Immigration - U.S. Issues

H1B? J1? ?! :)

_Lina_ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:34:10 GMT

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Hello everyone! I`m new to lawyers.com, I`ve just read some of the discussions and I thought this is a good place to ask my questions.

I am Bulgarian and I`ve spent 3 summers in the US on a work and travel J-1 visas. This is my last year at college now which means my last chance for one more great summer on J-1. It`s also time for future life plans though that’s why I`ve been considering the opportunity to move to the US on H1B visa. There is a US employer willing to do all the sponsorship for me so I can apply for H1B now. Like I said though I don`t want to miss the chance to work in the US again this summer, and as we know the H1B would be active from October 1. So here is my plan and I would be so grateful if you would tell me if this is a good/legal one. I will apply for J-1 again which means that I will not and cannot take my final exam, so I won`t have my bachelor`s degree ( all I will have left to do to graduate will be the final exam ). At the same time I will apply for a H1B visa for 2011 FY. I realize that one of the requirements for H1B application is a bachelor`s degree but I will have it by the time a would actually start working on H1B because after the J-1 expires by the end of October I will come back to my country, take the final exam and then go back to the US (if the H1B application is approved of course). My future H1B employer doesn`t mind it at all and would do everything that is needed to have me working for him.

So this is the situation and basically my questions are: 1) Can I apply for both of the visas at the same time since the J-1 would be active only for the summer and the H1B from October 1 but the deadlines are pretty much the same and 2) Would the double applying (if such is possible) lower my chances to get either one of the visas?

I`m really confused and all I know is that I want one more summer on J-1 but then don`t want to lose an entire year before I have the chance to work and live in the US so I really don`t know what exactly to do. I would appreciate an advice from you.

Thanks so much!

Question for Jill??

sa1 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:36:27 GMT

Does any one know about the new Administrative Processing of immigrant visas by the consular sections of US Embassies for applicants from overseas? My father/ mother-inlaws have had their immigrant visa interview and it was approved, however they were told that there is a new step in effect now which they call "Administrative Processing". I have tried to email the embassy to request a time frame for this step, a response back stated that it may take upto 10 months. However, when I check this on the State.gov website, it says that 60 to 90 days is the normal time.

Has anyone else experienced this? I am pretty sure this process differs from place to place, my in-laws are in Pakistan. I have also heard that this process entails sending the fingerprints of the applicants to the US for security checkups, but isn't that part of the process when the case is originally filed with USCIS by the US citizen family member?

Thank you in advance for responding.

Son having a baby in Chile

JBGreene — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:56:50 GMT

Will this my first grandchild be a USA Citizen? He is not married to the girl, but they are committed to haveing this child and staying in Chile for a few years. When they do come to the USA will the child be a US citizen and a citizen of Chile?

Thank you for your help!

reentry

henry amaro — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:12:50 GMT

hi i was deported in may 2009 for a agreevate felony charge from 1997 ,,my sentence was 5 years probation ,that is my only conviction ,afher that i work ,pay taxes and i never left the country i was a legal green card holder ,in march 2009 ice got me n deported me for life...it anything that i can do to get back??? the procees lasted 3 month cause i dint fight the case ...i got me job secure if i ever get back to the state.....thanks

Expired Visitor Status. About to Get Married

LizSmithwick — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:57:52 GMT

Hello All.

My name is Liz. I am a US citizen, born in the states. My boyfriend is from St. Vincent. He came here on a student Visa in 2002. When his student visa was about to expire, he got married. They were a bit careless and so none of his paperwork went through. At the time, he had his driver's license, work permit, was going to school. He has not been in school for the last three years because he was paying for her Bachelor's. He has receipts from his parents sending him money from his account in Bequia. His work permit has since expired, as well as his student visa and driver's license. They separated in July and he is signing the papers for divorce this week. We want to get married. I am afraid of the implications of us getting married and his status being expired. While I was looking up the requirements to get his status as permanent resident, I read something about a waiver, but could not figure out how to find the form for it. I want to be completely prepared before we go to meet a lawyer. Any information would be appreciated!!! Thanks!!!

