## Facts

- A U.S.-citizen petitioner (born in New York in 1945) filed a visa petition seeking nonquota immediate-relative status for a Jordanian beneficiary as her spouse.
- The petitioner and beneficiary, both Muslims, married in Jordan on July 16, 1961, in a ceremony before a Sharia court official.
- At the time of that marriage, the beneficiary was already married to a first wife; Jordanian law permitted polygamous marriages and treated the second marriage as valid where celebrated.
- The beneficiary divorced his first wife on November 21, 1961, as registered with a Sharia court in Amman.
- The District Director denied the petition, concluding the petitioner had not established a valid marriage because the beneficiary’s first marriage had not ended before the marriage to the petitioner.
- The petitioner appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether a polygamous marriage valid under the law of the place of celebration qualifies as a “marriage” for U.S. immigration purposes to support a spousal visa petition.
2. Whether the beneficiary’s later divorce from the first spouse retroactively validates, or otherwise renders approvable, a visa petition based on the earlier polygamous marriage.

## Decision

- The BIA dismissed the appeal and affirmed the denial of the visa petition.
- The BIA held the parties’ polygamous marriage could not be recognized as a valid marriage for immigration purposes because it is contrary to U.S. public policy.
- The BIA held the beneficiary’s subsequent divorce from the first wife did not alter the immigration invalidity of the polygamous marriage.

## Legal Principles

- Marriage validity is generally determined by the law of the place of celebration, but recognition may be refused when the marriage is contrary to the public policy of the relevant U.S. domicile.
- Polygamous marriages, even if valid where celebrated, are not recognized as valid marriages for U.S. immigration purposes and cannot support spousal immigration benefits.
- A later change in marital circumstances (such as divorcing a prior spouse after entering a polygamous marriage) does not retroactively cure a marriage that was polygamous at inception for immigration adjudication.

## Conclusion

The BIA refused to recognize a Jordanian polygamous marriage as a qualifying spousal relationship for immigration benefits and held that a subsequent divorce from a prior spouse does not retroactively validate the earlier polygamous union for purposes of a spousal visa petition.


Matter of H–, 9 I. & N. Dec. 640 (B.I.A. 1962)