Supposed deportation because VISA expired

[Jan Brinkmann 0]

Hi I´m new to this forum and I´d like to get some advice (duh )

Here is my situation:

My wife and I are living in Germany since December 2006.

We got married in March of 2005 when we were still living in Florida. We immediately went ahead and started the VISA process. Back then I was on an extended F1-Visa (student) and found a job in Florida. I was granted the conditional permanent residence sometime in Spring of 2006. When things with my family and their business in Germany went bad we decided to go back to Germany to live here. The problem now is that I never got my status removed after that. I changed my adress to my sister-in laws house with the government in case they needed anything.

Now she got a letter in late 2009 saying that I was to leave the country or tell them why I didn´t do anything to lift the status. I immediately corrected my address with them but in February she got a letter from the USCIS that they started deportation proceedings. I changed my address with them yet again (have to look up with what form) with both the form that was in the summon letter (to the dpt of justice) and another USCIS form. The USCIS hotline said that there is nothing they can do and my only option is to appear and a court date that is yet to be scheduled.

Do you have any tips as to what I can do? Should I go? I mean I haven´t been living in the States since 2006, haven´t been there since but we might want to move back at one point and I don´t want to mess up that chance by this #######.

[Sweetcheeksss 91]

I think it's very important for you to attend the hearing, because you can be deported in absentia if you just don't appear. Hopefully someone with much more knowledge can weigh in on your question and give you advice.

Good luck with everything!

Edited April 23, 2010 by Sweetcheeksss

[nane1104 146]

Changing your address is really not helping you at all at this point. You were supposed to remove conditions of your status roughly two years after you became a LPR (90 days before your 2 year greencard "anniversary").

Since you failed to do that and even lived out of the country for so long (I believe 12 months is the absolute max to be out of country), you abandoned your status anyway.

Since you are in deportation proceedings already, I'd strongly suggest to hire a good immigration lawyer cause with deportation proceedings imminent, you are in a big mess.

Best case scenario is that you can stop the deportation proceedings, cancel your LPR status (well, expired anyway) and start from scratch once you want to move back, hpefully even through DCF.

It sounds to me like you are not very knowledgeable about this whole process since you talk about your greencard as "visa", so please please, educate yourself! You are in a pretty serious dilemma here.

Hopefully someone else can explain your options and your current situation better than me...good luck to you!

[nane1104 146]

Maybe this topic should be moved to a more appropriate forum since this isn't really AOS related!?

[milimelo 4,561]

I don't know where to move this - ROC forum?

OP, get the supporting documentation to an immigration lawyer who wil represent you at the deportation hearing - I don't know if you can even enter the country on a expired GC or use VWP?

[Jan Brinkmann 0]

i would just use the VWP

I´m sorry but I was really into the lingo back in the day but now I´m just out of all that.

Would it be helpful to contact the consulate in Berlin about this?

Isn´t there some kind of timeframe when I could go back to the states even if they deport me in absence? I read something about 10 years but don´t quote me on that. Don´t get me wrong I don´t want to move back anytime soon but I´d like to keep my options open.

Edited April 23, 2010 by Jan Brinkmann

[milimelo 4,561]

i would just use the VWP

I´m sorry but I was really into the lingo back in the day but now I´m just out of all that.

Would it be helpful to contact the consulate in Berlin about this?

Isn´t there some kind of timeframe when I could go back to the states even if they deport me in absence? I read something about 10 years but don´t quote me on that. Don´t get me wrong I don´t want to move back anytime soon but I´d like to keep my options open.

To keep your options of returning open you have to clear up everything with USCIS and not get the deportation. What you should do is show up at the hearing - you said it was scheduled - and provide evidence when you departed the US, current foreign address all with documentation to support it (be it plane tickets, registration in Germany, business info, taxes filed from overseas, foreign taxes filed, hospitalizations, school attendance, voting in local elections) and ask that nothing be placed on your record (including possible overstay which will give you a ban of 3 or 10 years) as you were long gone before they came looking for you.

I'd definitely not show up at a hearing without a good immigration lawyer.

Once you're done with this, when you're ready to go back to the US start either DCF process or inquire about returning resident visa (not sure if this one would apply to you but it's an option).

[Nina+Matt 0]

i dont understand how they can deport someone that is not even living in the us anymore?can someone help me out here?

i actually wanted to move back to germnay in about 5-6 years, my gc is valid until 2020, do i have to let uscis know once were moving that im leaving the country? i know that my gc would be considered abandoned at one point. i thought that if we would want to come back to the states at one pont id just have to apply for a new gc? or am i wrong?

