Teemo

47 minutes ago, Mansini77 said:

Regardless of what your parents did and did not do is water over the dam now.  Your sister needs to marry a USC and then the spouse will then have to file an I-130, then an I-601a for waiving the 3 and 10 year bar for unlawful presence.  After the NVC has received all the paperwork and fees, she must then Consular process in her home country and reenter the US on a visa.  

 

Not completely a dead end, but an uphill road for sure.

No waiver necessary - she has not triggered a ban after departure, and actually she won't accrue over 180 days as a minor under duration of status

Or estimate any date a few months in the future

1 hour ago, MimiDawn said:

Hi I just submitted the form i-130, i will like to know what will be the form I will have to fill after that? Thanks 

 

Way to give basically no information and then say "Please help me."  The more info you give, the more people can help

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Unlawful presence kicks in starting at age 18, if somebody has no existing protection that prevents or tolls unlawful presence.

I thought so but there's some conflicting stuff out there. But essentially if she leaves before age 18 you're saying she has no unlawful presence that would count against a future visa?

17 hours ago, Floridawife said:

Is a GC and a IR1 the same thing? Had thought everything would be faster since he's already in the US.

IR1 is for people applying for green card from outside the US. Adjustment of Status (AoS) is for those applying for green card while in the US. So he files the documents for adjustment of status but he absolutely should not leave the country until he receives his advance parole. Otherwise he is considered to have abandoned his application and will have trouble getting back into the country. It is taking about 3-5 months to get employment authorization card (EAD) and advance parole. Green card takes usually at least a year but once he has the EAD and advance parole he can work for whatever employer and leave the US as he pleases. 

15 minutes ago, Jen45566 said:

It just was something that I was unsure of because my mom always claims up and down that we are legal because student visas don’t expire? I remember with my visa, I got a D/S but not an official expiration date. I don’t know. And, I know I stated that my dad doesn’t go to school which is true but he is enrolled in one of those for profit? English schools where they just mark everyone off. 

 

So so long story short, there’s pretty much no option but marriage for my sister?

D/S means duration of status which means the I-94 is valid as long as the person is doing the activity for which the visa was issued, which in your parents' case would be studying with a full courseload. He isn't, so he is out of status (what he has doesn't count and besides, customary length of time is 4 years plus OPT, not 2 decades). Of course it doesn't mean they can stay forever without being out of lawful status. "Duration of status" is easily Googlable btw. 

When you say "my sister is still an F-2 visa holder" - I think what you mean is she entered the country as an F-2 visa holder. As soon as the F-1 visa was no longer valid (when the student stopped taking a full courseload) her visa was no longer valid either and she started accruing unlawful presence. So no, she is not still an F-2 visa holder, she is here unlawfully. The primary way to cure unlawful status while not leaving the country is through a USC immediate family member such as spouse or child over 21. Therefore spouse is pretty much the only option if she does not have a child coming on 21. Btw how old is your sister? If still a minor you should talk to a lawyer about how unlawful presence actually works for minors in terms of a ban on re-entering the country because I am not sure. 

38 minutes ago, Jen45566 said:

So, I am married to a USC and before I got married I was on a F-1 visa and completely detached from my family’s status. I am a green card holder and will naturalize as soon as I am able to . I am 21 years old. I don’t know if I have to be a certain age to sponsor someone.

 

My family on the other hand has been here since the 1990s on a F-1 visa and my sister is still an F-2 visa holder. She will be 21 in a year and a half. Now, my dad doesn’t go to school and works. My parents have pretty much screwed us to the point where we did not qualify for DACA and we have lived in the states our whole lives and cannot speak our home language. We simply cannot go back home. 

 

 

They are also unwilling to pay for our education because “all the American kids pay for their own” So, my little sister cannot pay for school (she unfortunately did not receive any scholarships) because she can’t work besides the odd cash jobs here and there and we don’t qualify for aid or loans. So, she won’t be able to enter the work visa lottery after college. We have also tried to enlist in the army but by the time we were both old enough, they have closed their MAVNI program. Anyways, I’m saying all this because I feel like just by ourselves we are at a dead end. My sister has been dating but understandably she has not found any one she wants to marry.  

