my 4 year immigration fight to keep my wife

[RUJEN 140]

Hello everyone,

Please tell me how you think the out-come will be on this one..........

09-04 My wife from the Philippines arrived in America on a K-3 visa married to another man ( other than me ).

She arrived in America perfectly legal. When she stepped off the plane to be with her husband, he informed her

that he had something to tell her. He told her that he was, in fact, already married to an American woman who was

having his second child and if she kept her mouth shut, she could stay in America and the 3 of them would have

great life. She called her sister (in America) ( who is a citizen now ) to ask for help. She ended up coming to stay

with her sister to be safe while they figured this out.

11-04 After 2 months of talking to her husband, she realized there was no way he was going to give up his

American wife and she should return to him because he "paid good money for her"

Since I was a friend of her sisters family, I was well aware of everything going on and helped any way I could. I

took her to seek advice from an immigration attorney. The attorney sent the husband a couple letters and the

husband admitted to having the American wife.

03-05 Well, to make a long story short, in the 3 months the attorney was doing his thing, this lady and I fell in

love with each other. I paid the immigration attorney to represent, and guide us.

Our immigration attorney had us hire a divorce attorney for an annulment. With the letters from the husband

admitting his polygamy, we had a pretty sealed case.

06-05 We won the annulment in court ( here in America ). On advice from out immigration attorney ( who knew I

was going to marry this lady ) said she could stay in America and could get her adjustment of status without

having to go back to her home country. ( turned out, this was not the best advice )

08-05 WE GOT MARRIED.

12-05 The attorney filed the I-130

02-06 filed for work authorization card

06-06 received work authorization card

07-06 had interview at local Immigration office, was told everything looked fine but still placed on AP anyhow

( somewhere in this time, we did get her a social security card and learners permit also )

03/07-06/07 applied for and received new work authorization card

03/08-06/08 applied for and received new work authorization card

09-08 received letter from local immigration office stating her I-485 was denied and she has 30 days to voluntarily

depart the country. The reason ( as you may have guessed already ) was she did not stay married to her

original petitioner.

Now is where things get interesting....

2 days AFTER her denial letter, her I-130 was approved.

We had an infopass to get information on what to do next. We were told she MUST go to her home country where we can do DCF and the process would only take 2-4 months. I talked to my congressman and was told the same time frame. My attorney also said the same thing. As bad as this was, we figured we can handle that.

It was not until AFTER she left the country, I was informed that she will most likely be placed on the 10 year ban of no re-entry because she was out-of-status since her annulment. (over 3 years in violation )

Why did they wait so long to tell us this?

Here we thought we were doing everything by the book by having an attorney, and jumping through all their hoops as they requested. Even the lady who gave us the interview said everything looked good for being a "strange circumstance"

and she sad everything was done right on our behalf, but she wanted her supervisor to see the paperwork before making a decision.

As of now, it's been 2 months and our paperwork still has NOT made it to the NVC so the time frame they gave us is really a joke right now. I'm not too worried about that, but I am worried about my wife being placed on a 10 year ban.

Will the consular take in consideration that we thought we did everything legal?.......

I know this is long and thanks for reading my situation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

rujan

[Dakine 26]

Hello everyone,

Please tell me how you think the out-come will be on this one..........

09-04 My wife from the Philippines arrived in America on a K-3 visa married to another man ( other than me ).

She arrived in America perfectly legal. When she stepped off the plane to be with her husband, he informed her

that he had something to tell her. He told her that he was, in fact, already married to an American woman who was

having his second child and if she kept her mouth shut, she could stay in America and the 3 of them would have

great life. She called her sister (in America) ( who is a citizen now ) to ask for help. She ended up coming to stay

with her sister to be safe while they figured this out.

11-04 After 2 months of talking to her husband, she realized there was no way he was going to give up his

American wife and she should return to him because he "paid good money for her"

Since I was a friend of her sisters family, I was well aware of everything going on and helped any way I could. I

took her to seek advice from an immigration attorney. The attorney sent the husband a couple letters and the

husband admitted to having the American wife.

03-05 Well, to make a long story short, in the 3 months the attorney was doing his thing, this lady and I fell in

love with each other. I paid the immigration attorney to represent, and guide us.

Our immigration attorney had us hire a divorce attorney for an annulment. With the letters from the husband

admitting his polygamy, we had a pretty sealed case.

06-05 We won the annulment in court ( here in America ). On advice from out immigration attorney ( who knew I

was going to marry this lady ) said she could stay in America and could get her adjustment of status without

having to go back to her home country. ( turned out, this was not the best advice )

08-05 WE GOT MARRIED.

