tj12 said:

Weird situation, any advice would be great. 

if you are married i would not procrastinate. 

good luck with the negotiations.   

 

 

[stigar]

I divorced my thaiwife 4 year ago.First we get divorced ligally in norway,and after we did the same in thailand.No problem to do it the legal way.

[lopburi3]

You are aware Thailand is a joint property state so any earnings are considered half hers during the marriage?  As said you would not be able to marry again and could have serious legal/financial issues come up so expect much better to get that divorce now.

[dlclark97]

If you have legally married in Thailand and if you want the option to marry in the future in any other country you need to get this legally over with as soon as possible.  As one poster said she is  entitled to one half of your earnings during the marriage.  She may not know this but it also may be brought to her attention later if the marriage is allowed to continue.  Every month it is allowed to continue just increases the amount she could claim as hers.  Left as it is, this could really come back to bite you in the butt big time in your future. 

[JRinPDX]

If you were legally married in Thailand, but are in the USA, you may be able to do the divorce from the USA.  You'll need an attorney, and they will get papers served in Thailand.  If she signs and returns them, that's all it takes.    It *may* also be that if she refuses to sign, you can still get a judge to sign off on dissolution as long as you can prove she was served.  Price of attorney vs. price of flights, time spent, etc. is probably about the same. 

[emptypockets]

12 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

You are aware Thailand is a joint property state so any earnings are considered half hers during the marriage?  As said you would not be able to marry again and could have serious legal/financial issues come up so expect much better to get that divorce now.

Also half the debts that she may be racking up on your behalf.

[Captain 776]

Just walk away no one will ever know you were married except you and her turn the page and never look back so all you Gotta do

[Captain 776]

It says right on the bottom of that 130 form it says on that form it can take up to 999 days to process and I brought people over to USA from Vietnam it took more than 999 days and yes you can just send into INS tell him to cancel the application no problem

[NorthernRyland]

13 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

You are aware Thailand is a joint property state so any earnings are considered half hers during the marriage?  As said you would not be able to marry again and could have serious legal/financial issues come up so expect much better to get that divorce now.

Really? I never heard this before but what do I know. If that's the case she could emerge later in order to recover her share of his earnings. That's a scary thought.

[Chongalulu]

In UK ,any will you may have had becomes invalid upon marriage,so amongst other things you’ll have to potentially deal with that . This is the sort of thing that may well bite you in the @r#e much later in life. Yiu will be a bigamist should you ever remarry without a divorce. Criminal offence.

[Max69xl]

16 hours ago, Monomial said:

If you legally married her in Thailand, which means you went to the ampur and filed the paperwork, then you are legally married in the US as well, even if you never tell the USA. If you ever get married again without legally divorcing your spouse, then even if you can hide it from everyone, you will be committing bigamy which is a criminal offense in the USA. It just isn't worth it.

 

Simplest and cheapest way is to hop on a plane and come back to Thailand. Pay your ex whatever is necessary to attend and sign the divorce papers. If you want to divorce overseas, you will need to do it according to the laws of the country you are in, and it will almost certainly be more difficult and costly than a flight to Thailand.

 

If you never legally married her in Thailand, then you can simply walk away. But it sounds like you did it legally if you filed an I-130. She wouldn't have been related to you otherwise.

 

 

 

You do have to register a thai marriage in your home country to make it legal,right? If you didn't, are you officially married outside Thailand?

[lopburi3]

2 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

You do have to register a thai marriage in your home country to make it legal,right? If you didn't, are you officially married outside Thailand?

No - Yes

[The Theory]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

You do have to register a thai marriage in your home country to make it legal,right?

When someone applies for wife visa then everything will be recorded in his own country system. Next time if he wants to get married again he better have some proof of divorce for his previous marriage in case if something comes up by those records. 

Marriage is “piece of cake”, but divorce is hell bitter, especially when one disagrees. 

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by The Theory

[Max69xl]

25 minutes ago, The Theory said:

When someone applies for wife visa then everything will be recorded in his own country system. Next time if he wants to get married again he better have some proof of divorce for his previous marriage in case if something comes up by those records. 

