What’s next for 90 Day Fiancé‘s Larissa Dos Santos Lima after her divorce from husband Colt Johnson? Will the Brazil native be kicked out of the country? Immigration lawyer Edward Shulman of The Shulman Law Group in New Jersey spoke to Us Weekly about what the reality star can expect.
Johnson, 33, filed for divorce from Dos Santos Lima, 32, on Friday, January 11, the same day she was arrested for the third time in a year and charged with first-degree domestic battery. Shulman tells Us that, in terms of deportation, “It depends on what the person’s status is.” Dos Santos Lima came to the U.S. on a K-1 fiancé visa, which required her to marry Johnson within 90 days. After they wed, she could apply for a green card, granting lawful permanent resident status. She has claimed she is currently unable to work in the U.S.
But because the couple has now split, she could be subject to deportation.
In Dos Santos Lima’s case, Shulman tells Us that if Johnson is unwilling to still sponsor his estranged wife for a green card, her only other option would be to “self-petition herself as an abused spouse.” (Dos Santos Lima posted a photo of her bloody face on Instagram on Thursday, January 10, after an alleged fight with her estranged husband, but authorities told Us Weekly that her injuries were “not consistent with the kind of bleeding she was claiming.”)
Shulman notes that Johnson could request that the case be dismissed through the criminal courts, but it’s up to the prosecutor to decide.
The attorney also spoke about the timeline of the deportation process: If she’s detained, it can take up to six months. If she’s not detained, “it could take years for a final conclusion,” especially with the current government shutdown, which has effectively stalled immigration cases, creating a backlog that could see Dos Santos Lima able to stay in the U.S. for up to two years while she waits for her case to be heard.
Us Weekly confirmed that Dos Santos Lima posted bail on Friday and was released from jail after the alleged altercation with Johnson. “He had a swollen lip, and his gums and teeth were bloodied,” Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jay Rivera told Us of Johnson’s injuries after the incident.
The warring couple have been embroiled in a cheating scandal since December when Dos Santos Lima claimed that her husband had been unfaithful to her and even shared screenshots of multiple direct messages he had sent to other women.
The Instagram star was previously arrested for domestic violence twice in 2018. The first time in June, days before their wedding, and again in November, though charges in both cases were dismissed.
