new to forms and really need advice

[ATCSTEVE 0]

Hello all.I will try to make this short,even though its a long story!!lol Anyway my wife came here about 24 years ago(illegally) and we got married 6 years ago.We had a lawyer file a i130 and it was approved in 2008.we didnt move forward on his advice of waiting on reform.Well my wifes father passed away this last weekend and against my better judgement she went back with her driver license to bury him.She thinks cause she speaks perfect english and is very white looking that she can come back .I called the lawyer and he is in another state not practicing law.I called the visa center and they said her i130 has been too long now.So i sent them a request to refile it.We are raising our granddaughter and i suffered a injury and really need her her to help our family,and i told them that and asked them to try to expedite the i130.I dont want her to try to come back across the border and risk this,but i heard it could take 6-8 months and no guarantee that she gets her paperwork approved anyway.Is there any chance she could come thru the border of nogales with a D.L.?Is there any other ways to try to get her back here sooner? Am i doing the right steps in sending the letter?Any help would be great,and thank you all in advance!

Edited September 10, 2011 by ATCSTEVE

[baron555 934]

Hello all.I will try to make this short,even though its a long story!!lol Anyway my wife came here about 24 years ago(illegally) and we got married 6 years ago.We had a lawyer file a i130 and it was approved in 2008.we didnt move forward on his advice of waiting on reform.Well my wifes father passed away this last weekend and against my better judgement she went back with her driver license to bury him.She thinks cause she speaks perfect english and is very white looking that she can come back .I called the lawyer and he is in another state not practicing law.I called the visa center and they said her i130 has been too long now.So i sent them a request to refile it.We are raising our granddaughter and i suffered a injury and really need her her to help our family,and i told them that and asked them to try to expedite the i130.I dont want her to try to come back across the border and risk this,but i heard it could take 6-8 months and no guarantee that she gets her paperwork approved anyway.Is there any chance she could come thru the border of nogales with a D.L.?Is there any other ways to try to get her back here sooner? Am i doing the right steps in sending the letter?Any help would be great,and thank you all in advance!

USCs need US Pasport to enter the US. I'm not sure a Mexican can enter with just a US DL?

[canadian_wife 1,822]

A driver's licence does not prove nationality. She'll likely need a passport - plus Mexican citizens need a tourist visa to visit the US

Regardless, her substantial overstay and illegal entry into the US makes her inadmissable, she won't be admitted into the US.

the absolute best thing she can do is wait in mexico until her interview, where she'll be denied and you'll submit the waiver. You'll need a lawyer to get through the waiver process

Good luck

[ATCSTEVE 0]

I want to wait for the i130 to be reinstated and then to try to get her paperwork done correctly.I can barley afford the filing fees and must do this on my own.anyother advice to take the next steps?thanks

[aleful 1,905]

Hello all.I will try to make this short,even though its a long story!!lol Anyway my wife came here about 24 years ago(illegally) and we got married 6 years ago.We had a lawyer file a i130 and it was approved in 2008.we didnt move forward on his advice of waiting on reform.Well my wifes father passed away this last weekend and against my better judgement she went back with her driver license to bury him.She thinks cause she speaks perfect english and is very white looking that she can come back .I called the lawyer and he is in another state not practicing law.I called the visa center and they said her i130 has been too long now.So i sent them a request to refile it.We are raising our granddaughter and i suffered a injury and really need her her to help our family,and i told them that and asked them to try to expedite the i130.I dont want her to try to come back across the border and risk this,but i heard it could take 6-8 months and no guarantee that she gets her paperwork approved anyway.Is there any chance she could come thru the border of nogales with a D.L.?Is there any other ways to try to get her back here sooner? Am i doing the right steps in sending the letter?Any help would be great,and thank you all in advance!

once she left, she triggered the 10 year ban, she will be denied at interview and will have to file the waiver and you will have to do the hardship letter.

you will have to prove that you will suffer greatly if she cannot come back and why you cannot move to her country.

if she tries to cross the border and enters, the same she has to return and she will get a 10 year ban without possibility of a waiver.