 

Anyways, I know I still have a year before I could help my sister but is it possible? Can I file an AOS on her behalf? I am also worried because when I filed my paperwork even if I was out of status I did not have any  unlawful presence  but I read somewhere that USCIS is planning to change the law where F-1 students will start gaining unlawful presence starting August.  Is there anyway I could help her stay here? If I do file an AOS for her can she stay here in the states like I did even if she is out of status? Anyone, go through something similar?

Tough situation.

Best option for your sister to stay here is to eventually marry a US Citizen for love, as you did, otherwise it is at least 14 years to petition her as a sibling (much longer if from Philippines or Mexico), and she would have to leave the US then incur issues with the 10 year ban etc. There is no forgiveness for unlawful overstays with a sibling.

You can petition for your parents as soon as you naturalize, their overstay is forgiven as an immediate relative and they can adjust within the country without leaving and it would happen within a year. They are immediate family so there are no limits so their priority date is always current. 

Any overstay you accrued yourself was forgiven through adjustment of status through your USC immediate relative (spouse). 

I don't understand the title of this thread - "Are my parents here legally or illegally" - why would you think they are here legally when they have overstayed their visa by decades? If they had received lawful status such as permanent residency you and your sister would have received it too. 

10 hours ago, Abies said:

Thanks alot.. my husband is going to take me to the SS office one or 2days after my arrival to have it done because I need to start up a certificate course immediately as well as my driving test

Doubt that would save any time

6 hours ago, iwillsurvive said:

No it is always up to the immigration officer at the airport/border whether he/she will let you in. It is always a 50/50 chance. For some it works, for some it doesn’t. You have to decide whether the emergency is important enough to you to leave. 

Half right. Only US citizens are guaranteed entry. Of course just because the two possible outcomes are "accept" or "deny" does not make it 50/50. With advance parole you will not trigger any ban and CBP does not deny entrance unless they are aware of an issue like a recent crime or a misreprsentation you have made. Or if they determine at the port of entry you a threat to national security or to public safety. CBP is entitled to its routine and customary inspection of all people at port of entries. 

@Fishy89is correct to cite Matter of Arabally, which is controlling and well-settled law that says leaving the country on AP is not a "departure" and therefore does not trigger any ban. This has been in effect since 2012 and is ingrained now, so no worries. 

Thousands of people enter every day with advance parole, including previous overstays and those who entered illegally (ie DACA) or VAWA. Chance of denial of entry is more like 5%, not 50%. 

I think you're approaching it in the right way, you seem to understand each issue and have lots of evidence to contradict each one of their claims. You should write a cover letter that does the same and list it as "Here is the issue you presented and here is our rebuttal"

Some of those statements on the record are damning - ie "he would never accept a match of this kind in his own culture" so you need to specifically say what he meant by that or how he said what he said. 

I think a lawyer that you could pay $500 or so to review your response and evidence submitted would be worth it given the importance of the situation. 

6 hours ago, ksp9 said:

Guys, no matter how you got it, you have got it now. period. No point in blaming or talking about it. It happens with some unlucky folks. Who initiated the congressman to interfere and that was the consequence of it as well (why can't we think like this). This could as well trigger the confusion right? So who are we blaming? I waited for the full 10 months from start to finish. Some folks got it under 4 months as well. So there is no point in worrying and it gets us no where?

 

Be happy you are done with it and that's it. Be grateful as well no matter they fixed your case in all odds. There are some who are still lingering around not knowing their status?

 

Be happy guys.

I think the point it was that it was a painful process full of USCIS errors and incompetence. I'm sure he's happy it is near finalized, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a ridiculous, horrible process that is worth highlighting. It got sent to the wrong field office several times and when USCIS themselves tells you to wait "2-3 weeks" and that turns into 2-3 months, that is a massive error worth highlighting (and complaining about!)

