Me: Permanent resident; Her: Illegal

[worldpeace 0]

Hello everyone,

I will try to keep this as simple as possible but with as much detail as possible.

Currently I'm a permanent green card holder and this year in December i will apply for citizenship. I met my girlfriend aprox. 1 year ago when she was divorced from her husband. Her story is simple and complicated at the same time. Came here on a student visa for the work & travel program, met a guy and got married, so she never went back home. Well shortly after, her ex-husband decided marriage was not for him and chose to divorce her. Prior to that they send the application to USCIS and their case got the pending status and a receipt of action was issued. in the meantime he decided he wanted to divorce and when USCIS asked for their evidences, he refused to send any, got divorced so her adjustment of status got denied, obviously. She filed an appeal, which i believe was a mistake(waste of money), and also sent a letter of explanation. The appeal got denied of course and as of that moment she became illegal(we believe). After all that mess was consumed she met me and we've been together ever since. i did not reject her because of her status because she is a human being a very good person. I want to marry her not because i'm sympathetic to her past situation but because we love eachother and want to start a family together. I am however very concerned about a few things, so here i am asking more experienced people what I need to do: 1. Can she adjust her status through me, even though I'm just a permanent resident for the moment or should we wait until I get my citizenship? 2. Does she have any chances to adjust her status in the first place since she already had her previous case denied because of absence of evidence from her previous marriage? 3. Can I get in trouble if for some reason she gets arrested, for being "involved" with an illegal? I would like to add, if it makes any difference, that neither one of has any criminal record, our driving records are clean and we have tons of evidence of our relationship. your helpful responses are very much appreciated.

[deadbird 2]

I have no idea about any of it, but WAIT until you have your citizenship. Then, hire a lawyer. Don't rush into marriage until you're all set with citizenship and all. Really, don't do it. If your love for each other is real, then you both can wait.

I'll be honest and say it looks REALLY bad for her. REALLY REALLY BAD. That's why I said get a lawyer. Just take care of yourself first and finish up your process & secure your citizenship before getting involved with hers.

[Boiler 45,522]

I would have thought she would be in deportation hearings by now, you might want to check.

All she can do is keep her head down, you would have to be a Citizen to make any impact.

Or you could move to her or your country.

[worldpeace 0]

Thank you for your suggestions. Getting my citizenship first was on my mind as well. Moving out of the country is not on the list, I have a lot of responsibilities here plus if there is a chance we could be together here, I'm willing to take up on it.

When her case was denied first time, she received a letter stating she has 30 days for an appeal, if not she would have to leave the country on her own. Nothing mentioned about deportation. She appealed, got denied again but the second time nothing was mentioned about her having to leave. Assuming that she is indeed under deportation procedure, how hard would it be for us after i obtain my citizenship?

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

You will probably have to do a hardship wavier. Since we don't know what country she is from it is hard to say what your chances are.

Edited June 4, 2010 by LIFE'SJOURNEY

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Before we get into specifics, let me clear something up, for everyone, 'cause it's such a common misconception.

If your girlfriend entered with a visa, which she did, but overstayed, she is out of status. If she entered without inspection, she is illegal. What's the difference? An illegal cannot adjust status, an out-of-status visitor or student can.

Why?

Because it's not a crime or even misdemeanor to be out of status. Say what? Yes, it's illegal to cross the border without inspection, but it's not illegal to overstay. The up-and-coming Arizona law is the first one that will make it a crime to be illegal in the state of Arizona. On any other state or Federal level such a law does not exist! For that reason people who overstay are not put in front of a judge, read their rights, charged with a crime, and sentenced to jail. They are just being removed like people who demonstrate and block the entrance to a building.

Another comparison. If you come home and some strange guy is in your house, he's guilty of breaking and entering. If you invited him to stay and he's just getting annoying, you ask him to leave and he leaves, he's guilty of nothing.

Now, let's look at your case. Under the aforementioned circumstances, your GF (or fiance) should have no problems to file for AOS. There is one caveat, however: since her appeal was denied it is possible that removal proceedings were initiated. You need to find that out! Secondly, yes, you should really wait until you become a US citizen, and she should try to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble under any circumstances. Which brings us to caveat number two. If you now learn that she is being ordered removed, and you guys live together, you are in a jamb. In order to stay out of trouble you need to find out without finding out yourself, if you catch my drift, as this may become an issue at your N-400 interview.

[worldpeace 0]

You will probably have to do a hardship wavier. Since we don't know what country she is from it is hard to say what your chances are.

She is from the Philippines.

JustBob, We will try to find out if she is under removal procedures and get back to you. If she is what does it mean? Will they be looking for her at work to arrest her? She doesn't live at the address on her USCIS record. That's her ex's address.

[canadian_wife 1,822]

If she was ordered removed but didn't, then you could enter into the realm of deportation absconder (depending on the circumstances). File and FOIA request (Freedom on Information Act) and find out if there are any orders against her.

Consult a qualified immigration attorney. Laurel Scott is fantastic - scottimmigration.net. She also has free immigration chats on Wednesdays

Good luck.

[Boiler 45,522]

She has work authorisation?

You did not mention that.

[worldpeace 0]

I called that 1-800-898-7180 number this morning, supposed to be some court system that handles deportations and stuff like that over the whole US, i entered her A# there and they had no record of it. She doesn't have a work permit, it got denied with the petition for AOS first time. She's been working with her social security only, paying taxes and everything.

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

Is it her SS#, because her SS card would have this statement on it, "Valid for work only with DHS Authorization". If her employer has hired her without checking for the EAD card, then they themselves have set themselves up for trouble.

[worldpeace 0]

Yes, that's what it says exactly, and also when she got hired she showed them her passport from her country and they put in their system as a 2nd form of ID US passport. Don't know why but it got her employed...

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

OK, correction, you meant Phil passport, not US passport as proof of ID. Did she come on a F1 student visa, exactly what does the wording of the second denial say?

How long ago this all of this taken place, has it just been over a year?

[worldpeace 0]

OK, correction, you meant Phil passport, not US passport as proof of ID. Did she come on a F1 student visa, exactly what does the wording of the second denial say?

How long ago this all of this taken place, has it just been over a year?

Sorry took so long to come back, been madly busy. She came on a J1 student visa. The second denial says her petition has been denied because they didn't submit any evidences. Says nothing about her having to leave the country and all this happened about 1 year ago. I have decided to wait until i get citizenship, get married, hire a lawyer and apply. We have overwhelming evidences, from bills, trips together, pictures with my family, been living together etc. They should base her second AOS application based on the current marriage, not a past one right?

[engineer21 51]

I think that, just looking at your case together, she should be able to adjust status through you.

An immigration lawyer once told me that overstaying a visa is usually forgiven.

Although..I don't know how much a previously denied case affects a new one

But what I want to point out is I would also tend to be worried about her continuing to work while unauthorized to do so.

Is she still a student and is she working on campus?

To my knowledge that is the only place a foreign student is allowed to work without supplemental work authorization.

My SS card has the same exact thing on it, and the only thing that would allow me to work off campus is if I had EAD (which would be the DHS autorization it's referring to)

If this is not the case, I really don't think she should continue working.