EmVee

A friend of mine (not me, I promise ) recently got her US citizenship, so now she has decided to petition to have her parents move here from Peru. I told her that of course I would help her fill the forms in, but I think I overestimated my own intelligence because I have a few questions.

Firstly - just to verify, she has to do separate forms for both of them, right? Separate I-130s and separate Affidavits of Support? But on each of them, she lists the other parent as well... Yes? It is slightly confusing, especially part 9 of the Affidavit where it asks you to list other family members being sponsored within six months, but not on a separate visa. I mean, does she list her mother on her father's one? Or does his I-130 count as a separate visa?

And they are in Peru, so she puts that as their mailing address on the I-864, presumably. Not her own address.

And... I'm sure she asked me more questions, but I can't seem to remember them now. This is a good start anyway. I've filed for myself, but it turns out it's pretty different for parents. Especially when I'm not the one filing, so I'm trying to remember what she was asking me. D'oh!

I have a degree in Marketing and got a job at a bank when I first moved here. Such bad management, it was awful. Finally working in my field of study

Seriously. The higher up management pretty much sucks where I'm at too. But I guess the bigger the company, the more opportunity for stupid people to be found working there. LOL!

I work for a major bank here in the US. I have never worked at any financial institution before, and my degree is in Archaeology, but it was a job opening and I needed a job. I definitely don't want to do this forever, but at least until my husband finishes college, it's something stable where I can continue to get promoted pretty rapidly and earn decent money.

At my biometrics I had one of those stretchy hairbands that goes on over your ears, and she said to me "Push it behind your ears... no, don't take it off, I want your hair held back. Just push it back."

So my ears stick out miles in the picture. Niiiice.

I think my update was the same, just the I-485 touched on the same day as the biometrics appt. I wouldn't worry about it, you filed everything together so they're just updating them at different times. The online thing, I found, isn't even that reliable anyway.

But hey, it's great you got through the Biometrics so fast!

There's a template in the Example Forms section on VJ called "Sworn Statement From Friends" or something. You can have your friends/family use that template to write the letter, and then they have to sign it in front of a notary.

Did USCIS request you bring these? Or did someone just suggest it to you? I never bothered bringing that stuff, I just had letters that weren't notarized. (And he didn't even read or keep them!)

I was offered a job at Bank of America a couple of days ago, so I'm just waiting to hear final confirmation from them after the background check. It will be my first job here. And, funnily enough, it's was the second job I applied for after I got my EAD. Not actually as difficult to get a job around here as everyone keeps telling me.

Apply for AOS, and see what happens. You never know. Plenty of people have pretty complicated statuses and they still manage to get a GC. So don't lose hope before you even begin. Make sure you outline everything properly in the petition, explain exactly what went on for the last few years, why you didn't apply with your first husband, etc. Just make sure to tell the truth, if you have worked or anything, don't deny it and don't try to cover it up. It would be a lot worse if they found out you'd lied.

The only concern I would raise are the finances. Make sure your husband earns enough to meet the requirements, or else ensure you have a relative (his parents or a sibling maybe?) who is in a position to be co-sponsor.

Best of luck!

Okay, I know I'm seven million light years late with this clarification, but I figured I'd let you know anyway. In case you're still interested.

I asked my friend and she says the reason she was eligible to adjust status based on marriage is because she paid a $2000 fine for illegal immigration (and working here illegally) and because of that the ban was waived and she was eligible to adjust status the same as a person who had entered legally.

Her niece, who was brought here illegally when she was 3 weeks old, has been here all her life. But her sister was born here, so next year (when her sister turns 18) she will also be able to pay a fine and adjust status based on her sister's citizenship.

Such a complicated system!

I didn't have an SSN but I was able to go on the bank accounts, Cost Co membership, lease and some bills (like the Netflix, the phone bill, the gym membership). We also brought a ton of other stuff like photos, letters we'd sent each other over the years, cards from friends and family congratulating us on our engagement and wedding, etc.

At the interview the IO said to me "I understand that you don't have a social security number so it's hard for you to provide me with bills and insurance in both names. But it's obvious from the evidence you did produce that you are making the effort to co-mingle assets, and as long as you sort the rest out after you get the conditional GC, you'll be fine."

So basically, bring a ton of ####### to make up for the fact that you can't get a few bills in both names. If you hassle the gas and electric companies, and the cable company, they may add you as another resident in the apartment/house, but not an account-holder. That's what I managed to get, anyway.

I don't know what to do about carrying it. It IS mandatory to carry it at all times, but I'm not sure it's legal for a cop to actually demand it or arrest you for not having it or anything... I'll probably keep mine on me all the time, though. I won't lose it. I've never lost a card or passport or anything like that.