We are told many times on this forum and through lawyers that if your process is taking way long than it should, your congressman can help as they are meant to help their constituents. So his "interference" was meant to be a positive one that sped up the process, not unnecessarily delaying it again - again, worth noting.

I'm sure OP will be happy when he becomes a USC but that doesn't mean this wasn't a painful process worth posting about. 

14 hours ago, Shawn L said:

I noticed that there is a state and province field. By default the PDF forms grays out the state field for foreign addresses. However I am attempting to use an address from Brazil and they use the term "state" and a postal code.

 

Should I use province or state when filing the paper work?

 

Thanks!

You can just list it as the province, won't make a difference. After all when they mail something to you there are no  "fields" on an envelope 

19 hours ago, Shawn L said:

I am a US citizen and married a J-1 Intern who is still in the US and a couple weeks ago we got the 2-year waiver letter from USCIS. However, at this point due to much longer processing times (3+ months) she is outside of that status now. Her I-94 is "D/S" but her J-1 visa is expired by more than the 1 month grace period.

 

We now are about to submit for AOS as marriage and have 99% of the paperwork ready to go. However, on the I-765 question 19, I am unsure how to answer "Current Immigrant Status"? Should I be listing "out of status" or something else?

 

Thank You!

"J-1 Overstay"

4 minutes ago, NikLR said:

Before then the USA and Canada didn't completely share border crossings.  So honestly the USA could see that you entered but not when you had reentered Canada.  Now both sides see both. 

Could that impact my adjustment of status process a decade later? Also if that were the case how would they know if i overstayed or not?

18 minutes ago, Ramsis said:

She only left the US a couple of times since then:

 

1st time - 2.5 months - from 05/2013 to 08/2013

2nd time - 18 months - from 05/2015 to 11/2016

This reminds me of an old joke: It only rained twice last week - once for 3 days and once for 4 days!

Leaving for over a year without a re-entry permit automatically abandons residency unless you have appealed and sufficiently convinced them it was beyond her control. You got lucky they didn't see it the first time when she re-entered, but you should be extremely worried about the consequences to come when USCIS realized that CBP erred, not focused on naturalization.

This is a serious issue to be addressed with a great lawyer, not posted on a forum for opinions. The fact that she left for 18 months and you just hoped she'd be let back in (she got lucky!) means you are taking this far too casually.  This is immigration law, take it seriously or suffer the consequences. 

On 5/30/2018 at 7:06 PM, Johnny S said:

The cruise is 40 days after her reentry.

 

I had a couple conversations with CBP customer service.  One agent said no problem.  The other agent said everything is up to the discretion of the officer you encounter when you return to the U.S.    If they think she is abusing the system they would document that and she would likely have to appear in court.   That, however, seems to be standard for anyone entering the U.S. with a green card.  If the officer feels something sketchy is going on they can take action. 

 

 

Everything is up to CBP discretion as only US citizens are guaranteed entry so that's just a generic answer. They are concerned with abandonment of residency. A 3 day cruise in no way shape or form resembles an abandonment.  She's fine. 

3 minutes ago, thepanda said:

This is my timeline:

 

Adjusting from E2 with pending I-130

Category F2A

PD April 6th, 2017

 

April 14th, 2018 - AOS package sent 

April 16th, 2018 - AOS package delivered at Chicago Lockbox

May 1st, 2018 - package returned due to issue with G-1450 Form (I do not recommend this form of payment) 

May 2nd, 2018 - resubmitted AOS package via FedEx

May 3rd, 2018 - AOS package delivered at Chicago Lockbox

May 10th, 2018 - USCIS cashed check 

May 11th, 2018 - received NOA1 via e-notification

May 14th, 2018 - received hardcopies of all 3 NOA1s 

May 26th, 2018 - received Biometric Appointment letter // Biometric Appointment: June 7th

May 30th, 2018 - Biometrics done in Alexandria, VA - Early Walk-In successful!

