New here and in trouble :(

[ronjie 0]

most all of us here are doing things the right and legal way, and we can do very little other than wait for our approvals of petition and visa's. sounds like he has been here a long time since his visa expired. and without money for a very good attorney your chances of keeping him here are slim to non, thats the reality of it...

....are you implying the OP's boyfriend was doing things the wrong and illegal way?

Because if you are, I wonder how you can come to that conclusion with the little bit of information we have been given.

NO I'm not implying at all... I am making a statement !! he overstayed his visa by years !!! and that is illegal. so I'm surprised you didn't catch that with all the info provided !! so he got caught and now she ask the good and legal members of VJ for help. so whats new?

most all of us here are doing things the right and legal way, and we can do very little other than wait for our approvals of petition and visa's. sounds like he has been here a long time since his visa expired. and without money for a very good attorney your chances of keeping him here are slim to non, thats the reality of it...

....are you implying the OP's boyfriend was doing things the wrong and illegal way?

Because if you are, I wonder how you can come to that conclusion with the little bit of information we have been given.

Well.... his visa is expired. I mean, it shouldn't have happened, he should have just gone to the doctor at the time so he would have gotten an excuse and not failed his last semester. I didn't know him back then and I didn't realize it was expired when we first started dating, but have known it now for over a year. I think the policy is silly, you should be able to renew in the US if something like that happens (like you could before 9/11) but yes, we are sort of going about this the, er, wrong way. But I have no choice about it, and I personally haven't done anything wrong.

no, you didn't do anything wrong.. b ut he did..

and i couldn't agree more. the policy's are silly.. I should be able to have my Wife here with me now. but thats not how life works... and we do things the legal way..

Maybe it was the above posts. portions of which are in red, that could quite possibly be the reason so many on this thread "twisted" your words? They do have a decidedly judgmental tone to them by the frequency of which you mention the word "legal".

To the OP: I hope you have been able to glean out the sound advice from this thread. I can't elaborate on any of it but I do wish you and your SO the best of luck wading through this difficult situation.

did you read the last line. about where you can go. you need to get a life. ta-ta clown

[HannahP 119]

most all of us here are doing things the right and legal way, and we can do very little other than wait for our approvals of petition and visa's. sounds like he has been here a long time since his visa expired. and without money for a very good attorney your chances of keeping him here are slim to non, thats the reality of it...

....are you implying the OP's boyfriend was doing things the wrong and illegal way?

Because if you are, I wonder how you can come to that conclusion with the little bit of information we have been given.

NO I'm not implying at all... I am making a statement !! he overstayed his visa by years !!! and that is illegal. so I'm surprised you didn't catch that with all the info provided !! so he got caught and now she ask the good and legal members of VJ for help. so whats new?

most all of us here are doing things the right and legal way, and we can do very little other than wait for our approvals of petition and visa's. sounds like he has been here a long time since his visa expired. and without money for a very good attorney your chances of keeping him here are slim to non, thats the reality of it...

....are you implying the OP's boyfriend was doing things the wrong and illegal way?

Because if you are, I wonder how you can come to that conclusion with the little bit of information we have been given.

Well.... his visa is expired. I mean, it shouldn't have happened, he should have just gone to the doctor at the time so he would have gotten an excuse and not failed his last semester. I didn't know him back then and I didn't realize it was expired when we first started dating, but have known it now for over a year. I think the policy is silly, you should be able to renew in the US if something like that happens (like you could before 9/11) but yes, we are sort of going about this the, er, wrong way. But I have no choice about it, and I personally haven't done anything wrong.

no, you didn't do anything wrong.. b ut he did..

and i couldn't agree more. the policy's are silly.. I should be able to have my Wife here with me now. but thats not how life works... and we do things the legal way..

Maybe it was the above posts. portions of which are in red, that could quite possibly be the reason so many on this thread "twisted" your words? They do have a decidedly judgmental tone to them by the frequency of which you mention the word "legal".

To the OP: I hope you have been able to glean out the sound advice from this thread. I can't elaborate on any of it but I do wish you and your SO the best of luck wading through this difficult situation.

did you read the last line. about where you can go. you need to get a life. ta-ta clown

Dude, and when you post later about how your wife was just using you for a greencard....can we all laugh?

[LaL 418]

Guys - this is not constructive. Ronjie - why are you perpetuating this issue? I am pretty sure the OP understands what you have repeated.

ETA: this is a rhetorical question. Please take this disagreement to PM if you wish to continue it. Further off topic posts will be removed.