12-05 The attorney filed the I-130

02-06 filed for work authorization card

06-06 received work authorization card

07-06 had interview at local Immigration office, was told everything looked fine but still placed on AP anyhow

( somewhere in this time, we did get her a social security card and learners permit also )

03/07-06/07 applied for and received new work authorization card

03/08-06/08 applied for and received new work authorization card

09-08 received letter from local immigration office stating her I-485 was denied and she has 30 days to voluntarily

depart the country. The reason ( as you may have guessed already ) was she did not stay married to her

original petitioner.

Now is where things get interesting....

2 days AFTER her denial letter, her I-130 was approved.

We had an infopass to get information on what to do next. We were told she MUST go to her home country where we can do DCF and the process would only take 2-4 months. I talked to my congressman and was told the same time frame. My attorney also said the same thing. As bad as this was, we figured we can handle that.

It was not until AFTER she left the country, I was informed that she will most likely be placed on the 10 year ban of no re-entry because she was out-of-status since her annulment. (over 3 years in violation )

Why did they wait so long to tell us this?

Here we thought we were doing everything by the book by having an attorney, and jumping through all their hoops as they requested. Even the lady who gave us the interview said everything looked good for being a "strange circumstance"

and she sad everything was done right on our behalf, but she wanted her supervisor to see the paperwork before making a decision.

As of now, it's been 2 months and our paperwork still has NOT made it to the NVC so the time frame they gave us is really a joke right now. I'm not too worried about that, but I am worried about my wife being placed on a 10 year ban.

Will the consular take in consideration that we thought we did everything legal?.......

I know this is long and thanks for reading my situation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

rujan

Get your senator involved ASAP.

You got a lot of bad information. For one you can't do a DCF unless YOU establish residence in PI.

[Boiler 45,516]

You need a lawyer who has a clue, this one should be reported to the local Bar.

As she was never legally married, then the whole K3 would be void, it was based on a false pretext. I guess she might have had a case if she only just found out, but she knew from arrival that this was the case.

So she would never have had any legal presence in the US.

My assumption is that you will need a I 601 waiver for the illegal presence. http://www.visacentral.net/ This is one Lawyer who is highly thought of, Heather Poole is another.

[TVN 0]

Hello everyone,

Please tell me how you think the out-come will be on this one..........

09-04 My wife from the Philippines arrived in America on a K-3 visa married to another man ( other than me ).

She arrived in America perfectly legal. When she stepped off the plane to be with her husband, he informed her

that he had something to tell her. He told her that he was, in fact, already married to an American woman who was

having his second child and if she kept her mouth shut, she could stay in America and the 3 of them would have

great life. She called her sister (in America) ( who is a citizen now ) to ask for help. She ended up coming to stay

with her sister to be safe while they figured this out.

11-04 After 2 months of talking to her husband, she realized there was no way he was going to give up his

American wife and she should return to him because he "paid good money for her"

Since I was a friend of her sisters family, I was well aware of everything going on and helped any way I could. I

took her to seek advice from an immigration attorney. The attorney sent the husband a couple letters and the

husband admitted to having the American wife.

03-05 Well, to make a long story short, in the 3 months the attorney was doing his thing, this lady and I fell in

love with each other. I paid the immigration attorney to represent, and guide us.

Our immigration attorney had us hire a divorce attorney for an annulment. With the letters from the husband

admitting his polygamy, we had a pretty sealed case.

06-05 We won the annulment in court ( here in America ). On advice from out immigration attorney ( who knew I

was going to marry this lady ) said she could stay in America and could get her adjustment of status without

having to go back to her home country. ( turned out, this was not the best advice )

08-05 WE GOT MARRIED.

12-05 The attorney filed the I-130

02-06 filed for work authorization card

06-06 received work authorization card

07-06 had interview at local Immigration office, was told everything looked fine but still placed on AP anyhow

( somewhere in this time, we did get her a social security card and learners permit also )

03/07-06/07 applied for and received new work authorization card

03/08-06/08 applied for and received new work authorization card

09-08 received letter from local immigration office stating her I-485 was denied and she has 30 days to voluntarily

depart the country. The reason ( as you may have guessed already ) was she did not stay married to her

original petitioner.

Now is where things get interesting....

2 days AFTER her denial letter, her I-130 was approved.

We had an infopass to get information on what to do next. We were told she MUST go to her home country where we can do DCF and the process would only take 2-4 months. I talked to my congressman and was told the same time frame. My attorney also said the same thing. As bad as this was, we figured we can handle that.

It was not until AFTER she left the country, I was informed that she will most likely be placed on the 10 year ban of no re-entry because she was out-of-status since her annulment. (over 3 years in violation )

Why did they wait so long to tell us this?