Marraige as a Permanent Resident to an immigrant ..?

GhostRiderX — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:05:59 GMT

Hello . Im here to inquire for my friends who have been a couple for 2 years now .He has a permanent residency in US and will become a citizen in the next few months , his girlfriend gave on a student work program from Russia and has been out of status since last year.They've been wanting to get married because they love each other, but due to immigration issues they are nervous.They wanna know if marrying her as a Permanent resident will help her get a legal status without jeopardizing his upcoming citizenship? And if they marry as Permanent resident will it delay the process for her? How long does it take approx. for them to give a legal status to someone in her case if married to a US citizen ? They also are curious if they need to tell both families about their marraige , for immigration purposes? thank you for your time and advise, looking forward for any help or insight.

Advance Parole Information! HELP PLEASE

ahmadahmed — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:57:42 GMT

I came to the US on Fiance Visa K1. After registering my marriage, I havve filed for Adjustment of Status and Advance Parole. I want to know if I have to show the Advance Parole on leaving the US or do i have to shhow it only on entering the US? I am waiting for Advance Parole but I have to go back to my country before the expected date of Arrival of Advance Parole...Is it ok if i leav the US withour Advance Parole, get it mailed to me by my wife from the US, and show it on returning to the US?

Please Help

Name Change on Green Card

trios — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:27:16 GMT

I recently got married. I've changed my name on my drivers license and social security card, but didn't realize I would have to pay nearly $400 just to change my name on my green card too! We don't have the money right now (lost my job plus I'm pregnant on top of everything else). So I guess my question is : is there a time limit on how long I have to change my name on my green card? What happens if that time limit comes and goes? Thanks.

Permanent Resident Status

futarama — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:04:22 GMT

Hello,

My parents came to United States in 1996 as Permanent Residents. They decided to move to Canada in 1997 to be closer to their grand kids and eventually they became Canadian Citizens. Since leaving for Canada in 1997, they only came back to United States using their green cards a couple of times before 2000. Their green cards expired back in 2006.

In 1996 when they came to United states they submitted an application to sponsor my brother to immigrate to the states too. I checked the status of the application recently and looks like the application was approved back in 1996 but we never received the confirmation letter and according to the USCIS website its in the 'post decision activity' stage.

Now below are my questions regarding this situation:

1) Do my parents still have a permanent resident status in US even though their green card expired? If they don't have a status anymore, Is there a way to reinstate it?

2) Is it worth spending time on to pursue my brother's 1996 sponsorship application as the last activity on it was in 1996 and also since now my parents live in Canada and might not have a valid US residency status anymore? Or Should I just file a new sponsorship application through me for my brother?

Thank you so much in advance for your help.

Job Change.. Can I retain my Priority Date??

Sarah33377 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:31:50 GMT

Hello,

My current employer filed for green card for me and the PERM and I-140 was approved. I want to change job now. I understand that I will retain my priority date if my new employers files a new PERM and I-140 but they are saying that they will wait for an year before they file them. Is there a time restriction on filling the PERM and I-140 if one wants to retain their priority date? I don't want to loose my priority date. the GC is filed under EB2 category.

In advance, Thanks.

Regards,

Sarah

Will I be able to get a fiancee visa?

Angelica68 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:11:57 GMT

In 1992 I traveled to the US on a visitor's visa. I overstayed and acquired a work permit and ss card. The permit was provided by someone within the immigration system (a friend of mine had the connection) but I was not eligible for it (I discovered afterwards). I'm not sure how it was accomplished as I was only required to send my passport and what I thought was processing fee. I was 21 years old at the time. I got a job as an international flight attendant (I was so certain it was legit), but it the permit expired while I was on an international flight. I had actually gone to Federal Plaza in NY a week or so before to process a renewal and was under the impression it was pending. When I arrived the US, I was detained and advised the expired work permit was fraudulently issued and I was, subsequently deported. This was in 1993. At the time (deportation hearing), I was advised I could reapply for a visa after a year (!) had passed. Silly me! I did and was advised by the embassy personnel that I was, in fact, excluded for at least 10 years.