Edited September 5, 2008 by LaL

[Todd-Leah 0]

We have a lawyer for the bail bond hearing already, but it's pretty expensive ($1,100) and neither of us has tons of moneyjust lying around... I have tried to ask the lawyer some things about what we need to do after that, but he pretty much said I should just focus on the hearing right now and "we'll worry about the rest later" Plus the lawyer is in Texas (where Richard is being detained) and I am in Mobile, Alabama.

Wow, overstaying is the worst thing, eh? One of the links I was reading earlier made it sound like entering illegally in the first place would have been the very worst thing, but... I know this is pretty bad and I'm scared.

This is our situation... Richard has his batchleor's degree and was working on his master's when, in his last semester, he had a bit of a depression breakdown due to personal stuff happening to him at the time, and missed several weeks of school. Unfortunately because it was more mental than physical, he didn't see any doctor or get an excuse, so he failed for that semester. Failing caused his visa to be out of status, so his only option was to go back to Malaysia and renew it, BUT at that time he didn't think it would be possible to get a new one if he went back (he has tried to explain this to me, but it's been a while since we talked about it...something about how his family had had to bribe people in their government in the first place to get the visa and he didn't want them to spend that money again and he didn't think he could get another student one from them since he had failed anyway) So at this time he was still hoping the rules would relax (go back to pre-9/11 where you could change your visa in the US when something happened like this) so he just..... stayed.

So the next year I met him through work and his roommate, and then about a year and a half ago we started hanging out/dating and i found out about some of his visa problems.

So now, assuming we do manage to get him out on bail, I just am looking for some idea of what to do next. Do I marry him right away? Do I apply for a fiance visa of some type? I am so terrified that I will marry him and then he will be deported anyway and will not be able to return to the US for ten years if ever... I love him very very much, biut I do not think I'm willing to live in Malaysia for the rest of my life!! It would be nice to have a lawyer throughout this whole procress, but I think the reality is we will not be able to afford to.... I know there are lots of fees associated with filing for papers at every step of the way, even without a lawyer.

He could have returned to renew his student visa instead of overstaying because it's really not that difficult for a Malaysian to get a student visa. The Kuala Lumpur consulate processed 5k-6k of student visas yearly.

His family might have gone through an agent who took money from them because they could not bribe someone to qualify for a student visa nor bribe the US consulate to get a student visa.

Whatever it's, do not let him leave US, do not do voluntarily deportation! He could get a ban of entry for 10 years and hardship waiver may not be granted.

I met a Malaysian woman at the at the Kuala Lumpur consular office, she had a pending AOS and left without advanced parole(which caused overstaying her work visa technically), she has tried to re-enter US to unite with her husband and spent thousands on legal fees for the past 8 years without much success!!

Have you ever visited Malaysia? The capital Kuala Lumpur is quite a metropolitan with expatriates from all over the world. The traffic is horrible, but I would think it's more happenings than a lot small towns or boondocks in the US. :-)

My husband lived here for 2 years and he loved it here, we even considered retiring here when we are old.

Leah

[Mefrie 1]

Mefrie here again:

Okay, I wish I had some more news so I could get some more advice, but I don't really. Per the drama: ronjie, I do understand your intent and your point and I thank you for your advice about the lawyer and I guess we'll do our best to keep one as long as we can. I dunno what you said elsewhere to get everyone else so riled up, personally I was more upset about the "just deport him" comment someone else made... probably more because that's what my ####### dad thinks too than because someone I don't even know on the internet said it. Oh! May I ask you something? That word someone used earlier to describe your fiance, is that the "p-word"? I saw some people on another thread talking about the p-word, and I was all like, what the heck word is that? I've never heard of it. What does it mean and why is it so bad?

carpe diem: thank you for your words of encouragement.

rebeccajo: Honest to gosh, at this point I do not even know if removal proceedings have begun.

Yesterday (wednesday) was two weeks since he was arrested. In Texas. While I am stuck here in Alabama. He was arrested at a checkpoint near Corpus Christi, and his friend he was travelling with gave him his own cellphone. I apparently had my cellphone off/out of battery at that time and he was only able to make two calls to his roommate before it was taken away. The lovable idiot friend he was travelling with did not apparently have any phone numbers with him outside the ones in the phone he had given Richard. It didn't occur to him (or maybe he was embarassed because he was the one who took Richard to Texas) to call information from a payphone. It took me a long long time to even find him... all the prisons couldn't give out prisoner information over the phone, but several of them said the prisoners were moved around after arrest. Spent Thursday and Friday calling to no avail, and then the weekend, it was the weekend and all the people who "maybe" could help me (but probably not because thewy don't give prisoner info over the phone) would not be back until Monday. On Monday, Shafi was back in Alabama and told us Richard was now in San Antonio Detention Center. We called there, but they still could not confirm or deny information over the phone.

