That is probably the one and only way for me. My brother did get married to a citizen, he has to remove his permanent residency first, leave the US for several

That is probably the one and only way for me. My brother did get married to a citizen, he has to remove his permanent residency first, leave the US for several months and come back to apply for green card. He hasn't done that yet, but at least he's safe in that regards. In any case tho, what the OP went through did remind me of my own situation but looks like he had it worse.