Voluntary Departure

[zoso 0]

Dear all VJ's

Time line:

March02, 2006 : Entered USA with student visa

May 02, 2006 : semester finished and he decided not to continue school anymore

August02, 2006 : Got married (I was LPR that time)

January 18, 2007 : He got caught by ICE ( of course for violating student status) and put him in immigration detention facility

March 29, 2007 : Immigration judge granted voluntary departure

April 27, 2007 : Left USA from immigration detention facility

He has NO Criminal record. I found this article on how to overcome three year bar.

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2005,0830-eiss.shtm#02000002

What i understand is he has more than 180 days and less than a year of unlawful presence. According to the link an alien who is subject to the three year bar, and who is granted "voluntary departure" by an Immigration Judge in removal proceedings, is not subject to the bar upon readmission to the United States.

I am an USC now and applied for I-130. So as soon as I-130 approved he would be admissible to enter USA.

Your valuable advice will be appreciated

Edited February 12, 2009 by zoso

[emt103c 10]

You are a lucky woman. It sounds like your husband possibly won't need a waiver. To determine this you will need to check his I-94 and the type of visa he was issued.

If the I-94 is marked D/S it means Duration of Status (this is what most student visas grant.) In this case, your hubby was not out of status until it was determined by the immigration judge. Therefore, he did not start accumulating illegal presence through that violation until the judge said he was out of status. . .this would mean no I-601. . .since the judge granted VD, this would mean no I-212.

Once you've determined if your husband was in fact in D/S status with his student visa, please confirm what I've told you with a qualified immigration attorney.

www.humanrightsattorney.com

www.visacentral.net

or any AILA qualified Attorney who's worth their salt.

Good luck!

[zoso 0]

Thank you very much for your reply. I can not recall exactly if he has D/S marked on it but most probably yes. In that case he doestn have any bar.

Now considering other scenario which is if he doest have D/S in I-94. In this case he also doesnt have any bar because he has less than one year of unlawful presence............am i right?

God bless

[zoso 0]

I just found his I-20 (school admission form) and it has an immigration officer's seal at the right corner with the entry date and also says D/S. So his I-94 should be written D/S in it as well. So he doest have any bar. .........right

Now another question. Would it be wise to apply for a short visit visa so he can visit my family here in USA and go back on time.

If they reject visit visa, would that effect his I-130 processes.

Or just wait for the I-130 to approve, finish all the process and come with immigrant visa.

Thanks in advance

[emt103c 10]

I just found his I-20 (school admission form) and it has an immigration officer's seal at the right corner with the entry date and also says D/S. So his I-94 should be written D/S in it as well. So he doest have any bar. .........right

Now another question. Would it be wise to apply for a short visit visa so he can visit my family here in USA and go back on time.

If they reject visit visa, would that effect his I-130 processes.

Or just wait for the I-130 to approve, finish all the process and come with immigrant visa.

Thanks in advance

They still consider him a tourist visa risk because of being out of status so long and having court proceedings against him. He was very lucky to get VD. Why was he picked up in the first place??

Getting a tourist visa would be difficult and a stretch. It does not hurt to apply. As long as he is honest about EVERYTHING in the application it should not have an adverse affect on the I-130. If he were to overstay, or try to adjust status while inside the U.S. on that visit visa he would be charged with Misrepresentation and be forced to file a very difficult to get waiver.

You can have both applications running concurrently, but I would be very surprised if they granted the visit visa. . . though it all depends on the CO. He would need to have ample proof of the I-130 pending and ties to his country as well as proof of intent to return. . .

[LoveMyTico 999]

Can I ask how ICE caught him? What happened?

[patita 0]

Dear all VJ's

Time line:

March02, 2006 : Entered USA with student visa

May 02, 2006 : semester finished and he decided not to continue school anymore

August02, 2006 : Got married (I was LPR that time)

January 18, 2007 : He got caught by ICE ( of course for violating student status) and put him in immigration detention facility

March 29, 2007 : Immigration judge granted voluntary departure

April 27, 2007 : Left USA from immigration detention facility

He has NO Criminal record. I found this article on how to overcome three year bar.

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2005,0830-eiss.shtm#02000002

What i understand is he has more than 180 days and less than a year of unlawful presence. According to the link an alien who is subject to the three year bar, and who is granted "voluntary departure" by an Immigration Judge in removal proceedings, is not subject to the bar upon readmission to the United States.

I am an USC now and applied for I-130. So as soon as I-130 approved he would be admissible to enter USA.

Your valuable advice will be appreciated

can you update us on this? i am almost in the same situation but i didnt get caught but i oversatyed my J-1 visa for 192 days.

[Arthur Roberta 1]

Firstly may I thank you for such a well researched post, which I feel will be invaluable to a number of people who find themselves in a similar situation. Through ignorance and a previous attorney who did not fully brief us (or was unaware) of the implications of our individual situation, we could well have been facing a 10 year ban.

Fortunately we employed a new attorney in the nick of time so to speak.

This attorney was a member of the AILA and I believe to a certain extent, this is in itself guarantees a certain standard of service.

They advised that I seek Voluntary Departure as soon as possible and I thus employed them to pursue this on my behalf. This was fortunately agreed and I attended a Voluntary Departure hearing in Charlotte and subsequently departed the US. This is such an important area of immigration that people unwittingly can fall foul of and I wish that this particular information could be given some prominence within VJ as I have found it to be extremely explanatory of the regulations.

In many cases immigrants seek professional advice and as such they trust that what the attorney tells them is absolutely true. In most case I am sure this is the case. However there has been so many cases where attorneys (so called ) have to my mind been fraudulent in their representation. I urge those who require the services of an attorney to be very careful. As you can see from our own personal situation we could have been separated for 10 years.

Best wishes to all

Arthur and Roberta

[patita 0]

Firstly may I thank you for such a well researched post, which I feel will be invaluable to a number of people who find themselves in a similar situation. Through ignorance and a previous attorney who did not fully brief us (or was unaware) of the implications of our individual situation, we could well have been facing a 10 year ban.

Fortunately we employed a new attorney in the nick of time so to speak.

This attorney was a member of the AILA and I believe to a certain extent, this is in itself guarantees a certain standard of service.

They advised that I seek Voluntary Departure as soon as possible and I thus employed them to pursue this on my behalf. This was fortunately agreed and I attended a Voluntary Departure hearing in Charlotte and subsequently departed the US. This is such an important area of immigration that people unwittingly can fall foul of and I wish that this particular information could be given some prominence within VJ as I have found it to be extremely explanatory of the regulations.

In many cases immigrants seek professional advice and as such they trust that what the attorney tells them is absolutely true. In most case I am sure this is the case. However there has been so many cases where attorneys (so called ) have to my mind been fraudulent in their representation. I urge those who require the services of an attorney to be very careful. As you can see from our own personal situation we could have been separated for 10 years.

Best wishes to all

Arthur and Roberta

I read your post very carefully and all I can say is that I am sorry to hear that!

I am facing 3 year ban and I can not go on with my life! I can not imagine next 3 years without him!

RESEARCH ON YOUR OWN - DO NOT BELIEVE IN WHATEVER THE LAWYER TELLS YOU

keep an eye on everything! ans READ READ READ!

I've been looking in my computer since the whole case started! We dont have any lawyer because we can not afford it! Im trying to do this on my own - we will see

good luck guys! lets stay in touch! this website gave me tons of information

http://www.ilw.com/articles/2005,0830-eiss.shtm#02000002

god bless,

patricia