No Greencard for 8 years

[Godhelpme 0]

Ugh, I can't marry any one else...I have a question though, everyday im researching... If they accepted our I-140 arn't im allowed to get a Green Card through employment?

[Dakine10 5,452]

Ugh, I can't marry any one else...I have a question though, everyday im researching... If they accepted our I-140 arn't im allowed to get a Green Card through employment?

An approved I-140 makes an immigrant visa available to you. You still must meet the eligibility requirements. Since your status was not maintained, you were not able to adjust status in the USA. If you have more than 180 days out of status, you would not eligible under any circumstances.

When you file an I-140, you specify either adjustment of status (as you did) or consular processing, which means when the visa is current, USCIS will forward it to the consulate in your home country and your case is processed there. You can switch between the AOS and CP while your case is pending but not after it has been adjudicated.

It sounds like your I-140 and I-485 were file concurrently (at the same time). It would be a mistake to do that from a B1 visa and it sounds like that is what happened to you. Hopefully your attorney knows some other facts that you do not. Otherwise you had a motion to reopen denied and an appeal denied. It's just prolonging the inevitable.

[Godhelpme 0]

Dakine: thank you so much. Im just going to ask you a simple question.. what are my chances of the appeal to be accepted? Like i said, my lawyer is filing a writ of mandamus

[cookieandcream 10]

To my knowledge a writ of mandamus would be to compel USCIS take care of your case for something that is owed to you, I think it's usually used for major delays.

Can you ask your lawyer what's the ground for this?

I don't see where your lawyer is taking you to be honest.

[Godhelpme 0]

Cookie: I really can't believe there are people actually replying to me, I really want to thank all of you!

Yes, the mandamus is because our Greencard is delayed, I guess. I remember when I talked to my lawyer on the phone, she was really mad, she was like "they should have let you settle a long time ago!" and that she was going to a higher court..., now I havn't talked to my lawyer for almost a month, next week, this day, will be exactly a month, so I will e-mail her than and ask her what is up with the case... But she said something like that she is going to approach immigration with a proposed settlement first though because they don't like to be sued in federal court.

[belinda63 3,047]

Correct a writ of mandamus is just a way of forcing the court to make a ruling, it has nothing to do with the actual case itself other than that. Usually it gives the government a certain amount of time (usually 60 days) to rule on the case. The good thing is it will be over one way or the other soon.

[Godhelpme 0]

So when you say it has nothing to do with the actual case what are they "ruling", what are they doing, can you please explain more! I really need to know this!

[Dakine10 5,452]

Dakine: thank you so much. Im just going to ask you a simple question.. what are my chances of the appeal to be accepted? Like i said, my lawyer is filing a writ of mandamus

Based on what you have posted, I don't think the appeal can succeed. As you said, a motion to reopen was denied, and an appeal was previously denied.

You should ask your attorney what she is trying to accomplish. Appealing the fact that the fees were not late doesn't change anything because you were already out of status. Like I said, the best we can hope for is that the attorney knows something else about your case that you do not.

[katgrl 14]

100% agree with Dakine. Sorry you are in this situation, but some of your story doesn't make sense anyway. Sounds like your first lawyer may have messed up with the visa, but then again it is your responsibility to make sure you are valid. An overstay on a visa is overlooked/forgiven by marriage to an USC which would not apply in your case. My husband overstayed his visa and his sister (an USC) petitioned for him using the I-130. The I-130 was approved but he was ineligible to adjust his status because of his overstay. It's the same situation as yours. Right now, you and your lawyer are just prolonging the outcome, which will be your appeal will not be granted.

[Abdulinlove 1]

PLEASE GO BACK TO INDIA.IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF OVERSTAYS LIKE YOU IMMIGRATION IS SO HARD FOR US.PLEASE GO BACK.AND IF YOU MARRY A WOMAN TO GET YOUR GREENCARD YOUR #### IS BUSTED FOR GOOD. SO PLEASE PLEASE GO BACK

