Eshi married a US citizen who died in 2006 and she now faces being deported because her husband died before she got her green card.

More on Eshi’s Blog

Her American husband died suddenly, when they’d been married less than two years, while her application for residency was in progress. According to U.S. immigration law, the application is automatically rejected once the American spouse dies.

This is commonly referred to as ‘widow penalty’. Basically- it means the USCIS revokes granted petition for relative or spouse if one of the sposes dies unexpectedly. This law is horribly unjust, because had our spouses lived, this would not have been the case- we would have gotten processed fully.

At the same time -people who decide to separate from spouses or even divorce after mere 3 months of marriage do get approved under the law.

Best of luck to you Eshi