Porsha Williams’ Husband Simon Guobadia Denied U.S. Citizenship Over ‘Criminal History’

Porsha Williams and Simon Guobadia (Credit: Instagram/Porsha Williams)

Simon Guobadia, the new husband of Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams, faces a huge setback in his fight for U.S. citizenship after a recent loss in federal court.

The Nigerian entrepreneur is known to RHOA fans — first for his marriage to Falynn Pina, who appeared as a friend on season 13 of the Bravo series. The pair divorced in 2021, and Guobadia married Williams the following year.

Guobadia, 59, has been trying to obtain citizenship for years, but it may never happen because of alleged criminal activity.

In March 2023, he filed a 13-page petition against U.S. immigration executives for rejecting his naturalization application, but a federal judge dismissed Guobadia’s claim on Jan. 11, 2024.

While the decision was handed down weeks ago, the case just started making headlines after Bravo announced Williams will return to RHOA for the show’s upcoming 16th season.

Related StoryPorsha Williams Guobadia Officially Returning to ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’

According to court documents obtained by The Neighborhood Talk, plaintiff Simon Iyore Guobadia filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on March 13, 2023.

Per the docs, Guobadia initiated the claim after immigration services rejected his most recent citizenship application. His complaint names Ur Mendoza Jaddou, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Shineka Miller, field office director at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Atlanta.

According to the documents, Guobadia’s application was denied on July 27, 2022. He requested a hearing on the denial, but that request was rejected as well.

The documents say he first entered the U.S. on Aug. 11, 1982. Immigration officials said Guobadia overstayed his visa and in 1985 he was declared “deportable.” Instead of being forced out, the documents say he left the U.S. voluntarily on Dec. 28, 1985.

He re-entered the U.S. in June 1986, and “overstayed his 6-month visitor visa,” the court papers say.

“In September 1987, petitioner was arrested for bank and credit card fraud and pleaded guilty to a felony offense,” the documents say.

Two years later, Guobadia “was arrested in January 1989 for unauthorized use of a vehicle and again in May 1990 for fraud. Thereafter the agency began removal proceedings,” the documents say.

He was “deported and physically removed from the United States” on March 4, 1992.

The federal government alleges before his removal, Guobadia used a “different identity” to obtain temporary resident status under the Special Agricultural Workers (SAW) Program. The petition was approved and he was granted a permanent residency card on April 27, 1992. But immigration officials said they later discovered he “did not include his criminal history” on the application.

At some point, he returned to the U.S.

In 2016, Guobadia applied for naturalization under his second identity and was denied because his residence status was “unlawfully granted,” the documents say.

Guobadia filed another application for naturalization on Dec. 31, 2020, and was again denied.

His March 13, 2023 claim was an “instant complaint” asking the court to dismiss the denial. Now that a judge has rejected this latest claim, he could face another deportation order.

Guobadia wouldn’t be the first Bravolebrity to get deported.

Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice’s former husband, Joe Giudice, was deported back to his native Italy in 2019, after serving a 41-month prison sentence for fraud and spending another seven months in an ICE detention center.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.