First post, super long, but I need advice, too late to file 601/212?

[hannibal0789 0]

Hello, new here!

I am a US citizen, my husband in Brazilian. He was in the US illegally, EWI, he crossed the border in Mexico but went with the border patrol agents, and was given temporary entry into the US back in 2004. He gave the address he was going to in the US, but after meeting some others on the jpurney, changed his mind at the last minute, so he went to Florida with them, instead of New Jersey, like he planned. Apparently when they gave him this paper, they did not give a date by which something had to be done, as was with the others who entered at the same time, which were all 6 months to a year.

After this, a court summons was sent to the address given, but was never sent via registered mail, which is important, because he was ordered deported in absentia, I think is how they worded it, but we were eventually able to prove that they could not prove he ever received the notice to appear, and was never given a clear date by which he needed to have some sort of status change. Also, all of the documents he was forced to sign were in English, not even in Spanish, and he spoe neither, other than some Spanish he learned in his journey to the US, so he had no idea what he was signing.

A few years later, he was stopped at a checkpoint in Florida, they decided to search the vehicle and found a "pipe" with possible marijuana residue. I already know the whole story, it really was not his, and he was drug tested, found clean immediately following his arrest. There were no drugs, nothing else out of order in the vehicle, other than, obviously, he had no license or insurance, but he just got a ticket for that, no coriminal charges. When my husband went to court, he told the court appointed lawyer he wanted to plead not guilty, as it was not his (his girlfriend's 13 year old brother was showing it off, my husband took it because he was trying to teach him a lesson and keep him away from it, as the whole family was going down a bad path, anyway), and he was not doing any type of drugs, there were none in his system or possession. His handle on English was shoddy at best at this point, again, no translator was ever given, and the lawyer changed his plea to no contest and told him it would not affect his immigration status, though he still did not agree with her, she left him no choice. He was given 6 months probation with drug testing, plus a fine. He paid it, passed all of his drug tests, but was never able to get the possession of paraphernalia off his record, which was a misdemeanor, but in immigration law, apparently considered a crime of moral turpitude.

Fast forward to 2012, he and I were travelling, planning to get marreid and start the process of applying for a visa, even had a lawyer contacted, when we were pulled over for speeding, he was driving (stupid, I know, please spare me, I have beaten myself up for not forcing him to pull over, we were driving into NY, they are not immigration friendly, and he is the kind of man who gets really irritated when someone else is driving him, and when I was driving pat of the journey from FL to NY, it was nonstop bickering, so I gave in, but we planned to switch coming into NY because of their no-nonsense immigration standpoint outside of the city). The trooper looked at his Brazilian passport, his only ID at the time, and searched for him, which is the first time we ever heard about the deportation order, despite the fact that it was issued before the whole paraphernalia thing, during which he was even in custody and no one even bat an eyelash. Turns out an order was issued 8 days before to basically round up any immigrants they find in NY state, and my husband was immediately taken into custody and was sent to Batavia, NY federal detention facility. I contacted the lawyer, and after 3 months we got him out on bail.

We were married 10 days later, and starte the visa application process, and were called back into court on March 12, 2013 (8 days after the I-601A took effect), but the state had a dirty trick up its' sleeve and called my lawyer around 8pm the night before the case, early the next morning, to give the required notice that they planned to have plainclothes officers there to take him into custody again because of the misdemeanor, which they knew about long before, but were hoping he would miss my lawyer and we would be caught unaware so there was no chance to run. We found out about it, and had no intention of doing so, as now we were doing everything we could to follow the letter of the law now, as it is the best in the long run. As we suspected, the judge could care less about our arguments, or the fact that my whole family was backing him up, emotionally and financially, and he did not violate his bail in any way.

Then things got even uglier, they cuffed him right in the courtroom and took him away (nothing like watching your spouse being taken away in handcuffs twice, and not because he did some horrible thing, though it was against the law), and after a few uneventful court dates, and 5 months later, we walked into court again and this time my lawyer met with me at the back of the courtroom, I forget exactly what he said but he basically told me that they were most likely going to deport him that day, so I could wait and see if they would, or we could go ahead and ask for voluntary departure, and gave me 30 seconds to decide. Fantastic, right? Well, I took his advice and we got the voluntary departure, and he left in the beginning of August 2013.

I sold my car and followed him to Brazil 2 months later, and we have been here ever since, and my lawyer has mentioned the I-601 and I-212 waivers he will "likely" need, but never said any more about it and kind of dodged the question every other time I talked about it, I contacted another lawyer, and got the same response, but I was always under the impression that it had to be filed after we are denied the visa at the interview, which is scheduled for 2.5 weeks from now! Was I wrong in thinking that I had to wait, or should I have applied for the waivers ages ago before we go to the interview now?

Also, another part of this is that because of all the missteps in the misdemeanor on his record, we tried to get it overturned, but the court chose not to respond, as it would have set a precedent for future cases and they did not want to do that, so it is still there, unfortunately, even though it is a bogus charge. So, now we have the interview in Rio, everything is scheduled, and I just found the information that it could/should have been filed a long time ago, and it could have spared us an extra 5ish months, however long this will take to process now.

