Sandhya on L2 seeks for divorce in India but L1 in USA?

[sandhya]

I got married in may and went to USA in the month of June. my husband is on L1 and i am on L2. His behaviour is too dominating, behaves like a sadist, even started to beat me, took my freedom, even checks for the dial-led list, suspects me if I spoke to opposite gender I can't deal him, I used to cry nothing else I could do when i am in US.
As newly married girl i didn't understand so I went to my relatives home, with their help, came to India. ( i told him before travelling to India) in november.

After I came to India, he avoided communication changed his address, phone number and even removed his account from facebook.
Now through lawyers I filed divorce case, criminal case but nothing is progressing in India as the candidate is in US. even when we asked our dowry his parents are telling that even they don't know about their son, we don't have enough money, we are poor people and again they were telling that I escaped from USA with 15 lakhs rupees and with gold, they were creating some nonsense. Its never ending saga.

My relatives advised me to file divorce and domestic violence case in USA only but thought not to spoil his career and his family. My husband is the person who takes care of his parents and brother's family. So I don't want to ruin all their lifes. but now they were spoiling my life and career. even not giving back my dowry and my lawyer asked some compensation.
I have given enough time and many chances for them.
Now I want to go to USA on L2(still i have 2 months valid visa), want to file divorce and to get justice for me.
but already I filed in India, no justice is going to happen to me in India as he is in USA.
tell me how to proceed in usa after reaching there. even I don't have my husband passport copy, or L1 copy or his address.

Even I file divorce or dometic violence case in USA, his career should not be effected because his family financially depends on them.
My requirement is to get my dowry back, some reasonable compenasation (like maintenance) and if possible I want to do MS with F1 status, how can I achieve all these.

your advise is greatly appreciable.

[Ajay D]

you have to decide your priorities. what is more important to you? getting your dowry back or saving your husband's career. for more important things, you have to leave less important things.

[Foofa]

Given that the dowry tradition is illegal in India yet they demanded one anyway I wouldn't go out of my way to protect your soon-to-former in-laws. But getting a divorce in the US doesn't generally adversely affect one's career (except in specific cases of people who are politicians or clergy). So divorcing him won't impact his ability to earn a living. If you still have two months on your visa you could return to the US to file the paperwork but you wouldn't be able to stay long enough to see the entire process through. So I suggest you get a US divorce attorney in the state where you lived and have this person handle it. In some cases you could ask for alimony that would be deposited into an account you can access from India. But given the brevity of the marriage and the fact that there were no children it's doubtful you'll get anything like that.

[ibu guru]

No. You split with hubby & returned to your own country. You no longer have any valid visa to the US. That ended when you left the marriage.

You married in India under Indian law, and do not meet residency requirements to file for divorce in the US. You never met residency requirements to file for divorce in the US. Most states, you must have been resident for a minimum of a year prior to filing. You have already filed for divorce in India, which is the legally appropriate step to take.

There's no way to file criminal charges against your spouse now anymore. You're too late.

Why on earth are you concerned about not upsetting hubby's career? Oh, puh-leeze.

You're Indian born & bred, you know the culture & customs thoroughly, and you know Indian husbands have a horrible reputation as husbands to begin with. Yet you married someone you did not know, who lived in a foreign country on a temporary visa - and it gives all the stench of another Indian marriage fraud to get into the US. Face it, your parents paid to get someone to get you a visa into the US, in the expectation that you would manipulate a way to stay in US and bring them in. That's the way ALL these tales come down. Textbook case of marriage fraud to begin with.

The price of immigration fraud is high. The price of marriage fraud is higher. It's up to your parents to get their money back from hubby's family. You could never pursue any case in the US - money was paid in India, and such payments are ILLEGAL in the US! You cannot sue for repayment of money spent in commission of a fraud.

Forget going to US on a student visa. You are in way too much trouble to attempt to ever return to the US. Go to grad school in your own country. Better yet, get yourself a job there and start earning some money to pay your parents for all their trouble and expenses.