[ATCSTEVE 0]

so when i sent the letter for reinstatement for the i130 i included a hardship request telling them why.will i have to do that again? what would i do next after i get the i130 done again?sorry for dumb questions,im just lost and wanting to do things correct,as i have to do this without a lawyer.

[ATCSTEVE 0]

im just hoping since she got the first i130 approved that she will get it again,and i just wanted to be ready with whatever would be next,and have it all ready to try to speed this up as best i can.Thanks again for the help,i dont know what i would do without this site and all you kind and knowledgable people!!

[wshc 46]

You have a serious situation that will not be overcome easily if at all. I am not going to say that you need a lawyer at this stage, but you need much more information than an internet forum could provide to you.

Here are a few of the issues, and other posters have also correctly pointed issues -

Even with an expedite on the I-130, you have more paperwork to do. I am presuming that you are a US Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder). After the I-130 than you will need to do a DS-230, Application for Immigration visa as well as the supporting documentation such as an affidavit of support. Anything not in English will have to be officially translated as well as some original documents will have to be provided from the issuing authority (for example marriage certificate and birth certificate.)

But those are the smallest of your problems - your wife will be ineligible for entry in to the USA, and possibly a life time ban will be imposed that cannot be waived. Illegal presence of over 10 years is a life time ban, so you need to determine an exact timeline of when she entered the US illegally and went back and forth etc.. And what is documented and not documented. The USCIS will not help you with this and you don't want them to at this stage.

READ THE INA to see what the law says so that you are knowledgeable about the definition of illegal presence and when it applies, kicks in, how the days and years are counted, how leaving the country might reset the counter and things such as that before you submit any paperwork. And you cannot say anything different from you I-130 of a few years ago. It is still in their computer and any deviations could be considered fraud and you have even more serious problems.

I learned the hard way all of this Immigration bs and my wife of 27 years and I have been separated for over 14 months now and could be separated for at least another 6 months or more.

Good luck, be very careful, maybe got to the Catholic Immigrant Outreach Office in your area or the Lutheran Church. They will help without judging you.

One last thought - since she came here 24 years ago, that was about the time of the Regan Amnesty so she might have some possibilities under that law that is still on the books or the LIFE act, (google it)

Edited September 10, 2011 by wshc

[ATCSTEVE 0]

Ok,well that helps,but seems like a problem.What or where is the INA that you are talking about?Also if they don't expedite the renewal of our i130 about how long does that one take normally?Is the hardship of raising our granddaughter by myself and my injury,and only working part time going to be enough to qualify?If they don't know she went back last weekend,can that help us?Thanks again for all your help.

[wshc 46]

The best place to start is here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides

and here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

The second best place to start in the official web site for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

Do not look anywhere else right now. There are lots of scams out that make promises that can’t be kept. What they will keep is your money.

Then go to this page on their site –

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=1d383e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=1d383e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

This page is described below: (info direct from the page)

This page describes how you (a U.S. citizen) may petition for certain family members to receive either a green card, a fiancee visa or a K-3/K-4 Visa based on your relationship. (If your relative wishes to naturalize or obtain proof of citizenship, see the "Citizenship" section of our website.)

Read very carefully what it says about the I-130. The I-130 is just a starter and there is more to come once the I-130 is approved. Also, i-130 approval does not at all mean that your wife can enter the country. It is just for proof of your U.S. Citizenship and evidence of the qualifying relationship.

Follow this link to the section of the INA that you need to become familiar with

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.f6da51a2342135be7e9d7a10e0dc91a0/?vgnextoid=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=fa7e539dc4bed010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&CH=act

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

You have a serious situation that will not be overcome easily if at all. I am not going to say that you need a lawyer at this stage, but you need much more information than an internet forum could provide to you.

