5 year ban

[Poolshark 0]

If you or your fiance have been deported 'in absentia' you are probably subject to the 5 year ban. The I-601 is to seek a waiver from the 10 year ban, but there is no appeal or waiver or relief from the 5 year ban.

We are in that situation. We were told at our interview at the embassy to 'try again in August 2013'. We cannot file an I-601 until then, which adds another year of processing time to wait.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the file of his original removal hearing. We were told that could take a year, but it took a month.

The file revealed evidence that he had not been properly notified of the hearing. They issued a removal order, knowing this fact.

That is the basis of our case. We filed a Motion to Reopen an In Absentia Removal Order.

I always knew that the judge could decline to give us a hearing date at all.

What I was NOT expecting was that the government lawyer representing Department of Homeland Security would file an 'Opposition to Respondent's Motion To Reopen'

What I really found objectionable was the underhanded tactics, the closed minded refusal to consider the case law precedent that was cited in our motion, to ignore completely the facts presented, and go off on an (evil)fairytale crusade to persuade the judge that he/she lacked jurisdiction to decide to even give us a hearing date, let alone consider the facts of our case. I, who also work for the U.S. government, was shocked at the shameless behavior of this attorney on the federal payroll.

Also, I would like to point out that they don't give hearings to someone once they are outside of the country, except in the case where the deportee was not properly notified.

So if you are still on U.S. Soil and you have a case not to be deported, fight, fight, fight NOW. Once you're gone, you're gone.

If you are notified to show up at a hearing for removal, make sure you do.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Topic has been moved from the K-1 forum to the Waivers forum as a more useful location for this topic

[Poolshark 0]

Update - Our motion to reopen was filed 2 months ago. We have received a decision in our favor. The judge ruled that not only did he/she have Jurisdiction, but that removal proceddings be terminated. Since he is already back in Honduras, the point of that is that the 5 year ban is moot.

The government has 30 days to appeal. (25 days from now)

The next step is to contact the embassy and inform them of this decision and maybe get another appointment. After that, hopefully we can start the I-601 process. Our lawyer is EXTREMELY discouraging about that. She says our hardships are as extreme as other peoples' and we can expect to wait until 2018.

[Poolshark 0]

The government has not Appealed the decision to overturn his 5 year ban, so Monday we will be on to the next step, figuring out how to get another appt and permission to file the I-601, so this is the last time you will hear from me on this post. Good news Tegucigalpa has been working on catching up on their backlog and now I-601 takes 6 months or less.