Labirint

Send pictures...seriously !! We all feel like part of your family at this point.

:) magical, I never post my pics on any open internet-source. I'd prefer to keep it anonymously. Especially in my current situation. I hope you're OK with that.

I agree with all the advice you've given -- they're sound, based on experience & a working knowledge of processes and regulations!

But the bolded to me is creme de la creme of it all. OP, hope you're listening! Best of luck!

Of course I am listening... and "filtering" all information here. For the past years I've read a lot of legal info on my subject. But some things people told me here on visajourney.com I didn't know about. I am so glad I've found this forum. I've got so many great advises and such a priceless moral support. There are not enough words to explain how much I appreciate your help. God bless you all, guys! (F)

@Magical: I have to agree with you by far. I was 12 when my dad died, and then 16 when my Mom died. We were poor, my Mom was doing occasional house cleaning to make sure me and my siblings have food on the table, and we lived in a small apartment, all siblings in one room (regardless of gender- my Mom just didn't tell the office people so they don't make a fuss). When Mom died, we realized that even though we're still young, we have to survive somehow. My brother was already 18 so he was our guardian, with of course, no savings account. So, we realized things are going to turn pretty bad, and us, kids, will have to go to foster home if he cannot support us. So, guess what? Like you said, we started from the bottom. We moved, and begged friends to stay separately it their place for a couple months until we can save up some money to live together again with being able to rent an apartment. And as you said, I did house cleaning in the evenings after school, I did baby sitting at the weekends. I would see some small job options, and same with my other siblings, and my brother too. He became a mail man, so that he can get a bit more payment as he did not have to go to school anymore. We, from all these small jobs, made it in a way that we moved in all together into a one bedroom apartment. Yes, slept on the carpet (thank god they have carpets in the apartments!!!) because we just didn't have the money to buy 4 air mattress. We went to the thrift store, we bought our blankets there, one under ourselves (to serve as a mattress) and one above us (for cover). We did tons of dumpster diving, fished out most of our kitchen utensils, pots, and even some furniture. We never did any illegal job, so people here who read this don't freak out saying that I'm supporting illegal work. No, I don't. And we did not do it either. We collected plastic bottles from the dumpsters, and with a shopping cart pushed them all home, and took them back to get money. Like you say, Magical, when someone is desperate, they can achieve great things. Yes, we never lived in a beautiful apartment, with separate rooms, but we made it! And, when I turned 19 my brother has died also (osteosarcoma- before anyone thinks something bad, like drugs as no, none of us ever did anything like that!). Anyway, long story short, we had on less person in our family, yet, that meant we had to work even harder. But we never gave up! Ever! And I wanted to go to college, and was able to win a good scholarship to cover my tuition. There was one criteria: GPA had to be maintained to 3.8 or above otherwise I would lose the scholarship. I worked hard next to school, and studied my butt off, but maintained a 4.0 GPA all four years (I hope at least, I have one more quarter to go), and hence I applied to PhD (skipping Master's program, hoping to having to pay less money for less periods of time) and guess what? I've got accepted to PhD with full scholarship again, tuition and health insurance paid! And I will start in Fall, but also have already applied for a paid internship in South San Fransisco at Onyx Pharmaceuticals...and the meantime, I'm completing my studies to get my degree, and working. My siblings are also working, and one of them just got a full scholarship opportunity for Master's from Fall (she's my twin- I'm a twin) and my younger sister is just going to start undergrad this next Fall. Now, I'm writing all these down, not to brag, or boast and show everyone "how great" I am, but to show, that yes, you can do it if you want to! It sucks major, and you have to start from the shittiest job. Don't think any of us enjoyed going to other people's houses to clean their house, their toilet, or mow the freaking lawn when its 110F outside over summer, or fixing sprinklers, or blowing leaves. They suck! And going through the dumpsters in the dark at night, all that smell of rotting foods and all that. None of them are fun at all! But you've gotta do what you've gotta do, and you have to start somewhere. I have a hard time believing that the boyfriend could not get any type of jobs for three whole years. If we were like that, we would've ended up in foster home, then get kicked out at age 18 and then become drug dealers, or rob into people's car, or even mug people. We all have a choice of how we want to go and carry on with our lives. Our brother loved us, we loved him, and we decided to stick together and help each other. It was out of the question what "we wanted to do"...it was the question "what we MUST do to survive in this world". And we did it (so far. LOL) So, I agree with you Miracle, there's no such a thing as no job. Just have to seek it instead of waiting for it to knock on your door (if you have a door).

