Advice please

[Kazulie 132]

Quick Background:

I am US born citizen.

My Nigerian Husband has been here on a tourist Visa since 2006 (overstayed for many many years).

He is now in removal proceedings (court date is in 2013 sometime).

We have been married almost 10 months.

Petitioned his I-130 in September last year. Got sent to CSC so we are still waiting for NOA2. Hopefully will get it by the end of this month.

We will also be filing the I-130 for his 2 kids (my stepchildren).

Regarding my husband's case:

What I think I understand is that we will (hopefully) get the I-130 approved here shortly. Then our lawyer will set up a court date to see the immigration judge so we can ask him to take my husband out of removal. If the judge agrees then we continue on with the AOS process. (by the way, my husband never had a run in with immigration. He has kept in contact with them the whole time he was here. No one has ever come looking for him or anything.)

Question:

I hear that if the immigration judge takes home out of removal proceedings, he also has the choice of approving the I-485 right there on the spot or sending it back to USCIS or NVC (not sure which) and then we would continue on like normal. How do we get the judge to approve on the spot? Will he automatically do it or not do it, or do we ask him if he will or what? Is there anything we can do to get a better chance of the judge to approve I-485 on the spot?

Regarding the kids:

Here is where the "what would you do" comes into play...

Knowing the loooong wait times at CSC, would you send in the kids' I-130s now and just pray that my husband's case gets approved before their 5-6 month wait time is up at CSC and even gets looked at? I am assuming that the worst thing that could happen is that there is movement on the kids' files before my husband's case has been resolved and then the kids' I-130s get denied because their dad hasn't been approved yet. We are out the $840 filing fee and must resubmit after dad does get approved. At this point I think my husband and I are willing to take the chance at losing the money if the timing is off, because of the benefit of being months ahead if the timing is right!

Thanks for any advice!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

How did your husband end up in removal proceedings ? What got him there may make a big difference

[Kazulie 132]

How did your husband end up in removal proceedings ? What got him there may make a big difference

He overstayed his tourist visa. Which if I understand is sometimes over looked if he is married to US Citizen.

[Olomi_811 130]

I believe what is being asked is how was it brought to ICE's attention that your husband was here and overstayed? For example, did someone report him? was he arrested and it came up? What transpired?

[Kazulie 132]

Oh, sorry.

Like I said, he's never had a "bad" run in with immigration. He has been in contact with them since he came. After he knew he wanted to extend his stay here, he got a lawyer and they've been in constant contact with immigration. He even contacted them everytime he move and all of that.

No one came after him. No one turned him in. There was no need for any of that since immigration has had all his info since he's been here.

[bdawn 66]

Oh, sorry.

Like I said, he's never had a "bad" run in with immigration. He has been in contact with them since he came. After he knew he wanted to extend his stay here, he got a lawyer and they've been in constant contact with immigration. He even contacted them everytime he move and all of that.

No one came after him. No one turned him in. There was no need for any of that since immigration has had all his info since he's been here.

The problem is, was he on removal proceedings before you got married? If yes, it's a big red-flag! Yes overstays are forgiven when the beneficially is married to an American, but the ball-game turns into another direction when the person was already on removal proceedings before the marriage. People who get married while on removal proceedings are highly viewed as marrying to stay here so we've got a lot to proof otherwise. I would wait for the outcome of his petition before beginning with his children, if I were you. Your lawyer has no significant influence on immigration laws so be prepared with all the documents you can think of plus affidavit from friends and family and more. Any one who marries an American while on removal proceedings is presumed to have married for papers, and the applicant and beneficially have the sole burden to prove otherwise.

Goodluck.

[Kazulie 132]

The problem is, was he on removal proceedings before you got married? If yes, it's a big red-flag! Yes overstays are forgiven when the beneficially is married to an American, but the ball-game turns into another direction when the person was already on removal proceedings before the marriage. People who get married while on removal proceedings are highly viewed as marrying to stay here so we've got a lot to proof otherwise. I would wait for the outcome of his petition before beginning with his children, if I were you. Your lawyer has no significant influence on immigration laws so be prepared with all the documents you can think of plus affidavit from friends and family and more. Any one who marries an American while on removal proceedings is presumed to have married for papers, and the applicant and beneficially have the sole burden to prove otherwise.

Goodluck.