I returned home and resumed my life. I was hired as a manager in a large international hotel chain. The position required travel and so in 2004, I applied for a visa because there was a mandatory training session that was being held in the US. I was denied the visa and was forced to resign the job because I was not going to be in a position to meet travel obligations. I have had to leave a couple other jobs when it became clear travel to the US was required and have avoided applying for jobs that would require same.

So I gave up on the US and continued merrily on my way. Then I met an American citizen with whom I fell madly in love, because he is so good to me. He was aware that I had no intention of relocating, though I never got into the specifics because it has always been a source of embarrassment to me. He is 63 years old and retired recently. We had planned to live permanently in my country and he bought property for building a house here. We have been in the relationship since 2007 and he has made several trips here, each averaging 2 weeks. He is on his way back here now and will be staying with me for an undertermined period.

The problem is that, due to the current socio-economic problems of my country, we have started to believe he will not be safe living here: he is Caucasian and my country is predominantly black and third world with a serious crime problem. He is getting older and is concerned about the quality of heath care he will be able to receive here, etc. He wants us to live in the US and has even started preparations for relocating to Florida.

I have rambled on...My question is, considering my history, do you believe I will be able to get a fiancee visa? I am currently unemployed, trying to start my own business.

Thank you for any assistance you are able to provide.

Married Name: HELP!

dupyi — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:22:19 GMT

Hello :) My husband recently filed for a I130 petition and it was approved... the problem is.. I have 2 first names a middle name and my married name. In the approved petition, my name (as the benificiary) is still my maiden name, my husband is in deployment in Japan(NAVY) and he was the only one who could fix it. He called in to get the namen corrected and they said they will. Yesterday, I got a letter from the National Visa Center but my name in the letter that was sent is still my MAIDEN name. Will they honor this letter if I attach my marriage certificate with it? or did the NVC just follow my name based on my birth certificate? or should it be my married name be used since I have been married and have been using my married namen as my legal name for 3 years now?

Please help!!

Thank you so much :)

Dupyi....

Citizenship Revoked

TraderJoeLA — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:22:18 GMT

Can my Citizenship be rvoked if my marraige is anulled?

applying for citizen ship

ihaze — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:33:44 GMT

i was charged 18usa a1001 in 2002 and i am a green card holder i would like to know when i am able to apply for my citizen ship and if that can be possiable my case will was finished in december 2004 please let me know what i can do thank you very much

K-1 Visa Denied

Vicman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:30:23 GMT

My fiance applied for a K1 visa in Ecuador and after going to her interview at the local US consulate in Ecuador, she was denied. They claim the whole thing was fake even though we provided countless number of letters, emails, phone records, travel records for the past years (I visited her 5 times), etc. Can you tell me what my choices are now? Should I go to Ecuador and marry her and apply for a K-3 visa? any other ideas? Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Under Removal Proceedings

RSamuel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:10:45 GMT

Hello to all,

I am hoping that someone can help me figure out what to do. I am a legal resident of 34 years here in the US. Last year I travelled abroad for under one year. Upon return to the US, I was detained by the Immigration Officials at the airport because they wanted to check me out. They ran my information and found that out that I have a felony that occurred in June of 1989. It is a third degree felony described as THEFT OF PROPERTY OF THE VALUE OF $750 OR MORE, BUT LESS THAN $20,000. (In reality, the total amount was around $2,500 worth of merchandise that I had taken from a department store as an employee working there.)