Finally on Tuesday he called! He had finally been allowed to purchase a phone card after filing a request card. Apparently you have to file a request card for everything there and it takes forever. He filed one to see if he could get some Tylenol because he got the flu after he'd been there one day.... a week later it was his turn to see the doctor... and he missed it because he was meeting with the lawyer. If he still wants to see the doctor it will take another week. I can only pray he doesn't get anything more serious. Anyway he was able to give me his alien number and the information we needed to get the lawyer.

Richard is a nice person, makes friends easily, and has a big support network, which is great, but the problem is I have to share him with so many people! His friend Shafi did the research to hire Marlon Valladares, we wanted to hire a lawyer right there in Texas so that he could go to see Richard without hundreds of dollars in travel fees. Plus, in Texas they apparently arrest 600-900 people every day as illegals, so our lawyer will have more experience than those around here. He specializes in immigration law, not family, I think. The downside of him not being here is that I've only spoken with him over the phone, and Shafi has spoken with him more than I have!

Everyone is focused on the bail bond hearing, I was focused on gathering all the papers the lawyer asked for: my birth certificate, had to get it from my parents (and that was a chore, let me tell you), a recent bank statement, and I realised I hadn't changed the home address over to the house I bought... my statements are online, so I had to go change the address and get an updated statement one lunch period...same deal with my driver's license, only that took an off day because it was about three hours at the DMV... my old tax returns which were on my old computer which was in my storage unit since I moved.... utility bills, and the affidavit of support to get notarized.

So I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and now you ask about the "actual removal proceedings" and I feel like I haven't been asking the important or right questions. Actually I tried to ask the lawyer some questions about afterwards, and he said "let's just focus on the hearing and getting those papers here for now" I do know we are also going to try to change the venue to New Orleans, so I can be there for everything further on.

Anyway, when I said "at my leisure" I really just meant after the post I was making at the time...not trying to read everything before I replied. I like the look of that Immigrate2US forum, I probably will post there soon. I have looked at some of the forms, and I am getting the sense that soon, soon, they will be my entire life and I will have one of these "timelines"... but right now just the numbers and letters in them make my brain want to zoom out like it's math class several years ago. I don't know why this is.... I WANT to learn them... I'm also antsy because it's been since monday that I've heard from Richard....his phonecard ran out and his roommate sent hime money for another one...but apparently he doesn't have it yet. Maybe he will be able to call tomorrow. Certainly I will call the lawyer tomorrow and ask what stage the actual removal proceedings are in.

Leah: Maybe he could have gone back and gotten it renewed, I don't know. We sort of avoided the subject, and just sort of focused on the present. Now I wish we'd focused more on the past and future! The thing about bribes was really something his roommate told me as a reason why Richard did not want to go back, because maybe his family didn't have the money for a second round of bribes. That was how he put it, and I have heard other Malaysians refer to bribing the government people there. But no, I've never been, and I admit, I'm a stupid American when it comes to most other cultures. I know some Malaysian food, and that's about it. Also I know that Richard doesn't want to live there, and doesn't want to go back. He's of Chinese ancestry, and apparently they and the native Malays don't get along too well, so there aren't as many opportunities for him. i dunno. All his friends from Malaysia are either Indian ancestry or Chinese ancestry, and one guy tells these jokes that I suspect are not politically correct about native Malays, but he never tells the punchlines in English... probably because he's heard me tell other people that racist stuff is not welcome in my home.

But bottom line, I only speak English and I don't remember any of my three years of high school french and all my friends and relatives are here and I'd like to visit someday but I don't want to commit to living in another country for the rest of my life and I realise i'm asking Richard to make that commitment, but it's something I already know he wants, so.... I don't know. Maybe it will come to that, but I don't want it to. Thank you for your advice about the voluntary deportation, though!

[rebeccajo 14]

Mefrie -

I've googled Mr. Valladeres. He lists the following as his areas of expertise: Asylum, Business Immigration, Consular Processing, Criminal Defense, Detention, Family Immigration, HIV Waivers, Naturalization. There is also a person by that name on Facebook.

I also discovered this document which reveals a bit about him on Page 9.

http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/2005,0111-parsons.pdf

[Mefrie 1]

Thanks! I appreciate your looking him up for me, all I had found was him passing the bar in 2004. I heard from Richard!!! His bail bond hearing is now set for the 10th, on Wednesday. The buzz among the prisoners is that the judge is not favorable for granting bail... someone else, whose uncle tried to bail him out, just got denied this week, though that was because the uncle "hadn't paid enough taxes". I dunno if that meant he hadn't filed, or owed and hadn't paid, or filed incorrectly or what. I paid taxes (well actually I got a refund) but I am very very very nervous.