Me, my wife and 2 of my sons came to Houston, Texas in December 2003 fron India on a B1 visa, we applied for Permenant Residence, basically to gain our green card. Since that we have gained our Social Security Number and a Workers Permit. Our visa expired in Februrary 2004, our old lawyer never told us about the H1 visa and he never changed it, but like said before we managed to get our Social Security and Workers Permit in early 2008. Later in 2010 they denied our I-485, we applied through Labor, through a resturant. They denied for some reasons and one reasion was that we payed the amount of $475.00 late for I-140 fees (our I-140 was still was accepted), which is false because my lawyer has a receipt that shows that we have paid on time. Now since the deny, we can't renew our Workers Permit or our Driver License. My son is turning 16 soon and he always asks for a car, what can I tell him? Before I knew this problem, I enrolled him in Drivers ed, 3 days later he got a slip to get his Drivers Permit, but they denied it because his Workers Permit wasn't valid for more than 6 months, we were literally a week late. My lawyer is now filing a writ of mandamus. I work 11 hours a day, in my whole life, I havn't worked ever this hard, I always owned a business, but these laste 8 years have been the worst, I can't own a business because I might loose it, everyday I come home from work im a dead man in a living body. My 2 brothers had died and I couldnt go to their funerals in India, my wife's mom is always telling her when is she going to see her grandchildren, I might die soon, I am completely speechless, I see other people coming and gaining citizenship in 2 years or so... We have our case in appeal...My and my wifes drivers license expire on our birthdays in 2012, basically if nothing happens before our birthdays we are pretty much dead. What should I do? Do you think the writ of mandamus will be a success? I really don't want to move back, neither do my kids. There is literally nothing I can do but wait, bills keep coming from the lawyer and nothing is happening. Sometimes I even think if there is a God, but God help me!

[Little_My 464]

Eh.. I don't think there is any reason for that type of a response. The OP obviously had not familiarized himself with immigration laws and regulatiosn well enough before getting into this situation, but they have filed paperwork and hired a lawyer in attempt to be here legally. Yes, he should have been aware of the policies and procedures himself - but it doesn't seem to me that he purposly tried to go around the system and illegally or through deception gain a residence permit in the US.

Immigrating to the US would be a mess of bureaucracy with or without people who overstay, and I doubt the waiting times would really go down even if people suddenly entirely stopped overstaying their visas. It's not as if DHS, or USCIS for that matter, is spending their time running around the country chasing down people who have overstayed their welcome in the US, unless that particular person happens to be in some type of a "most wanted" - list as well.

I am not saying that overstaying a visa is a good thing, or necessarily "acceptable" - I am all for proper planning, reading instructions and guidelines and being aware of the responsibilities and limitations attached to any piece of legal paperwork. However,I don't think there is any reason to attack the OP on this issue. He came, he filed for a green card, he overstayed, now he is trying to figure out whether or not he can legally stay here.

According to my knowledge, no one here is an immigration judge. No need to get nasty.

[Godhelpme 0]

Thank you Mrs. Finland for the great response and Dakine and Kat. Every person on this post have said that my appeal would be denied...I might as well quit and just sit here.... Thanks I guess, really gave me a lot of information!

[cookieandcream 10]

Don't "quit" but look at the best solution, you can't just stay here and be in this situation, it's not a life and most definitely not for your children.

If you don't mind me asking how old are you? Life is long and full of surprise!

You should look into immigrating legally somewhere else or going back to your home country, in 10 years you could probably be able to come back legally, try to send your kids to america to study, they might win the DV lottery or marry someone live here permanently.

I really think sometimes it's hard to leave a difficult situation because it feels like we might land somewhere worse, It's time for a new path and I am pretty confident you'll be a lot happier being a legal resident somewhere else. I wish you the best to you and your family

Edited April 18, 2011 by cookieandcream

[Dakine10 5,452]

Thank you Mrs. Finland for the great response and Dakine and Kat. Every person on this post have said that my appeal would be denied...I might as well quit and just sit here.... Thanks I guess, really gave me a lot of information!

As I said though, ask your attorney for the reason she thinks the appeal might work. It doesn't look good, but after all she is an immigration attorney and we are not.

[Little_My 464]

And just to bring this up once again - if your children are not yet 18, they have not yet started accumulating overstay for themselves, which means that they won't occur a ban when they leave the US (you and your wife will, though). As long as they leave before they turn 18, they are free to apply for visas to the US in the future - come back to visit as a tourist, or for example apply to school here and enter with a student visa.

I don't know about your chances with the appeal - but I do agree with the others, if the appeal was denied before and nothing has changed since then, I don't know how it wouldn't be denied again.