working without EAD?

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

as we were filling out form I-845 we came across a question in part 3 that asks her current occupation. Don't know if it will cause trouble if I tell them she is a waitress, but if I say none I would be lying. what does everybody think?

I hate to step in it again, but tell them where she is working, etc., when you fill out her bio again. You are reporting all her taxable income, tips included, right? So all that will show up on your 2008 tax return, which you have with you, when you go for your interview.

[Caladan 19]

Regarding the I-9's - they get filed, with photo copies of the "proof" attached in the employer's files. They are only looked at if the company is audited by either the ICE or IRS. And complaints must be logged, or taxes unpaid (or questionably paid) before audits are scheduled. Few and far between.

It looks like a scary form, but that is it - looks only.

Seems a farce to me, we have millions of illegal immigrants working under and above the radar, and they nit pick the people who are trying to stay within the laws and follow the rules. Welcome to the USA!

It looks scary because it is.

I live in a town with a restaurant that employed only Mexicans. Everybody in town figured the workers were illegal. Apparently so did ICE, because there was a raid. And we are talking rifles in peoples faces, handcuffs and jail cells.

A raid doesn't have to come from an audit. It can come from a warrant for suspicion of trafficking in persons.

C.'s employer (Canadian-owned, legal visas for everyone in the U.S.) recently had problems with this. Their firm handles dynamite. They beat out an American firm for a contract. They started work. Pissed-off American firm full of wankers called the ATF and said "they gotta buncha illegals handling dynamite!" Fun investigation ensued (everything is okay, C. has his green card, they sorted it out.)

All it took in their case was some vengeance from some moron. It's a very good thing they were able to show that everyone's paperwork was in order.

Unauthorized employment alone (as far as I know) isn't a deportable offense; it's usually something like 'being out of status, having entered illegally, and we happened to catch you while raiding a place of employment", etc., that gets the deportation ball rolling. It's also not a bar to a successful AOS based on marriage, so your wife should be honest and report it.