Yes, he was put into removals after we met but before we got married. We are well aware of allll our red flags and are prepared to prove our relationship is real as best as we can!

Is your reasoning behind saying to wait for the kids because you think the case will take an extra long time?

Again, I'm wondering what it takes to get the judge to approve the AOS on the spot so we could see what we're up against. I just don't have many facts about that part. We are still trying to decide if we should jump the gun or not.

Any more opinions?

[Olomi_811 130]

Honestly it looks like you are doing wayyyyy too much. You need clarity on your husband's case before you petition for his kids. A judge looking at this would not see it as you and your husband are trying to bring the family together; rather he is trying to solidify his footing here. Is he going to convince a judge that he's emotionally attached to children he has not seen in 6 years!?!

If you do decide to proceed for the sake of being months ahead in the process and their father is deported they are not your biological kids. What do you do then?

[patient2010 93]

Goodluck

[Kazulie 132]

Honestly it looks like you are doing wayyyyy too much. You need clarity on your husband's case before you petition for his kids. A judge looking at this would not see it as you and your husband are trying to bring the family together; rather he is trying to solidify his footing here. Is he going to convince a judge that he's emotionally attached to children he has not seen in 6 years!?!

If you do decide to proceed for the sake of being months ahead in the process and their father is deported they are not your biological kids. What do you do then?

I completely understand what you're saying.

About the judge and the kids, I guess my thought was that we would have my husband's interview before the kids' petitions were even looked at by anyone. I'm guessing they will get sent to CSC since my husband did. If I send in their application on April 1st, I'm willing to bet money that they don't even get looked at until August at the very very earliest. More realistically September or October. My husband's interview with the judge should be within the next couple of months. I would think that my husband's case should be resolved one way or another by then. So the judge probably wouldn't even be bringing the kids up in the interview. Again, the risk is that his case goes into AP for a long period of time and the kids get declined because dad hasn't been approved. Only thing to lose would be the $800.

I'm really really trying to wait until we at least have my husband's interview, but as we all know, the waiting is the hardest.

[Kazulie 132]

Also, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that it looks like we are doing wayyyyy to much.

Most people apply for husband/fiancé and kids at the same time. Unfortunately, we are in removal so we couldn't do it together.

We need a lot of prayers to go along with all our proof. I know that much!

[Kazulie 132]

Also, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that it looks like we are doing wayyyyy to much.

Most people apply for husband/fiancé and kids at the same time. Unfortunately, we are in removal so we couldn't do it together.

We need a lot of prayers to go along with all our proof. I know that much!

They are not just "children". They are HIS children! Being absent (physically from them for 6 years raises the question that he may not be "emotionally attached" to them anymore???? I have never heard of any sort of situation where someone had to prove this to a judge, or to anyone for that matter, and if it has happened then I am terribly sad for the person who had to go through that. that is ridiculous. I don't care if it has been 6 years or 30 years, your children are your children and most people will forever have an emotional attachment to them. This process can be so heartless at times.

[Boiler 45,956]

He has not seen them for 6 years.

Do they want to immigrate, seems there is little connection.

Where are they now?

Who is looking after them.

How old are they.

The mother may have a say in this.

He has a Lawyer it seems, what does the lawyer say?

[Olomi_811 130]

If you're willing to lose $800 so easily I'll give you my address or you can stand in the direction of the wind and just toss it (although I would put it to better use!)... actually it will cost a bit more than $800, but I'll take installments

You make a point about most people; most people are not in the same predicament as you. I always say when people decide to post they have already decided what they want to do. I wish you well.

[Kazulie 132]

The reasons I posted this question were:

1) to find out if there was anything WE could be doing to sway the immigration judge or how does he decide to approve our AOS on the spot. (no one has touched this)

2). What would you do regarding waiting to apply for the kids or sending it off now. This question has no right or wrong answer. This is your opinion.

You said that people already know their answer before they ask the question. I'm STILL looking for the answer to number 1. And as far as number 2 goes, I'm looking for answers that are not money motivated as I've already stated that at this point we might be willing to part with the $800 if it means the kids get here faster.

I did not discuss the children and their relationship with their dad. I did not tell you guy that they talk everyday, they they all cry at least once a month because they miss each other. How the kids cannot wait to get here and express this everyday.

(kids are 10 an 14. Live with their mother. Mother has already signed a letter releasing the kids.)