I have now reached out to new lawyers as my current lawyer just now told me (literally 2 days ago) that he does not do waivers and I need to find a lawyer here in Brazil, and that, oh yeah, the process is extremely complicated and lawyers often charge about $5000, which I do not have.

[Boiler 43,393]

2004 Illegal entry

Misdemeanour drug conviction

Driving without license or Insurance.

Ignored a deportation order

Arrested and deported.

I think that is everything?

Sounds like he has a 6B ban with no waiver available for 5 years, can he evidence that he updated his change of address you mentioned?

[LoveMyTico 999]

I know a few people this had happened to. Its just how it goes. Remember one important fact...your husband entered the US illegally. That is the number one ...he is lucky they even let him in. Not the United States fault he gave the wrong address..and. They are not obligated to send the hearing notice by register mail. Waivers are no joke. The 601 is all about the hardship on you. But you picked up and moved to Brazil. You'll need some rock solid hardships. There are guidelines for waivers on VJ. If waivers are available for his charge...You need to find out if paying someone to write your waivers is even worth it. Btw..waivers take a long time to prepare. You need evidence to back up every claim you make. Good luck

Edited September 5, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[Transborderwife 4,666]

I know a few people this had happened to. Its just how it goes. Remember one important fact...your husband entered the US illegally. That is the number one ...he is lucky they even let him in. Not the United States fault he gave the wrong address..and. They are not obligated to send the hearing notice by register mail. Waivers are no joke. The 601 is all about the hardship on you. But you picked up and moved to Brazil. You'll need some rock solid hardships. There are guidelines for waivers on VJ. If waivers are available for his charge...You need to find out if paying someone to write your waivers is even worth it. Btw..waivers take a long time to prepare. You need evidence to back up every claim you make. Good luck

Agree with this 100%. All that they are required to prove is that the deportation notice was sent to the last known address.

Part of the 601 is showing USC hardship and why you cannot live in your spouses country. While this won't be impossible, because you picked up and left to live with him it may be an uphill battle.

[LoveMyTico 999]

My lawyer told me ....DO NOT MOVE TO COSTA RICA IF YOU WANT TO PROVE HARDSHIP....I waited for the waiver to be approved over here. Our whole journey took almost2 years. I had tons of hardships. My number one hardship was my daughter having a brain tumor and note being able to get care in Costa Rica. And the fact that my ex wouldn't even let her leave the country. Also...my mother is 84 and having health issues. And many more small hardships. The waiver package was about 2-3inches thick with all our evidence. And my husband only had a simple overstay. No deportation or trouble with the police of any kind. You have Alot of work to do.

Edited September 5, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[Jawaree 717]

OP he seemed to have thumb his nose at the law in their eyes

After been let in he should have kept his nose clean & not rack up

these charges....I know you say you say he's innocent of all

but misdemeanor & any involvement of drug becomes deportable,

I think he got great breaks some LPR don't get.

Filing for waivers comes after interview if they approve him to file for

waivers...doable with a waiver atty when he is able to file, although you

moved to his country a good atty can argue your money depleted & hardships

without him here, but be mindful that moving there was a rash decision

because you could stay here with more earinng power, check into all his

past cases ..see if "Coram Nobis" in the criminal court would help him

since you say there are errors....he will need to be doing rehab & anger

management now, and of course so far what you posted here shows

nothing that his case could set a precedent...if so atty will grab these

for the fame not shy away.

I wish him luck at the interview & you should think about returning to the US

to truly help, US attys are needed in this good lick

[hannibal0789 0]

2004 Illegal entry

Misdemeanour drug conviction

Driving without license or Insurance.

Ignored a deportation order

Arrested and deported.

I think that is everything?

Sounds like he has a 6B ban with no waiver available for 5 years, can he evidence that he updated his change of address you mentioned?

There is no record of the driving with no license, the only charge on his record is the misdemeanor with no actual drugs involved, and there was something done about the original deportation, I will have to ask my lawyer, I forgot what exactly, but that was maybe not counted against him. He was arrested, but took voluntary departure before they ordered him.

[Boiler 43,393]

How did he get a drivers license?

[LoveMyTico 999]

Still need waivers. And the arrests will still show up in the background check. You kind of shot yourself in the foot by running off to live in Brazil. It doesn't really look like a hardship . do you work in Brazil? Do you speak Portuguese?

Edited September 5, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[mrskvelasco 30]

6B sounds about right. The lawyer that we used for my husband's waiver offered a very reasonable payment plan. You could probably look into that.

[Jawaree 717]

"REASON TO BELIEVE" Many consulate slove to use, even no drugs found uscis

run with such evidences say a pipe can be for drug use or a seller ,although no

drugs are found , and even when cases are dropped or expunged, the same

applies to tats they classified as gang tats...so yes a good waiver atty is needed

he was in the US illegally & every police contact he had will re-appear, along with

immigration history

[hannibal0789 0]

We just returned from our interview, he just needs the I-601 and the 212a at this point. I received a couple lawyer suggestions, so now it is time to get to work! Again.

[TBoneTX 43,019]

Thanks for returning with the update.