Here we thought we were doing everything by the book by having an attorney, and jumping through all their hoops as they requested. Even the lady who gave us the interview said everything looked good for being a "strange circumstance"

and she sad everything was done right on our behalf, but she wanted her supervisor to see the paperwork before making a decision.

As of now, it's been 2 months and our paperwork still has NOT made it to the NVC so the time frame they gave us is really a joke right now. I'm not too worried about that, but I am worried about my wife being placed on a 10 year ban.

Will the consular take in consideration that we thought we did everything legal?.......

I know this is long and thanks for reading my situation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

rujan

I know a somewhat similar case like yours in Clearwater Florida. A lady was sponsored from Vietnam to Ohio on a good-faith marriage. They ended up separation shortly after she came since the guy was cheated her. She left Ohio to Clearwater Florida where she met another guy. They fell in love then requested her previous husband to file a divorce. He agreed to sign an official divorce. Technically, her temporary greencard was widthdrawn. She should file a removal for condition on her greencard to get a permanent one. She did not do it. The lady then her later guy then married and lived happily. Her later husband filed a petition to sponsor her. However, somehow, the immigration officer suggested her to go back to Vietnam and re-entered again via legal process that was promised to be taken no longer than 6 months. She naively followed the suggestion and returned to Vietnam. Six months was passed. She got an interview at the Consulate in Saigon. She was denied for a reason that she had a bad record of not returning to Vietnam sooner after she got divorced with her first husband. Her later husband in Clearwater Florida fought very hard involving many lawyers, congressman, senator etc... None of them could succesfully overide the immigration decision. Many lawyers say that they made a big mistake. Don't return to Vietnam no whater what happened. Once, you got out it's very hard to get in. The battle has been more than 2 years now and there is no sign of being end.

Try you best to get congressman, senator, even higher ranked immigration officer. If you can afford for lawyer, go ahead. But be prepared that it will be costly since it will take a lengthy time to get her back here.

The whole US immigration process is suck. I hate it from head to toe. I hope for the change in the near future. Good luck

Edited December 1, 2008 by TVN

[RUJEN 140]

Get your senator involved ASAP.

You got a lot of bad information. For one you can't do a DCF unless YOU establish residence in PI.

You are right, I got bad info from my attorney at the beginning, but I got worse advice from local immigration office.

On our infopass, they told us that there was no need to take this to court before she left because she would be back so soon. After she left, I called immigration and talked to a supervisor who informed me she had every right to a day in court and with all the circumstances we in our case, the judge may have over-turned the decision. It's too late now for thinking about that route.

You need a lawyer who has a clue, this one should be reported to the local Bar.

As she was never legally married, then the whole K3 would be void, it was based on a false pretext. I guess she might have had a case if she only just found out, but she knew from arrival that this was the case.

So she would never have had any legal presence in the US.

My assumption is that you will need a I 601 waiver for the illegal presence. http://www.visacentral.net/ This is one Lawyer who is highly thought of, Heather Poole is another.

Thanks, I know all about Laurel Scott, she has a very good reputation but can't afford her right now. This is the second time to petition her and it's starting to drain me ( mentally and financially )

I know a somewhat similar case like yours in Clearwater Florida. A lady was sponsored from Vietnam to Ohio on a good-faith marriage. They ended up separation shortly after she came since the guy was cheated her. She left Ohio to Clearwater Florida where she met another guy. They fell in love then requested her previous husband to file a divorce. He agreed to sign an official divorce. Technically, her temporary greencard was widthdrawn. She should file a removal for condition on her greencard to get a permanent one. She did not do it. The lady then her later guy then married and lived happily. Her later husband filed a petition to sponsor her. However, somehow, the immigration officer suggested her to go back to Vietnam and re-entered again via legal process that was promised to be taken no longer than 6 months. She naively followed the suggestion and returned to Vietnam. Six months was passed. She got an interview at the Consulate in Saigon. She was denied for a reason that she had a bad record of not returning to Vietnam sooner after she got divorced with her first husband. Her later husband in Clearwater Florida fought very hard involving many lawyers, congressman, senator etc... None of them could succesfully overide the immigration decision. Many lawyers say that they made a big mistake. Don't return to Vietnam no whater what happened. Once, you got out it's very hard to get in. The battle has been more than 2 years now and there is no sign of being end.

Try you best to get congressman, senator, even higher ranked immigration officer. If you can afford for lawyer, go ahead. But be prepared that it will be costly since it will take a lengthy time to get her back here.

The whole US immigration process is suck. I hate it from head to toe. I hope for the change in the near future. Good luck

Thank you for that info, I have heard of cases like mine and not one of them had a good, quick result. I am still hoping for the best but preparing for the worst...

rujan