Brother Hesekiel

Dear Swetlana,

as devastating as it is for you personally, the damage is done. You imported someone from a country 8000 miles away to a country that has 300,000,000 people, many millions of which are from a Russian background. You did marry that person without knowing him, obviously. Of course he cannot find work outside from some Russian businesses (and the realm of the Russian Mafia), with NO English skills at all. Are you really surprised?

You can divorce him here in the US, but since he doesn't work and can't find work, you are financially responsible for him until the year 2019, as you are his sponsor, contractually bound by your affidavit of support that USCIS has on file. Be prepared to pay spousal support the moment he finds a bi-lingual lawyer. Oh, and you will have to pay for his lawyer as well.

Luckily, there's an upside to this: it can serve others as an all too common, classic learning example. Do not marry someone without getting to know them. You don't get to know a person from chatting online and looking at photos. You will need to actually be with that person for at least a month, better longer, or more often. If you violate this common sense rule, it may cost you thousands of dollars, make you an unhappy person, and, in case there's a child involved, make another person's life miserable. Please, for your own good, use common sense and be cautious!

Since marriage is a very serious affair, and you, as a sponsor, would be financially on the hook for 10 years to support your potential to-be-student wife, I would start out with a 1-month visit to Thailand to really get to know here before doing anything else. If you afterward decide you really want to spend yhe rest of your life with her, you can move to step 2.

You keep the country your mom lives in a secret, but I would get her over with a B2 visa and purchase a traveler's health insurance beforehand, which is VERY affordable. After 6 months, she would have to return home for a while, however, before she can visit you again.

There is no law requiring a person to take action in regard to immigration issues. In fact, many States even prohibit peace officers to even ask for a person's immigration status.

Secondly, "illegal immigrant" is a term not used in official language. There are non-documented immigrants (people who entered without inspection) and people who are out of status (people who entered legally but failed to update their status), which are two different things.

Thirdly, the fact that someone speaks English with a certain accent means nothing. It's like assuming somebody who drives a Cadillac Escalade is wealthy, when he's in fact an idiot and, in most cases, a poor Schmack, living on credit by showing off instead of investing his money wisely.

Finally, even morally there's no consensus about whether or not one should report another person. Karma can be a ###### that's following you longer than you live . . .

You are a US Citizen. You have a valid US Passport. You can do whatever you want, whenever you want, travel wherever you want, for as long as you want. You don't have to answer nobody anymore. You are done being worried about anything.

A prime example how much mental stress the whole, year-long dealing with USCIS can cause.

Your daughters lengthy overstay will result in a 10 year ban from the US. I don't agree with the assertion that USCIS may not know about it because she didn't turn in her I-94. The fact that she was asked for her extension document when she left the US means that they DO, in fact, know about it.

Jim,

you are stating that USCIS knows about the daughter's overstay with certainty. With--literally--millions of people traveling between the US and other countries every year, isn't it possible, very likely, actually, that a few thousands of visitors lose their I-94 form (which is often stapled to a page of the passport). Does USCIS really match every departure with the appropriate entry form and in case there's no match, automatically issue a ban by putting their names into a computerized persona non grata database? If that's the case, wouldn't there be thousands of people banned from visiting the US again, just because they lost a piece of paper while having a good time on vacation?

Just curious . . .

Yes, she can file on her own for removal of conditions using form I-751 once the divorce is final, "just" has to prove that the marriage was entered in good faith.

One more note: it doesn't matter how long your friend is married; what matters is the date her legal permanent resident status was approved which is usually the date on her green card. For example, I'm married for 3 years and 1 month now, but my LPR status is only 2 years young.

It's Tuesday, enough time to send the passport to London, from there to Paris, and then to Philadelphia. OVERNIGHT does not mean it's questionable whether the passport arrives 3 days later.

If you send it TOMORROW morning, they guarantee it by THURSDAY morning.

Forgive me, but for me the timeline is still very vague. For example, I don't know if this happened 2 months or 8 years ago.

That said, I'm not sure USCIS is aware of your daughter's overstay as she did NOT turn in her expired I-94.

She therefore could apply for a B1, plain and simple. If that goes through and she visits the father of her daughter and afterward feels she still would like to move to the US, she can return to the UK and he can file the appropriate paperwork for her from the US.

There's nothing to lose for her by trying . . .