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, folks. Just couldn't hold it back reading all these...All the best everyone (including the OP)!

AnotherLostSoul, thank you for your story. It's sad but the same time it's very inspiring. And I am very happy that you found the way to work things out and made good choices in life. "What doesn't kill us make us stronger" ©. You are very brave and strong person and I admire you and wish you the best.

I understand that our situation looks like nothing comparing to what you've gone through. But it's "a little bit" more complicated than you might think. I just didn't put in the story all details about my life. It's unneeded.

I explained the job situation above. Besides, in our town (with 2 & a half people living in it) they hire primarily high school kids or retired people for part time jobs. We are not at those age categories... or just SOL. There is two grocery stores around here, one retirement home, few restaurants/fast food places and hand full of gas stations. That's it. This is how big our "megalopolis" is and "how wide our opportunities" are. : ))

But we don't give up. Trying to find ways to pay our bills and not ask for any social help. Things happen... you know. All we can do is to work through them and strive for the best life.

I didn't have intentions to complain about life. If it looks that way, than I apologize. I did not mean it.

Do NOT wait to get married. If you are married and run into ICE they will give you the chance to AOS as the spouse of a USC. If you are NOT married they will deport you. Quickie court wedding should not put you in danger because regular police/sheriff's etc aren't allowed to ask about your status. So go to the court house with your passport as ID and whatever else you need (that you find out by calling, not from their website) and get married.

(F) That's what we're going to do. Thank you for helping us with good advises.

You have been given a lot of great advice of how to proceed earlier. You can't 'lock yourself up' in your house for fear of venturing out to the courthouse to get married.

Please go get married, apply for AOS and continue on from there. Great news your fiance has received a job offer!

Thank you. I think you all guys are right. I have just talked to my fiance and we've decided go get marriage license next week.

Click on my name, then my timeline

I've got it. Thank you.

Current income is what matters, but if there was little or no income in the recent past, or he has only been employed for a couple of months, they might still ask for a co sponsor. In this case, a letter from the employer along with paystubs can tip the scales in your favor.

That's a great news! Thank you very much! In our case every option counts.

OP, magical has given you some good advice - get married ASAP and start collecting the documents you need for AOS. On the very very slight chance that you come to the attention of immigration officers and they attempt to deport you, it would not look good if you got married while in deportation proceedings - they could assume you only got married to avoid deportation. I sincerely doubt that you will come to their attention, but better safe than sorry.

Good luck! You'll be fine. AOS is simple and fast once started, although slightly expensive.

Thnks you, ValerieA for your support. I am wondering if they could look at my visa and ask about my overstay? (while we file for marriage licence) This is a very small town. People around here love to find out more about other people's lives and discuss that with others. That's why we have hard time deciding if we should get married next week or wait until we have money to pay for AOS forms and to everything pretty much together - within 2-3 days

P.S. I almost never leave the house for reasons I mentioned above.

Consider getting married sooner, and then you can wait to file until you have more $$. Once married, you can get a joint bank account, both married names on lease, joint names on utility bills, etc, etc, all of which will be handy later when you start through the USCIS process. Also get your birth certificate so you don't have to do that at the last minute. Not knowing where you were born, I can't give specific advice, but be sure you follow exactly what USCIS requires--watch for things like long form versus short form, and anything else that is in the directions

And above all...just follow the directions--REALLY !!

This is not hard, and if you do everything that the governement wants, it is a piece of cake. Don't spend any energy at all trying to out think the regulations--they are what they are, so make them your friend and everything will be smooth--of course you still have to deal with the financial issues, and I assume you will find a way to handle that.

You are on the road, and while there may be a few speedbumps, the journey will be great in the end--just watch out for those who have strong opinions not backed up by facts--stick to the rules only and you will be smiling--a lot !!