May 31st, 2018 - Status Update Online: Case is Ready to Be Scheduled for An Interview 

Yep on my phone so didn't see that. So what's your question? Yes you can quit your job. You can't start a new job until you receive your EAD tho

5 hours ago, thepanda said:

Hi everyone, 

 

as I do not want to hijack anyone's topic so I am opening up my own. 

You can see my timeline below in my signature - F2A Category/Spouse to a LPR. 

 

My questions: 

1. Can I quit my job and switch to i-458 pending? 

2. I have read about a 180 days grace period. What is that? Is this relevant for AOS people? 

3. Should I wait for my i-130 to be approved before I quit or could I quit before? 

 

I am not planning on quitting right away but I would like to quit by September/October if possible. 

 

Anyone in a simliar situation? Any help is appreciated. Thank you. 

1. Once your I-485 is pending (NOA received) you are in authorized stay by the Attorney General so you can let any previous status go (ie let F1 or H-1B lapse) and not be accruing unlawful presence. This would only come back to bite you if your AoS was not approved in which case you'd start accruing unlawful presence at that point (assuming there is no underlying status like an H-1B visa still valid). If that happened your best hope is to wait for your spouse to naturalize as marriage to a US citizen would forgive accrued unlawful status. This does not apply to the I-130 alone though - you are not in authorized stay when that alone is filed. So you need your I-130 approved, and then when your priority date is current you can file I-485, get your NOA and only then can you fall out of status.

2. I think you must be referring to people who overstay their lawful presence by less than 180 days and then leave the country. The 3 year bar to entering the US would be triggered only after 180 days unlawful presence and when that person departs the country (10 year bar if over 365 days unlawful presence). If you accumulate less than 180 days, there is no formal bar but it will be hard to get a non-immigrant visa again unless you can convince the officer your overstay was short, reasonable, and would not happen again. This is not really a grace period per se, just a time period where there is no formal rule stating consequences. 

3. As above, simply filing and having an I-130 approved confers no immigration benefit. It establishes your priority date for when your I-485 can be filed. Do not fall out of status before that date.

10 hours ago, Ontarkie said:

Get your court records for both your juvenile and adult history. You are going to need them and no they have not been destroyed. They just get locked away, you will have to get the courts to dig them out. Some clerks will tell you they don't have them if they can't find your info on the computer data base. They may have to actually look up the dates in the big book. Again they do not destroy criminal records they are stored in away until needed. 

 

Get multiple certified copies of them. You will need to submit them for each process. AOS, ROC and N400 if you go this route. 

Once you have them in hand then speak to an attorney and see what your chances are.  You have too many charges to not seek counsel. 

 

Agreed. In the US you'd need the certified court disposition and certified police record. Nothing gets expunged or removed in terms of immigration, the government can see anything even if a private citizen or company cannot.

My gut is that you'll be ok but it's too messy to go this alone. Get a lawyer and get him to back up any statements he makes by pointing to the exact law that applies. Even then, he might be operating on the law as written not as its practiced so get a 2nd opinion here. 

1 minute ago, David & Zoila said:

Which one of you is 10 years older?

 

She said that the woman is 15 years older than the man. Not sure why everyone keeps posting about men older than the women because that is far more common

23 hours ago, Jan Adamowicz said:

I came to America on a tourist Visa when i was 3 15 years ago. After the visa expired we stayed in America due to Family issues. We tried to become citizens in that time with no advancement in our case. My mom got remarried in the time when I was around 12. She then applied to become a citizen with her new husband. This was 6-7 years ago. Since then our case has not made any improvements with the marriage being called fake and not real even though it was but they just grew apart and got stressed due to immigration issues. For around 2 years nothing has progressed with our case at all. I feel like I am being punished even though I didn't decide to come and my whole life has basically been made here and I constantly feel like I am going to end up deported. It is a constant struggle where it feels like were about to make progress on our case and then it comes to a dead stop once again, not making any progress. I also assume I am going to have to file for citizenship alone now due to me being 18. I am on DACA at the moment but I can't stay on DACA forever. I don't know if it's better to go back home to Europe and take a 10 year ban and try to become a citizen from there, or if I should stay and hope. If I have to leave id rather do it sooner rather than later, especially with me going to college in 3 months and not being able to take out any loans or any financial aid to help me pay for college. I have lost all hope and don't know what to do anymore

