Porsha Williams Confirms Simon Guobadia’s ‘Questionable’ Immigration Status Led to Divorce

Porsha Williams and Simon Guobadia (Credit: Instagram/porsha4real)

Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams began to re-evaluate her marriage to Simon Guobadia after his battle to obtain U.S. citizenship and alleged “criminal history” made headlines last month.

Porsha filed papers to divorce the Nigerian entrepreneur on Feb. 22.

In a new legal motion obtained by RadarOnline, the reality star asked the court to limit Simon’s access to the couple’s Georgia home amid their divorce.

Simon has petitioned the court to grant him exclusive access to the house, while Porsha argued a prenuptial agreement said Simon must move out of the marital home within 30 days of a divorce filing.

Porsha has accused Simon of locking her out of the house, while he claimed in a separate filing that she “abandoned” the home after the marriage collapsed, then brought an “armed gunman” to get inside.

Related StorySimon Guobadia Says Porsha Williams Brought ‘Armed Gunman’ to Marital Home

Porsha’s latest motion includes details about what caused the couple’s 15-month marriage to end.

“By way of further response, the media frenzy that ensued was solely a result of Husband’s actions, which included revelations about Husband’s criminal history, questionable immigration, and allegations of fraud,” the motion said. “Wife shows that the news reports of Husband’s alleged immigration fraud, and what appeared to be an imminent threat of deportation, were shocking and affected Wife’s mental and emotional wellbeing. None of this information was ever disclosed by Husband to Wife, despite Wife having previously inquired about Husband’s immigration status and criminal history.”

Guobadia, 59, has been trying to obtain U.S. citizenship for years.

A federal judge dismissed his claim on Jan. 11, 2024, after he filed a 13-page petition against U.S. immigration executives for rejecting his naturalization application, as previously reported.

The immigration case began to make headlines after Bravo announced in February that Porsha would return to RHOA for the show’s upcoming 16th season.

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

He filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on March 13, 2023, and blamed his failed immigration bid on Ur Mendoza Jaddou, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Shineka Miller, field office director at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Atlanta.

Immigrations officials said Simon first entered the U.S. on Aug. 11, 1982. Since then, they said he “overstayed” a visitor visa, self-deported,  returned to the U.S. numerous times, and was “physically removed” after an arrest.

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

Two years later, he “was arrested in January 1989 for unauthorized use of a vehicle and again in May 1990 for fraud. Thereafter the agency began removal proceedings,” immigrations officials said in court documents. He was “deported and physically removed from the United States” on March 4, 1992.

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

He 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.


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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.