I have a Master Hearing this morning where I am just going to talk honestly to the Judge and hope that he decides to drop this case as it was not an Aggravated Felony and that it happened 21 years ago when i was 19 years old.

If the judge decides to continue this case and not drop it, what can I do? What are some options to explore to rid myself of this mess?

Thank You.

Immigration advice

swap — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:41:48 GMT

Hi All,

This seems a great way to communicate! I had a couple of questions as I am trying to understand the immigration process for my foreign girlfriend. I am a US citizen and plan to get married eventually to my girlfriend who is an Indian national. I am yet to be married but want to be proactive so that me and my girlfriend lose minimum time after marriage. As I understood there can be two routes of getting her to come to US and stay with me.1 Filing for her immigration(i-130) and waiting till the process completes or 2. Filling for her non-immigrant visa K3 after filing the i-130. I have read about historical data suggesting the average times for both processes and the general opinion seems to be K3 takes similar times to process as i130 does. Because her career and education in US depend on when she comes to US this whole immigration process pretty much plans next 5 years of both of our lives. From the date of filing I am assuming it roughly takes 12 months for i-130 process to complete. Is that a good ballpark&nbs... to start planning ahead of time? I am aware no one can quote the time required so let me know if I am wrong/right. I had a look at the December&nbsp... Bulleting by dept of state which suggests spouse immigration priority dates are at Nov 2005? How much am I supposed to read into that? Also I want to know how essential is legal guidance in the process? Could I do it on my own without seeking legal advice? I have never dealt with any lawyers in the US hence the skepticism/apprehension.

I appreciate everyones efforts in reading this rather long post!

Thanks

Mistake on last name

Moh1 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:33:19 GMT

Hello,

I am a naturalized US citizen. I'm planning to bring my mother here in USA. I just found out now that the birth certificate I submitted to USCIS for my immigration , It has a spelling mistake on her last name. But when I filled up my I485 application, I spelled her last name right on the form.

So USCIS has right spelling of her last name on the I485 application but they have a wrong spelling of her last name on my birth certificate which was submitted along with I485 application.

To bring my mother to USA, I have to submit a birth certificate with I130 application.

What should I do ? Your suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Immigration Issue/ Deportation/ Overstay charge on NTA

Lolo911flny — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:16:41 GMT

I am a family member of a detained inmate in texas he was transfered from new york 3 months ago. his NTA has charges for overstay of visa of over 180 days, although he is married to a US citizen and has 3 US citizen children,the wife failed to appear at the interview so his petition was denied although he recieved his working papers & SS card, he has not had a bond hearing yet but the court date for that is pending.He was detained after being ROR for violation of treatment court but the conditions for the charges that he was in treatment court were that once he completed the treatment court all charges would be dropped.(the charge was possesion of controlled substance although he had no drugs or contraband on him) Due to him being detained he cannot complete his program. he plead guilty not knowing the repecussions. I guess that means he was convicted once they allowed him to treatment court I am not sure. He had past cases but all are still pending, none of the cases are closed yet and he has served no jail time for none of the charges. Due to the lawyer he had telling him to plead guilty its possible he might have 3 felonies but all of his cases are still pending.We want to fight for him but do not know what to do,because we were told even if his first issued NTA only charges him with overstay they could bring up any of his 3 charges at the bond hearing.We were also told that the pre-interview at the bond hearing is a test to see if he is going to reveal his criminal charges. We know he should not with-hold any of his arrest history but does anyone know if he would be eligible for a bond? ANY ADVICE WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!!!!