:) Thank you, miracle. I have my birth certificate translated. Also I have a all forms printed out. I went through all instructions and made a drafts (filled the forms out, correct all mistakes). After we submit these papers along with other required forms, I will do the medical exam. I can not do it sooner, because the closest doctor approved by USCIS is 50-60 miles from us. Don't want to take a risk going there without having NOA on hands.

I believe everything will be ok.

I also read a story on some website about a married couple who could not find a sponsor.

Her husband sent his tax return (which didn't look very good cause he had no job last year), but he's got a new job (after tax period) and sent pay slips for last few months and USCIS has accepted it! WOW!

I don't know if it happens all the time or those guys just got lucky? Hope it might work in our case as well if we will not find sponsors. I hope for the best. At least if that option worked for somebody it might work for us too!

Yes Valerie !!!

I will be more careful with my wording since all I am really doing is telling stories, not making recommendations

magical, I can not reply on your PM. It says: "You cannot reply". I am not sure why. Maybe I have to have certain amount of messages on forum first?

Thank you for your kind words. God bless you.

yours is the best advice yet.

OP can relate to my story also. (Except my wife and I didn't know each other when she came to the US).

SteveAndTiff, where to find your story? Where should I click? (sorry, I am really dumb at this kind of things )

Hello, guys!

Thank you all for being so kind to us. I am very touched (even cried a little). (F)

Let me explain some more about us and our situation to clear the picture.

My fiance does not just sit home for 3 years and do nothing. He tries his best to make some money working part time for cash to provide for us. But his income is really tiny.

We don't want to sit on taxpayer's neck. We have enough to pay our bills and don't want to apply for any assistance from state or county.

Population of our city is just few thousands of people. It is really hard to find jobs here but he keeps trying.

I didn't work here illegally. I try not to do anything stupid (I have already done enough).

Yesterday I googled the statutes of our state and found out that SSN is not required if you don't have it. I just have to sign a certain paper. I saw you guys already gave me this information on previous pages. Thank you very much.

Sorry for answering to all of you at once. I am not very familiar with how to do the quotation. Never been on forums before.

We have some good news, by the way! My fiance has got a job offer. We both are so exited! Hope everything is gonna be fine (keep our fingers crossed).

Right now we can not move out of state (for financial reasons) but hopefully we will be able to do it in a near future.

We have decided to save money for my paperwork first, then go ahead and get married and right after that submit the docs for AOS. Until than I don't want to run around the town and put myself at jeopardy of being deported. Maybe I am way too careful or paranoid. But as they say "Better safe than sorry".

I will keep you updated on our situation. It's really great to have so much support! You guys are sooooo awesome! I have got so many good advises. What would I do without you. (F) God bless you, guys!

P.S. And thanks for the advice about sending all forms together. I did not know that it makes such a big difference. I really appreciate that comment.

magical, thank you for the web-link. I'll check it out right now.

Partially true ! You can get in some of the county Courthouse`s depending from state to state with document that proves your identity and get married. Been talking with several people who had absolutely no problems by doing so and got married while they were out of status.

If I am not mistaking, my passport is a form of photo ID (like any other foreign passport). It contains information about my name, birth place, date of birth, photo, etc. Hope it would be enough to proof my identity and apply for marriage license.

Thank you for support!

It will be tricky, but don't think for a second that getting married while you are here illegally will allow you to stay.

I know that and I agree with you. Just get married is not enough. After that we are going to submit I-130, get NOA, then submit I-485 along with other papers (based on info from here - http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=9c8aa6c515083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=9c8aa6c515083210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD ). Or submit all paperwork simultaneously, depending on our financial abilities or if we get some help from our family.

You can't take a passport to any government office (Justice of the Peace) and get married. The same requirements are true for all - You must provide proof that you can legally marry - That requires government documents which she clearly cannot give because she is here illegally.

If you are talking about SSN, it's not required in all states. I suppose, it's not a federal law to have SSN in order to get married. If you meant some other docs like divorce certificates from previous marriages, we have them all.

He asked you to stay and you stayed, even knowing you would be breaking the law.

