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In the United States, a divorce can impact a family-based immigration petition in different ways, depending on the type of the immigration petition you're filing and when your divorce is final -- before you file the petition, during the decision process or after immigration relief has been granted.

Most family-based immigration petitions require that you submit Form I-130, which establishes the relationship between the petitioner -- the U.S. citizen -- and the applicant, the person who is applying for immigration. They might be parent-child, siblings or spouses. If the applicant has been divorced, you must submit a copy of the divorce decree or decrees, along with an English translation if the original is written in another language. If a U.S. citizen's son is filing a petition for his parents, but the parents currently are divorced, then he must submit proof of the divorce. The son cannot send just a copy of his birth certificate to establish the parent-child relationship. If evidence of the divorce isn't provided the application will be flagged and delayed until the immigration agency receives a copy of the decree.

A divorce usually does not affect a person's status after receiving immigration relief. If a U.S. citizen petitioned for his parents and the parents divorce after they receive their LPR status and become green card holders, the parents still remain LPRs. They must update their marital status when they renew their LPR status or if they apply for U.S. citizenship.