I applied for my SSN as well, hopefully it will get here soon so I can get a freaking job.

I got my GC today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally i have been only waiting a month. it is so pretty to hold in my hand and finally have it lol!

Me too!

Did you get the ridiculous little envelope to put it in as well? To stop them stealing your info using radio frequency or whatever. Pretty high-tech!

*le sigh*

Received an email this morning;

Your application for permanent residence or to adjust status has been approved. The approval notice has been mailed to you on 27th May.

REALLY???? Shocker. Can I just have my green card now, pretty please?

Are you sure she didn't go back to Mexico for an interview at the US consulate? Strictly speaking, if an EWI alien leaves the US the same way they came in then there would be no automatic ban, presuming they were willing to lie to the consulate about ever having entered illegally.

Unless I'm forgetting something, VAWA and asylum are the only exceptions for an EWI being permitted to adjust status.

Nope, she definitely didn't go back because it was a Big Deal when she got her permanent residency and she was finally able to go home and see her parents. They just did the regular interview here in LA, at the same place I did mine. (I did mine a few weeks ago, so she was telling me about hers prior to that)

There must be more to it than I've heard, obviously. The topic just caught my attention and I was interested in the responses because I hadn't been aware before that some people were ineligible.

I'm definitely going to ask my friend how she managed it, though!

No, it's not new, and it doesn't matter how long they've been here. You must enter the US legally in order to be eligible to adjust status. Either there is more to the story then your friend is telling you, or she didn't really adjust status.

I never really asked her specifically what papers she filed. I just know she came here illegally, met her husband and got married, and now she's a legal resident. It did take a while for the paperwork to get sorted though, I know that, because their first child was almost a year old by the time she was approved at the interview.

I was just curious. I must ask her exactly what documents they submitted after they got married.

Edit; When she was a kid, her uncle (who is a naturalized USC I think) and aunt started some paperwork to have her come live with them, but they never actually completed that petition and my friend didn't know about it until after she got married. So maybe that affected her later?

Now I'm really curious.

But thanks for the clarification.

Jim said it perfectly; everything else is completely irrelevant. The EWI is the ultimate killer of any AOS petition, as one cannot adjust status when one has no status. Simple as that.

Is this new or has it always been the law? I'm just curious. My friend entered the US illegally from Mexico 8 years ago and she got married and adjusted status a year later. Maybe it's because she wasn't here as long? Once again, USCIS mystifies me. LOL!

Are you sure that it takes 2 to 3 weeks for a SSN? When i called our local office he told me it only takes a week in the mail if you file it in person. Were you not going to do it in person? I do not want to have to wait 3 weeks if he gave me false information. I am waiting forever just for the dang GC!!

Maybe it's different in California? I went there in person and he said to me he wasn't giving me a SSN for my EAD because the green card would probably be here in a couple of weeks and it would take longer for the SSN to get here. So basically I'd just be doing it for nothing.

Wow, so are we all done? That's great!

No GC yet, they sent me an email the day after that new one was released and said they had ordered card production now, it had been delayed while they waited for the new GC to come out. *sigh* So I'm hoping it comes soon. I went to the SS office with my EAD but he wouldn't issue me a SSN because he said I'd have to come back with the GC for a whole new one, so it was pointless. He wants me to just wait for the GC.

Meanwhile, I was offered a job at a bank but now they won't hire me until I have a SSN and they can run a background check. So she said if the job is still available by the time I get my SSN that's fine, but.... No GC yet, so even if I get it Monday it will still be another 2 to 3 weeks for the SS office to issue my new info. I don't have much hope the job will still be open.

Congratulations, luckykat! That's great news.

And OC, do you feel ready? I'm sure everything will be fine on Friday.

Do the electorate not care what policies the candidates are seeking election in order to implement? Seems not - political ads are simply cartoons. Time to demand more from the candidates.

+1

Campaigning over here is more about employing the same techniques that Nick Toons uses to engage 4 year olds, than actually saying anything relevant. I am reminded of the commercials Old Spice is currently airing; to me, that is what US politics is like.

"Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat with the man your man could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I’m on a horse.”

Criminal activity is regulated by criminal laws. Not by immigration laws. We have all the laws necessary to arrest and detain people engaged in criminal activity whether they are illegally present or US citizens. One's immigration stauts has absolutely zero to do with whether one is engaged in otrher criminal activity and absolutely zero to do with whether they can be detained, asked for ID or arrested.

This is the most intelligent thing I have seen posted in this thread thus far.

It's absolutely mystifying to me that 70% of Arizona seem to be unaware there are actually ALREADY criminal laws in place that deal with criminals. Even brown ones.