Marriage is “piece of cake”, but divorce is hell bitter, especially when one disagrees. 

 

I am talking about getting married in Thailand but never take the wife to your home country and never officially register the marriage. I am 100% sure there are countries where you must translate the papers from the amphoe and take them back home and send them to the proper authority to make the marriage official in a legal sense.

[Monomial]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

You do have to register a thai marriage in your home country to make it legal,right? If you didn't, are you officially married outside Thailand?

 

I suppose there may be countries where that is true, but the USA is not one of them. As soon as you register it in Thailand it is also legal in the USA.

 

[emptypockets]

2 hours ago, Monomial said:

 

I suppose there may be countries where that is true, but the USA is not one of them. As soon as you register it in Thailand it is also legal in the USA.

 

Australia (a long as the marriage was legal under Australian law) also and I suspect many, many other countries.

 

• The Marriage Act 1961 sets out the reasons that would make an overseas marriage invalid in Australia. These reasons include: 1. at the time of the marriage one of the parties was validly married to another person 2. one of the parties was not of marriageable age in Australia 3. the parties are too closely related to marry. This means one is an ancestor of the other, a descendent of the other or they are brother or sister. 4. consent to the marriage by either of the parties was …

See more on gotocourt.com.au

 

Is a Marriage in Thailand Recognized in the United States?

integrity-legal.com/.../is-a-marriage-in-thailand-recognized-in-the-united-states

Once a Thai marriage is registered the question is: will the United States of America recognize the union. Put simply, yes. According to the website of the US Embassy Thailand, in cases involving marriages legalized in the Kingdom, “ the United States does recognize the validity of such a marriage.

[brianthainess]

On 12/3/2019 at 12:01 PM, nchuckle said:

In UK ,any will you may have had becomes invalid upon marriage,

????????????

[sawadeeken]

I am a US citizen (married 2 Thais (after 2 farang marriages), divorced one Thai in the USA - and in Thailand)......... The USA recognizes a Thai (recorded) marriage and considers it the same as a marriage performed in the USA.....

There is a slim chance that a 'Thai lady' would know that and that it would ever become a problem in the future is the USA, IF the USA isn't already aware of the marriage and 

If this your first marriage and you have not recorded anything In the USA then there may never be a record of it and the USA, and it may never be a problem to future marriages......

It all depends if you can 'live a 'little' dangerously' or you want to be 100% safe......

I took a chance on my divorce with my 3rd wife (1st Thai wife) and never had a problem and that was 25 years ago..... Now I am married again to a Thai in the USA for 23 years....

PM (Personal Mail) me for more specific answers..............   KEN

[thaibeachlovers]

On 12/3/2019 at 6:16 PM, Max69xl said:

You do have to register a thai marriage in your home country to make it legal,right? If you didn't, are you officially married outside Thailand?

No you don't. In NZ I was legally married even though she never came to NZ and I never registered the marriage here. However when we got divorced in LOS I just informed the pension department and they changed my pension to single. No doubt they check with the Thai government, IMO.

[AlexRich]

Firstly, cancel the US application. Secondly, contact her and tell her you are sorry that it didn’t work out, but you want to make things right for her in Thailand by officially divorcing. So she can move on with her life if she meets someone “better”. In other words sell it to her, make out your doing it for her. Get over there and get the divorce over with officially. Once you are shot of her party like a Rockstar ... celebrate a lucky escape.

[donnacha]

On 12/2/2019 at 5:39 PM, JRinPDX said:

Price of attorney vs. price of flights, time spent, etc. is probably about the same. 

Yes, but doing it remotely via an attorney eliminates the significant risk that, while celebrating his divorce in Thailand, he may meet and fall in love with another Thai woman.

This one, of course, will be different.

[mrwebb8825]

Cancel the application and file for divorce in CA. Tell the judge that she became an avid Trump supporter and you're a democrat. He/she'll sign the papers and file it in Thailand, see that you get into a support group, find you a home with free medical and a state funded income for the rest of your life while you struggle with the daily trama induced by her.