My husband just took his citizenship oath yesterday. We're looking ahead to petitioning for his mother, but I'm afraid her case might be more complicated than what we can do ourselves.
She entered the US from Haiti on a valid tourist visa in 2011. Times were very hard there after the earthquake, and relatives in the US persuaded her to stay, get a job, and send money home. So she has now overstayed by 10 years. She's been working the whole time, but I don't know if she's had taxes taken out or been getting paid under the table. I'm sure she's never filed taxes of any kind for herself.
I've heard that overstays are forgiven if the person entered legally and never left. Can we apply for AOS/green card for her?
I'm also confused about the sponsorship requirements. USCIS website gives the poverty levels required for the sponsor, but then the I-864 says the requirement is to maintain the applicant at 125% of the poverty level. So I'm not sure how to interpret that.
Her case is more complicated than ours and I'm just not sure where to start, whether to contact a lawyer, how to find a lawyer, etc.