2 year green card expired .. Help

[robin32 0]

hello everyone .. I know this story is going to sound bad as this journey is anything but easy for all of us. I entered the usa with a K1 visa married my american husband and have been living together ever since .. We have been married for 3 and a half years and obviously my 2 year green card is expired. At first we just couldn't afford to send the forms in so we thought a little late wouldn't hurt anything .. we had no choice. Then our financial situation just didn't improve and i put it in the back of my mind and now it's been expired for over a year and a half. I have gotten a letter in the mail saying they are going to send a date for a hearing to have me deported ! .. Is there anyone out there that has been through this .. we can't afford a laywer and have no idea what to expect next. Maybe we could try filing the forms ? even though they are very very late .. or i could leave the country and we could apply for a spouse visa k3 and i could come back ? .. if anyone has any advice i would really appriciate it .. thank you in advance Robin

[Boyinflorida 2]

hello everyone .. I know this story is going to sound bad as this journey is anything but easy for all of us. I entered the usa with a K1 visa married my american husband and have been living together ever since .. We have been married for 3 and a half years and obviously my 2 year green card is expired. At first we just couldn't afford to send the forms in so we thought a little late wouldn't hurt anything .. we had no choice. Then our financial situation just didn't improve and i put it in the back of my mind and now it's been expired for over a year and a half. I have gotten a letter in the mail saying they are going to send a date for a hearing to have me deported ! .. Is there anyone out there that has been through this .. we can't afford a laywer and have no idea what to expect next. Maybe we could try filing the forms ? even though they are very very late .. or i could leave the country and we could apply for a spouse visa k3 and i could come back ? .. if anyone has any advice i would really appriciate it .. thank you in advance Robin

You really acted irresponsibly when you did not file in the 90 day period. We all have hard times but you could have got a small loan or cash advance for $600 and that would have saved you a lot of troubles and now you even have to pay more money because you really need a good lawyer to get you out of the immigration proceedings. The lawyer is going to stop it, file the petition for you and appeal before the immigration judge so your mistake may be excused. If you get deported there is a ban for coming back to US even if you decide to refile new case so better fix that one.

You need to stop the proceedins, borrow money or get a loan, get a lawyer but a good one because you can't fix that mess by youself.

[Boyinflorida 2]

You can't file anything before that situation is fixed!

[Darnell 8,478]

fwiw - K-3 won't be an option for you, once yer out of the country.

You will file an IR-1, but don't worry about that, for now - try yer best to remain in the USA, stick with a competent immigration atty. Engage One Today!

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

You are now in deportation proceedings. Don't fail to show up!

You will be in front of a judge who will decide whether you get deported or the proceedings will be put on hold for a while to file a new AOS.

It will cost you thousands of dollars and there is no way hat you can tackle it alone.

Right now you have to figure out which attorney to retain and how to pay for it via a long term payment plan.

[GabachaYucateca 0]

So confused...by not coming up with the money for ROC (there are plenty of franchises that offer small, quick loans; if you have a credit card, that would have been a time to use the dreaded cash advance, etc), you've effectively deported yourself or your family will need to incur thousands more dollars of debt for a great attorney to get you out of this mess.

Even if you were permitted by law to exit the country and re-apply for a visa and permanent residence, that will also cost you tons more in the long run.

[robin32 0]

Thanks to all of you that had something helpful to say i REALLY appriciate the input.. and to the rest of you we are OBVIOUSLY aware we should have found another way to handle things, but this is a community full of people in all sorts of different situations and all of us are adults .. You are in no place to judge anyone else for circumstances of their lives u are not privy to. We have talked to a lawyer now and been assured there is pretty much zero chance we will be "deported" and tho the situation is stressful and embarassing it certainly isn't hopeless. So in the end i hope anyone else finding themselves in this type of situation looking for advise doesn't have to tollerate such harsh absue in order to get it .. Thanks again .. Robin

[Darnell 8,478]

hey Robin - that's great news !!! Hope all works out !!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thanks to all of you that had something helpful to say i REALLY appriciate the input.. and to the rest of you we are OBVIOUSLY aware we should have found another way to handle things, but this is a community full of people in all sorts of different situations and all of us are adults .. You are in no place to judge anyone else for circumstances of their lives u are not privy to. We have talked to a lawyer now and been assured there is pretty much zero chance we will be "deported" and tho the situation is stressful and embarassing it certainly isn't hopeless. So in the end i hope anyone else finding themselves in this type of situation looking for advise doesn't have to tollerate such harsh absue in order to get it .. Thanks again .. Robin

I'm happy to be reading this but at the same time curious, "pretty much zero chance".. how did s/he explain that to you? I've never read someone fighting it before so I'll be really interested to hear your case as it progresses. I hope you're able to keep us updated!

Best of luck!

[robin32 0]

Just an update ..I wasn't that clear in my last post so here goes. Our lawyer told us he can keep me in the country he has done this many many times for people in the same situation (yay i'm not the only idiot in the world !) Basicly we have to file the i-751 after we go to the hearing thats set for May 19th and get a continuance and the entire mess will cost approx. 2500$ to clean up and take several months .. not ideal but, it will be taken care of. The lawyer said he has never seen or heard of someone deported under these circustances (still married to and living with american spouse in the usa) in his 20 years. A word of advice though for anyone else in this situation don't let it go as long as we did because if you overstay more than 1 year (after your green card expires)and then decide to leave the country voluntarily u will be banned from the usa for 10 years !!!!!! Seems a bit extream to me considering any overstay is forgiven when you marry an american ! Anyways .. thanks again to those of u that were helpful / thoughtful .. i'll come back and post again after the hearing !

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Just an update ..I wasn't that clear in my last post so here goes. Our lawyer told us he can keep me in the country he has done this many many times for people in the same situation (yay i'm not the only idiot in the world !) Basicly we have to file the i-751 after we go to the hearing thats set for May 19th and get a continuance and the entire mess will cost approx. 2500$ to clean up and take several months .. not ideal but, it will be taken care of. The lawyer said he has never seen or heard of someone deported under these circustances (still married to and living with american spouse in the usa) in his 20 years. A word of advice though for anyone else in this situation don't let it go as long as we did because if you overstay more than 1 year (after your green card expires)and then decide to leave the country voluntarily u will be banned from the usa for 10 years !!!!!! Seems a bit extream to me considering any overstay is forgiven when you marry an american ! Anyways .. thanks again to those of u that were helpful / thoughtful .. i'll come back and post again after the hearing !

Overstay isn't forgiven JUST for being married to an American. You must have a greencard based on the marriage to the American... you need to prove it's a real marriage otherwise people with these kinds of bans would just be marrying americans so they can stay indefinitely and never get banned...

Other than that. Good to read there is a solution. Best of luck

[robin32 0]

Overstay isn't forgiven JUST for being married to an American. You must have a greencard based on the marriage to the American... you need to prove it's a real marriage otherwise people with these kinds of bans would just be marrying americans so they can stay indefinitely and never get banned...

Other than that. Good to read there is a solution. Best of luck

Actually .. if a person has been living in the usa illegally for any amount of years they can marry an american and apply for AOS based on that

marriage and the overstay IS forgiven. Wich is what i was referring to being a little bit unfair .. considering my overstay wouldn't be forgiven if i left the country even though i was married to an American at the time.