Has your spouse been married to anyone else before this marriage?

“Has your spouse been married to anyone else before this marriage?” is a practice question about earlier marriages for a marriage-based green card interview at a USCIS field office. A real officer may ask it in other words, ask something else, or skip it. Practice can help you explain your own facts. It cannot tell you what USCIS will decide.

What is the officer checking with this question?

The officer may ask what you know about your spouse's marriage history while reviewing the current marriage and civil records. This question focuses on your spouse rather than your own past. A follow-up may cover how an earlier marriage ended, but it does not require you to claim personal knowledge of events you did not witness.

What might the officer ask next?

• How many earlier marriages has your spouse told you about?
• How did each earlier marriage end?
• Have you seen the record of that ending?

The next question usually comes from the words in your answer. If you name a person, a place, or a month, expect a question about it. The guide to green card interview follow-up questions explains how to practice past the first answer.

How do you prepare to answer it?

Review what you actually know about your spouse's previous marriages. Separate a fact your spouse told you from an event you witnessed or a date you read in a document. You can discuss a gap in your knowledge without creating an answer to fill it. If a name or date escapes you, make that uncertainty clear. Your lawyer can address concerns about the records or legal status of any earlier marriage.

Answer from your own memory, in your own words. Do not learn a script or a sample answer. If your spouse remembers a detail differently, first check whether you mean the same event. Ask your lawyer about any concern with your forms or documents.

Can you practice this question out loud for free?

Yes. Choose "Answer it now, free". The officer asks this question first. You answer out loud, and the officer follows up on what you said. You can try 3 questions free, and you do not need documents. Feedback comes after the session, not while you speak.

More earlier marriages questions

• Have either of you been married before?
• When and where did your previous marriage end, and do you have the divorce or death certificate?
• How long were you married previously, and when did that relationship end relative to this marriage?
• Are there any ongoing financial or custody obligations from a prior marriage?
• When did your current spouse's prior marriage legally end?

Read the earlier marriages topic guide, or see all 91 interview questions.