Courtesy of Pedro Jimeno/Instagram
Does The Family Chantel’s Pedro Jimeno Face Deportation Amid Divorce From Chantel? Lawyer Tells All
The Family Chantel star Pedro Jimeno will “not lose” his “green card” from his divorce from Chantel Jimeno (née Everett), considering he’s “a lawful permanent resident with a 10-year green card,” attorney Emily Davis of the Ross and Pines law firm in Atlanta tells In Touch exclusively.
Despite their being “several ways a person can lose their green card, such as commission of certain crimes or abandoning their residency,” Davis says that “simply going through a divorce from Chantel, who is a U.S. citizen, does not mean that Pedro will face deportation.”
“He is still legally able to remain in the United States as a lawful permanent resident,” she adds.
Davis previously told In Touch that divorce proceedings will also have “no impact on his ability to apply for U.S. citizenship,” adding that because he’s a “lawful permanent resident, Pedro can become a U.S. citizen without Chantel’s assistance.”
In addition, Chantel, 31, is still “financially responsible” for Pedro, 30, “[if] Chantel sponsored Pedro for the green card application after the K-1 visa was granted.”
However, certain situations would potentially let her off the hook: him becoming a U.S. citizen, working 40 quarters under the Social Security Act, leaving the U.S. and no longer being a permanent resident or dying.
“The form that Chantel submitted when she petitioned him to get a green card is a binding contract between Chantel and the U.S. government,” Davis reveals. “That contract obligates the sponsor to support the sponsored immigrant at 125 percent or more of the U.S. Poverty Guidelines. Divorce does not automatically terminate the contract.”
A little more than a month after Pedro filed for divorce on May 27, citing their marriage being “irretrievably broken” as the reason for the legal separation and claiming Chantel withdrew more than $257,000 from their account and transferred that into an account in Chantel’s name and sister Winter Everett’s name, Chantel filed her own response.
In her July 7 filing obtained by In Touch, she claimed Pedro committed “adultery” and “cruel treatment” and alleged she was the victim of “physical domestic violence, as well as mental pain.”
Both Pedro and Chantel are currently under a mutual restraining order put in place after Pedro filed his legal paperwork.
When reached by In Touch, Chantel’s lawyer had no comment regarding Pedro’s initial filing, and a lawyer for Pedro did not immediately respond to In Touch‘s request for comment regarding Chantel’s claims.
First making their debut on 90 Day Fiancé season 4, the couple later appeared on seasons 2, 3 and 4 of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? and tied the knot on March 25, 2016.
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