[milimelo 4,561]

i dont understand how they can deport someone that is not even living in the us anymore?can someone help me out here?

i actually wanted to move back to germnay in about 5-6 years, my gc is valid until 2020, do i have to let uscis know once were moving that im leaving the country? i know that my gc would be considered abandoned at one point. i thought that if we would want to come back to the states at one pont id just have to apply for a new gc? or am i wrong?

If you're going to be gone for a while from US you have several options: get the citizenship so you don't have to account for your whereabouts to USCIS, get a re-entry permit (good for 2 years), relinquish permanent residency upon departure from US (you go to US embassy and give them your GC and sign a form).

The USCIS is causing problems to OP as they had a 2-year conditional card. If no I-751 was filed, this sends an alert to USCIS that they're out of status and they come after you - deportation. Had they surrendered the card upon arriving in Germany, they'd had no issues as USCIS would know they left.

[Nina+Matt 0]

thanks for the info! i am actually trying to get citizenship, germany allows dual citizenship, but you have to apply for a document in germany that allows you to have two and then apply for citizenhips here... i just dont know if i would have good enough reasons why i need to have 2 citizenhips to actually get it!

[milimelo 4,561]

thanks for the info! i am actually trying to get citizenship, germany allows dual citizenship, but you have to apply for a document in germany that allows you to have two and then apply for citizenhips here... i just dont know if i would have good enough reasons why i need to have 2 citizenhips to actually get it!

Why don't you head over to US citizenship forum - there were a couple of German posters that had no problem getting that bleisomething approval from Germany (sorry, my german is horrible these days, it's been too long since I last used it).

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Jan,

if someone fails to file for ROC, removal proceedings are automatically initiated. These include a hearing in front of an Immigration judge who is the only one in power to revoke the status of a LPR living within the USA.

You failed to report your change of address, you failed to file for ROC, and you already abandoned your LPR status by moving abroad. At this point, you need to formally inform USCIS and the court that -- and at what time -- you left the USA, and provide evidence to this fact.

If you try to enter the US with your GC, it will be taken away from you at the airport. If you try to enter using the VWP, you will be refused entry.

In light of a possible later move back to the US, you need to stop removal proceedings as deportation carries a 5-year ban. I would do this in writing a formal letter to USCIS and the Court and have it notarized at the US Embassy in Germany.

When the time comes to move back to the Land of the Brave and Free, file for DCF in Germany and you will be rewarded with an unrestricted, 10-year GC.

Kopf hoch, halt schlecht gelaufen.

Edited April 23, 2010 by Just Bob

[Darnell 8,479]

Jan,

if someone fails to file for ROC, removal proceedings are automatically initiated. These include a hearing in front of an Immigration judge who is the only one in power to revoke the status of a LPR living within the USA.

You failed to report your change of address, you failed to file for ROC, and you already abandoned your LPR status by moving abroad. At this point, you need to formally inform USCIS and the court that -- and at what time -- you left the USA, and provide evidence to this fact.

If you try to enter the US with your GC, it will be taken away from you at the airport. If you try to enter using the VWP, you will be refused entry.

In light of a possible later move back to the US, you need to stop removal proceedings as deportation carries a 5-year ban. I would do this in writing a formal letter to USCIS and the Court and have it notarized at the US Embassy in Germany.

When the time comes to move back to the Land of the Brave and Free, file for DCF in Germany and you will be rewarded with an unrestricted, 10-year GC.

Ditto all the above.

[nane1104 146]

thanks for the info! i am actually trying to get citizenship, germany allows dual citizenship, but you have to apply for a document in germany that allows you to have two and then apply for citizenhips here... i just dont know if i would have good enough reasons why i need to have 2 citizenhips to actually get it!

I am thinking about doing the same, but not sure if I'd qualify either.

Her is a link with the regulations and info and applicationdownload

(it's a german website)

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/de/05__Dienstleistungen/02__Staatsangehoerigkeit/02__Beibehaltung/__Beibehaltung.html

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Nina,

the BBG is my pet peeve.

I joined ZweiPaesse on Yahoo because of the dreaded BBG 2 years ago, and think I can claim to know a great deal on how to pull this off, even if you have no "real" reason the Krauts would accept. About everybody who got approved had to construct a totally made up reason related first and foremost to a presumed actual disadvantage when applying for a job that requires US citizenship, and I'll tell you exactly how to do it, but I can't do it here on this forum.

P.M. me or send me an e-mail or phone number and I'll bring you up to speed.