Immigration fairy tales

[Anastassia 0]

Hello,

"If you are illegally in the USA, all you need is money and the right lawyer and he will straighten your status out".

I face such statements once in a while, probably due to being immigrant myself and knowing other immigrants. There stories sound unreal, so eventually I decided to ask here, maybe somebody will know the answer, I hate being ignorant so this is why I am searching the answer. Several years ago I would have said "not true" but now I am having doubts. I personally know the case where someone purchased fake SSN and green card, used them for years in every day situations (employment, etc.) and then used them to take a mortgage loan from some federal institution. It came out the SSN # didn't exist, those people (married couple) were indicted for fraud and then convicted. After having served their time they were taken into ICE custody where they spent a few weeks, maybe a couple months. After that they were released with green cards in their hands. I was in shock. This is a true story, I know it first hand so now I am thinking, is all you need a good lawyer ????

Can somebody comment on the above ????

Can't wait to see what you guys know.

[lucyrich 19]

Not true.

There are certainly cases where people can get status that don't seem to deserve it. And there are other cases where people who seem to deserve it can't get it. Sometimes success has to do with appropriate legal advice. Sometimes failure has a lot to do with either not getting the right advice or not following the advice given.

The story you relate sounds like they were eligible for cancellation of removal, though I don't know the details so I could be wrong. Cancellation of removal has some fairly strict requirements, but when it works, it's like a "get out of jail free" card, and it allows an illegal alien to get a green card despite serious prior immigration violations. It requires that the alien have a US Citizen relative that would suffer "exceptional and extremely unusual" hardship, which is a high bar to meet. It also requires that the alien have been present in the US for at least 10 years. There are plenty of people for whom this technique won't work.

On the other hand, the worst penalty that the immigration system normally hands out is deportation, perhaps along with a lifetime permanent bar to admissibility. That merely causes the alien the minor inconvenience of repeating the same trip which he/she has already demonstrated the ability to make. So they can often be back in the US on the streets with the same status they had before being caught (i.e. no legal status) in just a few weeks after being deported.

[Anastassia 0]

Thank you very much for your input. I always wondered how those people got their green cards, but I don't know any details, I was just told they had a very good lawyer, and yes they have been here a very long time (definitely over 10 years), not sure about relatives. I know they have a son who was born and raised here but is an adult now, not sure if parting from him would cause hardship.

How about the person who came here to help with a newborn grandchild and never went back ? Somebody just told me yesterday that all she needs to do is get a good lawyer and adjust her status here. Her daughter is a resident and son in law is a citizen. Could she really stay here without a ban for overstaying ?

[rika60607 215]

Most likely, no!

Does she have a lot of money? GCs are given to investors... There you go, money CAN buy you things.

Since that couple had an adult USC son, he could have petitioned them with I-130. But, then again, they had no status to begin with... strange.

Thank you very much for your input. I always wondered how those people got their green cards, but I don't know any details, I was just told they had a very good lawyer, and yes they have been here a very long time (definitely over 10 years), not sure about relatives. I know they have a son who was born and raised here but is an adult now, not sure if parting from him would cause hardship.

How about the person who came here to help with a newborn grandchild and never went back ? Somebody just told me yesterday that all she needs to do is get a good lawyer and adjust her status here. Her daughter is a resident and son in law is a citizen. Could she really stay here without a ban for overstaying ?

[lucyrich 19]

THow about the person who came here to help with a newborn grandchild and never went back ? Somebody just told me yesterday that all she needs to do is get a good lawyer and adjust her status here. Her daughter is a resident and son in law is a citizen. Could she really stay here without a ban for overstaying ?

The 212 (a)(9)(B) ban for overstaying only kicks in on the day an alien LEAVES. If she doesn't leave, there's no ban for overstay, no matter how long the overstay was. Congress created an incentive for illegal aliens to remain illegally in the US until eligible to adjust status when they wrote the law that way. That's not how I would have written it, but they didn't ask me.

Immigration laws are convoluted, technical, confusing and often unfair. There are traps all around that must be avoided, and sometimes there are shortcuts and freebies that let some people sail through. Sometimes, appropriate legal knowledge can work wonders. Often, ignorance of the law can cause a person to fall into circumstances that make legal status difficult or impossible. Sometimes, despite the best legal advice, there's no available route to legal status.

[Anastassia 0]

Lucyrich,

I have a lot of respect for your knowledge. Are you an immigration lawyer by any chance ?

[lucyrich 19]

Lucyrich,

I have a lot of respect for your knowledge. Are you an immigration lawyer by any chance ?

Thanks (I guess), but no, I am not a lawyer. I've just read a lot. And unlike a lawyer, I get to pick and choose which questions I want to answer, so I can conceal quite a bit of ignorance that way.

[Boiler 43,634]

I have heard a lot of stories like that, you start asking questions and you find that the 'facts' are very different.

[payxibka 10,044]

How about the person who came here to help with a newborn grandchild and never went back ? Somebody just told me yesterday that all she needs to do is get a good lawyer and adjust her status here. Her daughter is a resident and son in law is a citizen. Could she really stay here without a ban for overstaying ?

not likely (at least at this time based on your facts presented)... the most common route would require alien grandparent to have an eligible USC to petition for them in order to "legalize" there status. Her daughter being an LPR is not yet eligible, and no USC is ever eligible to petition for an "in-law" relative so that eliminates the daughter's husband.

Edited December 2, 2009 by payxibka