If you are still married to your spouse that petitioned for you to get your permanent residence, you can apply 90 days before the date your original green card was issued, assuming you didn't leave the country for more than 6 months.

Let's say you left the country a year ago for 7 months, then the clock started ticking again the moment you got back to the US. You would be married for God knows how many years, still to the same spouse, would be a permanent resident for 3 years, but you would not fulfill the requirements of continued residence.

You sent them more than I have. I, too, believe, it's a hiccup in the system. Somebody lost something or didn't look closely enough or had a bad day.

Here's my suggestion:

Start with a cover letter describing yourselves. We met . . . got engaged . . . married . . . been living together. My wife doesn't have a driver's license, so she doesn't drive.

Sent all of the documents you sent before again.

Add a few photos. You should be fine.

We here in America don't want people who cross the line. Game over. Buy a ticket home.

But, wait, what was the color of the car you were driving?

In the USA, a contractual clause pertaining to a time frame when one party is allowed to remarry has only validity in regard to the contents of the contract itself, i.e., "if you re-marry earlier than 60 days, you won't get a penny of the millions I have set up for you to be paid as spousal support," but it does not affect the legality of a new marriage.

good day

i need to ask this ... is it important to get 2 way ticket if i am going to USA with tourist visa ??

or its ok to get one way ticket ??

Participants of the Visa Waiver Program need a round trip ticket. Although it's not specifically spelled out for B1/B2 visas, the IO at the POE might ask for it, or might ask "when are you flying back." A good, plausible answer would help, but ultimately it's within the discretion of the officer.

On another note: isn't the cost for a round trip ticket almost identical?

QUESTIONS : (there's a bunch ...)

1/ She's interested in the idea of annulment of marriage (possible if you've been married for less than a year) - but I have a gut feeling that that would seriously screw up my immigration case. Any wisdom on this?

Bad idea

2/ She's worried that divorcing later rather than annulling now would cost more / be more work / etc. However this is the land of divorce, right? Surely can't be that hard?

Divorce is easy and cheap

3/ Are there any ways for me to "transfer" my status to another path-for-immigration? Eg.,

No

4/ Could I somehow turn this into an employment-based green card? Or,

No, and employment-based is not immigration, to top it off

5/ Could I marry someone else before the 2 years are up? (I know, it sounds completely crazy!)

Yes, but you can't transfer the case to a new spouse

6/ ???

???

7/ If we divorce or annul now, do I retain the full benefits of the green card until the two year mark comes up?

Yes, in practice, no in theory

8/ What happens during these 2-year-removal-of-conditions interviews? (I mean, what happens typically? I'm sure they can be quite different.) What would be required from her to pass this test? Stay married? Live together? Show love letters? I'm not asking anyone to condone anything illegal ; I'm wondering how real people deal with real-life stuff - perhaps you've been in my situation, or you know someone who's been there. It would help me to talk about these things!

You can file alone, with good chances of success.

I'm sorry for my brief answers, but I'm typing with 2 thumbs on a miniature netbook.

The overwhelming majority of ROC cases filed for in late 2008 are by now long approved or denied. The first thing I would do now is to go online to the USCIS Web site and check the status of the case so that you know what's going on.

You, or, better, your lawyer, file the I-130 and the I-485 together. You'll get a notice of action shortly thereafter, allowing your husband to stay and to work upon the time your application is approved (or denied). He then has to apply for advance parole in order to fly home and wrap things up there.

At the interview, which will be coming as sure as the sun is going to rise in the morning, you'll have to present prove that the AOS with the B2 wasn't premeditated. Having an apartment or house and a job waiting there qualifies. The fact that you wanted to tie the knot before the baby arrives is also believable. You should be fine.

Tayoflower,

your original post omits important information. I simply assume here that you are a US citizen? I also assume that your fiancee entered the US with a B2 visitor's visa?

Please understand, while it is legal to enter the US with the intend to marry, it is not legal to stay afterward and to adjust status (AOS), if this was the intention to begin with.

While USCIS does not explicitly refuse AOS to visitors who came with a B2 and got married to a USC, they will scrutinize the case at the mandatory interview. If your fiancee still has his apartment in Sweden, and his job is still waiting for him, you can somehow PROVE that him staying here after the wedding and applying for AOS was not the original plan.