No. In fact I wasn't breaking the law. At least I wasn't going to. I had 6 months stay allowance from the custom (seal with a date in my passport). But I had plane tickets for the next month after I arrived. I didn't use them for the reason I mentioned above. We figured we could submit my paperwork during that period of time (6 mo.). But he lost job and our plans were ruined. Later I was thinking about going back (before my 6 months stay expired) but we couldn't afford new plane tickets. This is how we stuck, unfortunately.

There is a federal law that says you don't have to furnish a SSN to get married if you don't have a SSN. I am positive you can get married.

Otherwise, no fee waivers or anything, and you need a qualified financial sponsor. Good luck.

Thank you. I'll google this law. You've helped me a lot. I feel more confident now.

Well that's just it, we can't know till we know were you are. As an illegal YOUR options are pretty limited unfortunately.

First thing to do is get married. I'm in Iowa and our county website said SSN was required as well, it wasn't.

After that, you need the money to file for your AOS. You said you have a family member who can sponsor you. That's VERY important. You might be able to get some assistance from some charity organisations to file for AOS. Most likely some sort of loan or they might be able to find people willing to help you but dont' assume that, instead you're probably going to need to borrow from family/friends. Another option is to cash in his 401K, if he has one.

Thank you for your advice. At first I figured I'd call and ask about necessity to bring SSN in order to get the marriage license. After all posts above we've decided to just go there and take our chances.

We hope our relatives would help up with sponsorship for AOS. But we don't know for sure yet. And yes, he has 401K. But they don't allow to cash it in this state. So, we pass on that option.

Anyways, thank you all for helping me with information. Thanks to you guys it seems that our situation is not that bad and we have some options to work with.

Out of interest, where in the midwest are you? We might be able to find some services to help you (and not hurt your application for status).

We are in Missouri. What kind of services do you mean? Could you please tell me some more about them?

Thank you.

I'd be surprised if this was true. The website has information for the 95% of cases; you're not in that 95%. Go down to the courthouse with your ID (passport) and other documentation; it's likely they'll be able to marry you.

Unfortunately, there is not. In fact, your spouse has to submit proof of being able to support you past a certain level. If your spouse cannot do that, you'll will need someone to be willing to take financial responsibility for you.

Adjusting status or getting an immigrant visa are your only options. Both have similar requirements.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your quick response.

I'm wondering if they reject out application for marriage license, is there some law about having right to get married without SSN? We want to go on Monday or Tuesday and take our chances in appling for marriage license. God help us!

About AOS... We figured we could ask our relatives to help us out and become a sponsor. If not, we'll try to find other ways. I am still trying to stay positive.

Hi, guys! I have so many problems... don't even know where to start...

I arrived in U.S. over 3 years ago by tourist visa to visit my boyfriend. I planned to stay for a month then go back. I had my round trip plane tickets on hands. Our original plan was to spend some time together, then after I go back, file for fiancee visa. Few day before going back my bf asked me to stay. I stayed. Now I know it was a huge mistake but what's done is done.

This is what happened next:

He lost his job. I overstayed my visa. We did not get married since. Together we tried to get out from financial troubles but were not very successful at that.

We live in a very small town in Midwest. There is no jobs around here, no opportunities. Just sadness. However, we were hoping that together we could figure things out, but it never happened, unfortunately.

I tried to stay positive all these years, but now I'm getting desperate... I don't know what to do. I can't go anywhere, can't do anything. Can't find job and nobody would hire me because I am out of status. But I really want to help my bf to get back on feet. I want to find a job, support him, save some money and move to another city or state... far away from this God's forgotten place.

I thought we could at least get married but on our county website it says that we have to bring ID's and SSN's (which I don't have (SSN)). So on top of all we can't even get married. The only other option I thing would be for us is to go and get married in another state.

Moreover, we can not afford to pay fees for AOS (I-130 & I-485), can't get a bank loan because he has no official job and his credit score is very low. We survive on several hundreds of dollars a month - just enough to pay utility bills and buy some groceries. I am in hell, guys. Don't know what to do.

Please, guys help me with an advise.

- Is there any fee wavers (or something like that) for people who have very low or no income?

- Is there any other options for me to get permanent resident status?

Thank you an advance for your support and advises.