Coco River, FL Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

If you are already a lawful permanent resident, divorce from a U. S. citizen would have no effect upon your residence status. If on the other hand you have no status and your spouse is only now applying for you to become a lawful resident of the country, a divorce would likely mean the end of the application for residence status through your spouse. I do note that if there is no legal separation or divorce at the time of the U.S.C.I.S. adjudication of such an application, an officer would have authority to grant residence status if he or she believed that your marriage was bona fide at its inception. Also if your spouse is an abuser, you might be able to obtain residence status as a battered spouse if you can prove the abuse. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  

I imagine that that is a very good reason for the US citizen spouse to withhold filing paperwork on behalf of your boyfriend. There is nothing that you can do, and immigration law bars a US citizen from filing papers in a marriage case unless there is a bona fide marriage in which the parties intend to live in marital union. That does not appear to be your boyfriend's case. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  

Yes.  H1B visas are dual-status.  That is, they can be treated as immigrant or as non-immigrant visas.  In this case, because you are in F1 status, the H1B application will be treated as a non-immigrant visa change of status application.  You would not risk losing your student status just for applying.  Of course, once the change of status application is approved and your H1B employment begins, you would in fact lose your F1 status and switch to H1B status, but that is the point of the application.