The caveat, however, is, that in case USCIS does not believe this to be the case, your petition of AOS for him would not only be denied, but he may face a possible ban from the US for a to be determined timeframe.

Ultimately it's your decision, and you'll have to consider advantages and possible disadvantages very carefully, the main issue being to prove that your then husband intended to fly home to Sweden, but due to certain circumstances, you changed that plan and decided otherwise. The emphasis is on the word 'prove.'

Mrs. T,

You are an American citizen, and you have a valid US passport.

Your son is a Canadian citizen, and you have his birth certificate and his Canadian passport.

Your husband is a Canadian citizen as well, and has an enhanced driver's license.

You'll heading home to the US, at which time you'll have your son's birth registered in the US.

You have not committed a crime.

You have not crossed the Rio Grande, your hair dripping wet.

You do not intend to do anything illegal in any way, shape, or form.

Since your son can't state his US citizenship, first of all because he's an infant, secondly, because it hasn't been registered yet, you are facing fears that are totally unfounded. Nobody is going to arrest you, throw you in a dark dungeon, and sell your child into slavery.

Again, your problem is not the US officials; your problem is your irrational fear. Imagine for a moment that you watch the President of the United States giving a speech on national TV. All of a sudden, he's ripping off his rubber mask and we all see a green, reptile-like head, slime dripping down his chin. Impossible? Not at all, just not very probably .

Fears like this are messages from our brain that something is out of balance. You'll be fine.

Oh . . . is it happy hour already?

If I were you, in your situation, where you intend to stay in France for a while anyway, I'd not waste $545.00 on filing the I-751 as it has ZERO chance of being approved. A legal resident who didn't reside in the Us at all is a dead fish in the water. Guaranteed!

Instead, I'd start over, and this time, after being married for 2 years or longer, your husband will get his unrestricted (10-year) green card instead. Understand, however, that even that will require him to take residence in the US. If he by then, equipped with a freshly printed GC still stays in France, you start--again--from scratch.

America is a land of instilled consumption. Starting in the 1950s, people were (by an Austrian, nonetheless) psychologically re-poled to buy what they want, desire, instead of what they need. They want it now, and they buy it on credit, and worry about paying it off later, or not at all.

I'm 51 now, but my parents' generation was different. They saved for things they needed, and only things they needed. They never bought a new car, but they accumulated some wealth despite having a "middle class" income. If I see a young chap driving a Cadillac Escalade with spinner wheels, I know he's poor, and an idiot on top of that.

The greatest gift my parents gave me is financial sense, the urge to save for a rainy day from early on. I have some cushion in my bank account, 10 months of expenses in my money market account, and only the amount above that is invested in the stock market and in real estate. I always spend 15% less than I make, at least, and even when I did paper routes I saved 15%.

Americans need to rethink their style of living, and they need to be reeducated. America is only the land of milk and honey for those who have something; it's not a good place to live if you are poor.

How 'bout tax return/transcripts?

It would have been "cleaner" to use one money order for $465 and one for $80, even "cleaner" yet to use a personal check with both your names on it (you do have a checking account, don't you?), but in the end it doesn't matter. All they want is your money and they take it any way they can get it. You didn't do anything wrong, and that's what matters most.

I would order a new card for $370 if you had changed your name to Tom Mix, switched genders, and grew a long black beard so that you look totally different as well. But to me your new name looks like your old name. Pretty much. What gives?

So unless you use your GC every single day, for whatever reason, I wouldn't waste a single thought on it. I only use my GC whenever I travel out of the country, so basically once every 15 years.

I'm not a medical professional, but I believe you have a case of paranoia. I respectfully suggest that you might want to have that checked out.

As a US citizen you don't have to prove squat when entering the US. You could have lived on planet Pluto all of your life, wear a purple rubber mask, red rubber gloves, a beard, and they wouldn't have the right to ask you for the time of the day at the border as long as you look remotely like the photo in your US passport.

Your baby, also a USC, equipped with a birth certificate and a passport, will also have zero, nada, nilch, none problems to enter HIS country.

If your husband, a Canadian citizen, has an enhanced driver's license, he will also get through the border without problems.

I know that there are people who are afraid of leaving their home, fearing weird things. Your fears are somehow on the same level, but less dramatic. I don't know who could help you other than a psychologist or psychiatrist. Luckily, as a Canadian resident, you have access to the finest healthcare in the World. Take advantage of it!