Well it's a frustrating thing to deal with but not sure why you have "lost all hope." To look on the optimistic side sounds like you should be very grateful that DACA was instituted and that it hasn't been able to be terminated yet. It may not even be terminated during this administration and a new administration may be in favor of it. So, that allows you to lead a pretty much "normal" life, which millions of other unlawful immigrants can't say and would do anything to be in. So while I understand you want to "fix" your status for the long-term, for the short and medium term you have no real issues while on DACA. 

Without knowing anymore I'd suggest you stay here until you eventually find and marry a US Citizen for love, and till then, you have a work visa and advance parole so you can work and travel and drive like anyone here legally, which is a pretty good scenario. You should only leave if you have no interest in living in the US anymore for at least 10 years, and even then there are no guarantees. 

12 minutes ago, Teemo said:

 

 

Interesting. I also found this:

"The average age difference (for a heterosexual couple) is 2.3 years, with the man older than the woman. In 64 percent of heterosexual couples, the man is older. In 23 percent, the woman is older, and in the remaining 13 percent, the partners are less than 12 months apart in age."

 

 

Based on this, anything outside the range of "Wife 3 years older than husband" to "husband 5 years older than wife" can be classified as "uncommon" and therefore it makes sense why USCIS would scrutinize that. Plus OP is from high fraud country, and wife being 15 years older than husband is in the 1% occurrence rate, so it's easy to see why it would be closely scrutinized. 

Btw I am 7 years older than my wife. So according to this that's somewhat uncommon but we have a lot of other things in common and I'm Canadian so looking at everything together I don't expect us to be overly scrutinized.

4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

This tended to just be a general increase in scrutiny of land crossings...at least that's my take on it. I don't have anything specific to point at, sorry. Although I think in 2013, electronic I-94s started being issued so there was now a way to track and log people (since paper I-94s weren't that common for land crossings at least). I'm confident that kind of log/traveler history contributed to events.

Most of my crossings were by air, but ok noted. Thanks, interesting. 

9 minutes ago, Umka36 said:

Sorry to go off topic, but found this interesting.

Age difference in heterosexual married couples, 2013 US Current Population Survey^[1]

Age difference	Percentage of all married couples
Husband 20+ years older than wife	1.0
Husband 15–19 years older than wife	1.6
Husband 10–14 years older than wife	4.8
Husband 6–9 years older than wife	11.6
Husband 4–5 years older than wife	13.3
Husband 2–3 years older than wife	20.4
Husband and wife within 1 year	33.2
Wife 2–3 years older than husband	6.5
Wife 4–5 years older than husband	3.3
Wife 6–9 years older than husband	2.7
Wife 10–14 years older than husband	1.0
Wife 15–19 years older than husband	0.3
Wife 20+ years older than husband	0.3

 

Interesting. I also found this:

"The average age difference (for a heterosexual couple) is 2.3 years, with the man older than the woman. In 64 percent of heterosexual couples, the man is older. In 23 percent, the woman is older, and in the remaining 13 percent, the partners are less than 12 months apart in age."

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

As Boiler noted, a B-2 for cohabitating partners would generally not raise much scrutiny and can spend more time in the US than out.

 

In the past, things tended to be much more lax at the US/Canada border as well. They many times didn't even issue an I-94 for Canadians entering by land (making them D/S status) or record their passport number. As of around 2011/2012 or so, they aren't quite as lax. It's still pretty good and a number of close trips is probably fine, but eventually you'll get a CBP officer that will take issue with it...some sooner than others.

 

For non-Canadians and air travel, they tend to look at this much more closely IMO (visa holders more so than ESTA travelers).

I see. Yes this was before 2011/2012. What happened then that made them less lax?