HOW DO WE FIX THIS??

pinkchicken — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:21:02 GMT

my fiance and i filed an I-129f fiance visa in dec. 2008, on june 10th 2009 the american embassy at lagos, nigeria invited him for an interview, they gave him a blue paper and sent him home telling him to gather more phone bills as proof of our communication, so i mailed him 2 years worth of phone bills totalling over $14,000.00, and they told him our case was under administrative processing, he recently got a phone call and told him he was reinvitied to the embassy on nov. 12th 2009, he went to his interview and the interviewer didnt even ask for the phone records, all they told him was that he was denied on the 212A 6-C, which says on the paper that it is misrepresentation of his marrital status..........hmmmm.... neither of us have been married..........i know this for a fact cause i have been to nigeria to visit his family and friends as well as his son........so i contacted the national visa center here in the us and asked what took place and the lady there told me that he needs to contact the consulate, but they never answer the phone its always email.....also on the piece of paper they gave him says he cannot reapply for a visa and is banned permanately from the us...........WHY? we can prove that neither of us has been married. why wont they listen to us and how do they get this info. on that he is supposed to be married. WE NEED TO FIX THIS, BUT HOW????????PLEASE CAN ANYONE HELP??????

US Citizen To work in Canada

cbbbindy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:19:46 GMT

Here is my question...

I have an offer from a company to work for them. They are based in the US but the engagement is in Canada. The postion is a Consultant postion on Warehousing software. They called me today and said that they will have to put me on thier Canadian payroll until the engagement is over then switch me to thier US payroll. I've worked for other firms that have people go all over the world, even Canada and I've never heard of this "Payroll jumping" before. This engagment is where i'll travel each week to the client's site and then back home on weekends. So i would say my quesiton is does this make sense to anyone? I need some help here....

Thanks....

Please Help im sooo Confused!!!..Really need some answers

slopes127 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:32:28 GMT

My fiance is currently in texas facing deportation as an aggrovated felon over 2 petty possessions charges that he caught in florida... His lawyer tried to get one of the charges vacated but both are past the statute of limitations or something... I dont understand

if there is nothing that they can do with either charge then why can he be deported on those charges??

why is he considered an aggrovated felon if both charges are misdemeanors??

why if the crimes took place in florida, is he in texas??

if he is deported as an aggrovated felon is there anything he can do to be able to come back to the US??

will the fact that im 9 months pregnant with his child help at all with the decision to deport him??

if the lawyer knew that the charges were past the statute of limitations then why would he try to have the charges vacated? was there something else he could have done or something he can do??

K-1 FIANCEE VISA 5 YRS AGO, NOW A 2ND TIME AROUND K-1

ANDYFL — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:29:58 GMT

I applied for a K-1 visa for my fiancee about 5 years ago and it was approved. She came to the US, we married within the 3-month timeframe, but marriage ended up in divorce a few months ago.

I've recently met someone else whom I like to bring to the US either on a K-1 or K-3 visa, hoping this second marriage lasts forever.

Will I have any problems with immigration by doing this a second time and/or will it raise any red flags and face a risk of being denied?

Thanks!

Want to get a ssi

stheyth — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:16:05 GMT

HI!I am a new-coming from China,I am a F1 student,now I am learning ESL in a institute.Because I have not so much money to afford my fee,so I have to do the part-time.But my school does not offer the jobs.So I have to do jobs outside,but most of the shops need the ssi,so can u help me apply the ssi?

permanent resident status after divorce

justme.nadine — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:05:09 GMT

Good evening, my name is Nadine and i have been searching for this information for a while now. Somehow I can only find information on the issue if the green card is still in conditional status and not on a permanent status.

I got married in 2001 and applied for my green card while still living in germany. I moved to the states with my conditional status in 2003 and applied for the permanent status in 2005, which was granted. So since four years I have my permanent status. My green card expires in 2015.

My husband and I have been married since 2001 and are separated now, fixing to file for divorce. We have two daughters, both of them have german and american citizenship. Now, my question is, with me having the permanent status already, if we get a divorce, what will this do to my status. Will i be subject to revokation of my permanent status? Do I need to file any other paperwork? Will i have to worry about deportation?

I really would appreciate some answers on this topic before we start on the divorce proceedings.

Thank you in advance

Nadine