Hello All,

Here are my arguments for the letter:

1. Severe depression (no other major illnesses)- attending therapy and taking antidepressants
2. Loss in income- we have several businesses and it provides income for my parents, daughter, me and my brother
3. I support my parents in terms of finance and their daily life (they cannot speak English very well)
4. Very close to my family and fiance's family (my parents have expressed their sadness if I were to move- only daughter (my mother had 2 girls but died in the Vietnam War)
5. We have NO family in Australia
6. My brother is going thru a nasty divorce and became an alcohic due to it and I want to remain here to offer support
7. Mortgage and other debts

Would these be strong enough to recieve an approval?
Also, the letter would be reviewed in Bangkok, anyone have experience with the embassy there?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

whats the hardship letter for? overstay or criminal convictions?? etc, etc

Start by reading this:

http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf

I-601 Waivers and Extreme Hardship: Strategies for Writing a Convincing Narrative for an Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility

It's for an overstay and he has no criminal convictions. I've read the guidelines from Laurel Scott so that's why I wanted to know what my chances are since I have no level 1 arguments.

As with anyone your chances vary depending on consulate where it is being decided and who is reading your waiver request and how well the waiver is written. Also depends on length of overstay, reasons for overstay, and how long it has been since the overstay.

I can tell you from personal experience that just proving extreme hardship in the case of an overstay does not automatically mean you will be approved. We went thru London and even though we proved extreme hardship, we were still denied. We are waiting on the decision for our motion to reconsider, however we are not holding out alot of hope.

Your list of hardships 4 thru 7 are not usually considered as grounds for extreme hardship.

Bottom line is, no one can tell you what your chances are, the only way to find out is to submit the package and keep your fingers crossed.

Strongly recommend you use a lawyer that has done I-601s at the embassy that you will be working thru. That can make all the difference in the world.

Good luck... do get a lawyer to help you with this. I am also going through Bangkok, waiver for criminal record. I have heard very little about how strict the consulate is there. The hardships I'm using - my #1 hardship is I have a spinal cord injury and use a wheelchair, and Korea is not very accessible to wheelchairs. I think everything else I am using (separation from family in US, debts, lack of job opportunities for me in Korea, and the fact that my son would need to be privately and expensively educated in an English language or international school), is secondary to that. We can only hope for the best..

Your reasons are good. You just need to word them in the best possible scenario. The hardship letter is all about the wording. The key is to make your situation as dire as possible.

You have depression. Play it up as much as possible. If you move from your family, your depression will deepen despite the meds you can count on it.

The medical system in AU? How is it? Is it cost effective or expensive? You already have a relationship with your US doctor. Do you want to lose that established relationship and have to develop another with another foreign doc?

Your line of work...what do you do for a living? Can it easily be transferred over to AU? If not, then you will be competing with native aussies for work. That is very hard to do. Not impossible but difficult.

Overstay...emphasize your spouse is NOT a felon. The worst possible thing he did was overstay. He is not a threat to the US population.

Your parents dont speak english well. Then they will need for you to be around to help out or else hire a translator (which is an added burden and cost)..emphasize this point. They cant move with you to AU as that is not feasible.

Your brother is an alcoholic. Play up your fears about him in your family ties section and intertwine among your depression. You would be depressed because you would be very worried about him if you moved away. Therefore i.e. you would become deeply depressed.


Your mortgage and debts...Indicate that if you moved away to AU there will be no way you can pay your debts. You will definitely suffer a loss of income, so how are you supposed to pay off your debt? Indicate the full amount of debt you are in. Your parents cant help you pay this debt due to X factor, etc.

Your family is in the US not AU. Emphasize this. Also if possible whatever line of work your spouse is in, can it be transferred to the US? Can he make considerably more money?

What about your family visiting you in AU? Will there be enough money to pay for airfare?

What about your daughter? Is her father in the pic? Will he allow your daughter to move all the way to AU? What about uprooting her?

You say you support your parents. This is a big argument. You need to definitely speak out about that. If you move and they lose your support how will they be able to support themselves?

Well I can maybe write more later. Remember it's all in the wording and the evidence. Just make sure you back up ALL claims.

thanks for the info. everyone

Hey Misty~

Spoken like a true I2U member.

Your reply was very staright to the point and a lot of good info for this person.

isn't there a section were approved I-601s can be posted.... So peeps can use them as references?

I can't wait until the ohter site is up.

Ciao for now