Mrs Walker-Huntington, I need some answers for an issue for a close friend of mine.

She got married and is residing in the United States (US) with her daughter before the marriage. She subsequently became pregnant but her husband is not the father. The man who got her pregnant resides in Jamaica.

She does not have residency as yet, only a temporary Green Card.

If she were to go through with the pregnancy, would this jeopardise her getting residency?

Please state the best way to handle this as she is confused and is seriously contemplating abortion to finalise the paper work of her residency in the States.

- NS

Dear NS,

A temporary Green Card or Conditional Green Card is residency. When a US citizen petitions for a spouse and the couple has been married for less than two years at the time of the interview for the Green Card, the immigrant receives a Conditional or temporary Green Card valid for two years.

The immigrant is nonetheless a permanent resident. One year and nine months after the date of issue of the Conditional Green Card, the immigrant must file a Petition to Remove the Condition on the Green Card. The petition must either be filed jointly if the couple is still married and still living together, i.e. both parties must sign the petition. Or, the permanent resident must file a single Petition to Remove the Condition if the couple divorced. The process does not allow the permanent resident to file a single petition if the couple are still married but separated - the couple must be divorced.

Documentary evidence

Once a couple is initially approved for a Conditional Green Card, they must continue to keep proof of the validity of their marriage. This proof must be submitted with the Petition to Remove the Condition on the Green Card to show United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that the couple continued to live toge-ther after the issuance of the Green Card. If the couple separated and divorced after they were originally approved for residency, the immigrant can still obtain a Permanent (10-year) Green Card by submitting documentary evidence and personal affidavits from associates that they continued to live together up until the time of their separation.

Failure to file to remove the condition on a two-year Conditional Green Card can lead to the immigrant's residency being terminated and the person being removed from the country. This status also applies to any dependent children who were part of the original filing and recipients of temporary Green Cards.

You have not stated whether your friend's husband is aware that she is pregnant for another man. She should have a heart-to-heart talk with her husband for the sake of trying to save her marriage and also for legal reasons.

Her husband may be willing to forgive her indiscretion and to continue the marriage. On the other hand, a child born during a marriage is legally presumed to be a child of the marriage and the husband to be the father of the child. This legal presumption puts her husband in a sticky legal position that he has a right to be aware of sooner rather than later.

Having an abortion is not going to solve her problems. Indiscretion or no indiscretion, she has a continuing responsibility to document her marriage until she receives her 10 year Green Card. If her husband suspects that the only reason she married him was to obtain a Green Card he can contact USCIS and advise them of his suspicions. If the husband does this it will increase the scrutiny of her Petition to Remove the Condition on her Green Card.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practices law in Florida in the areas of immigration, family, corporate and personal-injury law. She is a mediator, arbitrator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. Email: info@walkerhuntington.com.