Without getting you kids too riled up again, this article (taken from a conservative San Diego newspaper) nicely sums up my opinion of the new law;

Trying to fix a broken law

Amendments to Arizona immigration law fall short

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.

As a rule of thumb in politics, it’s not a good sign when a law has to be fixed before the ink is even dry on the governor’s signature on the original bill. That’s what happened recently in Arizona, where backers of the controversial law that deputizes local police to enforce federal immigration law by cracking down on people they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally (read: Latinos) claim that the original law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer has now been stamped “new and improved.”

Just one week after Brewer signed SB 1070, apparently without reading the bill or understanding it – another bad sign – she took a mulligan and approved changes intended to address concerns about the potential for racial and ethnic profiling.

One change among the revisions is that police officers can prowl for illegal immigrants only in the course of enforcing some other law or ordinance. In the original law, all that was required was “lawful contact.” Another change is that now the state attorney general or a county attorney cannot investigate complaints about possible illegal immigrants based on a person’s race, color or national origin. The original law allowed for race, color and national origin to be considered among several factors and only prohibited law enforcement from focusing “solely” on those characteristics.

In theory, those sound like reasonable changes that would make the law better and help prevent abuse. But in practice, they look more like political window dressing. For instance, how in the world are prosecutors supposed to prove that a police officer began an inquiry into someone’s legal status based on race? There is too much wiggle room there. In the real world of policing, it’s impossible for law enforcement officers – particularly those who lack the specialized training given to Border Patrol agents – to decipher one’s legal status without taking race and ethnicity into account. Anyone who claims otherwise lives in a fantasyland.

Besides, there is one additional change that arguably makes the law even more dangerous than it was before – and more prone to abuse. That change says that the requirement at the heart of SB 1070 – that police officers determine the immigration status of an individual who they have a “reasonable suspicion” is in the country illegally – extends to those instances where police respond to something as minor as city ordinance violations. That could include loud parties, barking dogs, cars on blocks or overcrowded apartments. Imagine overzealous neighbors turning in the person next door for having a party and the music is too loud. Is that the kind of hard-core criminal activity the law was intended to prevent?

This kind of overly broad language is a recipe for trouble. And Arizona has already borrowed more than its share of that. Think this law has been patched up? Think again. It’s just sprung another leak. And it’s going to keep springing them because, when a piece of legislation is this broken, there is no quick fix.

It's comforting to know that other people have their reservations. Well maybe that is a strong word but you know what I mean.

I personally have not been happy here but there's a few reasons for that. I've been here 3 years and still don't have my drivers permit (it's a long story but I'm getting there, okay! lol) and being in a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, I don't get out much at all and I still don't know anyone. I also detest the politics of this area, I really do. I hate that people just gobble up everything Fox News tell them regardless of how obvious they are trying to an influence their agenda with less than the truth. Much of my issues are merely circumstantial and not a reflection on the whole of the US as a place to live.

I think much of this could be remedied by moving, I think I'd be happier living in one of the northern states (there's a history of Cornish people in Wisconsin, maybe we should move there!). Or just having some transport, if I hit one of the pubs in Atlanta when I have my permit I'll go complain to some people about the weather and feel better I realize I sound like a complete drag but I think most people would have some issues staying sane after this long indoors (and other issues).

Also, don't live with your inlaws too long!

Yes, to everything. I can't drive or work (not for the last 8 months) so I have been sitting in the apartment with no friends and no method of getting anywhere that isn't 10 blocks away. I place a lot of the blame for my current frame of mind on this situation. Without being able to go out, explore where I live, meet new people, work, be sociable - I have become so whiny and so reliant on my husband for everything. I'm upset a lot because I'm dissatisfied with the way things are over here (in my personal life and just society in general here) and I tend to nitpick about everything with my husband because he's one of the only people I ever get to spend any time with, the poor guy.

And while I don't live with the in-laws, I might as well sometimes. They're very... INVOLVED in our lives.

I got another e-mail saying my card was ordered again. I knew that was going to happen since the new Green Card came out yesterday

Damn really? What's the new green card??

I'm wondering if mine is delayed because they waited until yesterday to bother processing it. That would suck.

Edit; Yep, just checked online right now and for the first time it says card production was ordered on May 11th. *sigh*

OMG I'm really batting a thousand this morning. Because I can't edit - I've just realized this is Kitty's thread originally, and the question of renewing the work visa in Canada and then coming back to the states was NOT the original question. (I think I was confused because there's also a thread about that somewhere??) But as far as my posts surrounding AOS and intent and stuff, I was solely responding to THAT. (Kitty has a totally different situation)

Sorry for the confusion, folks. I'm having one of those mornings.