Here are a few of the issues, and other posters have also correctly pointed issues -

Even with an expedite on the I-130, you have more paperwork to do. I am presuming that you are a US Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder). After the I-130 than you will need to do a DS-230, Application for Immigration visa as well as the supporting documentation such as an affidavit of support. Anything not in English will have to be officially translated as well as some original documents will have to be provided from the issuing authority (for example marriage certificate and birth certificate.)

But those are the smallest of your problems - your wife will be ineligible for entry in to the USA, and possibly a life time ban will be imposed that cannot be waived. Illegal presence of over 10 years is a life time ban, so you need to determine an exact timeline of when she entered the US illegally and went back and forth etc.. And what is documented and not documented. The USCIS will not help you with this and you don't want them to at this stage.

READ THE INA to see what the law says so that you are knowledgeable about the definition of illegal presence and when it applies, kicks in, how the days and years are counted, how leaving the country might reset the counter and things such as that before you submit any paperwork. And you cannot say anything different from you I-130 of a few years ago. It is still in their computer and any deviations could be considered fraud and you have even more serious problems.

I learned the hard way all of this Immigration bs and my wife of 27 years and I have been separated for over 14 months now and could be separated for at least another 6 months or more.

Good luck, be very careful, maybe got to the Catholic Immigrant Outreach Office in your area or the Lutheran Church. They will help without judging you.

One last thought - since she came here 24 years ago, that was about the time of the Regan Amnesty so she might have some possibilities under that law that is still on the books or the LIFE act, (google it)

Where did you read that unlawful presence of more than 10 years results in a lifetime ban? The only unlawful presence bans I'm aware of are the 3-year ban for unlawful presence of more than 180 days, and the 10-year ban for unlawful presence of more than a year. She'd be subject to the 10-year ban.

She would only be eligible for the LIFE act if she'd had an approvable immigrant visa petition filed before April 30, 2001. She'd also need to still be in the US since the LIFE act only covers adjustment of status and not issuance of visas. I presume if she was eligible for adjustment under the LIFE act then their attorney wouldn't have told them to wait for immigration reform to file for adjustment of status. Anyway, that's water under the bridge - she's no longer in the US.

I think the OP's only course of action here is to wait for the I-130 to be approved while he works with a good lawyer on the I-601 waiver. That way his wife can present the I-601 waiver application at the visa interview, right after they deny the visa. The consulate in CDJ has a pilot program for rapid processing of I-601 waiver applications.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hello all.I will try to make this short,even though its a long story!!lol Anyway my wife came here about 24 years ago(illegally) and we got married 6 years ago.We had a lawyer file a i130 and it was approved in 2008.we didnt move forward on his advice of waiting on reform.Well my wifes father passed away this last weekend and against my better judgement she went back with her driver license to bury him.She thinks cause she speaks perfect english and is very white looking that she can come back .I called the lawyer and he is in another state not practicing law.I called the visa center and they said her i130 has been too long now.So i sent them a request to refile it.We are raising our granddaughter and i suffered a injury and really need her her to help our family,and i told them that and asked them to try to expedite the i130.I dont want her to try to come back across the border and risk this,but i heard it could take 6-8 months and no guarantee that she gets her paperwork approved anyway.Is there any chance she could come thru the border of nogales with a D.L.?Is there any other ways to try to get her back here sooner? Am i doing the right steps in sending the letter?Any help would be great,and thank you all in advance!

Almost forgot...

She can enter with a driver's license only if it was issued by a state that issues Enhanced Drivers Licenses that are in compliance with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The only states that currently issue WHTI compliant licenses are Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Washington. It's impossible to get a WHTI compliant drivers license without proof of lawful presence. The other acceptable entry documents are a US passport, US passport card, or a Trusted Traveler Program card (SENTRI, NEXUS, or FAST). Permanent residents can enter with their green card. Everyone else needs a passport and a visa or other entry permit.

How did she manage to get and maintain a drivers license without proof of lawful presence? The few states that will still issue a license without proof of lawful presence have been updating their laws to comply with the federal RealID act. Did she ever claim to be a US citizen?

[David79 7]

USCs need US Pasport to enter the US. I'm not sure a Mexican can enter with just a US DL?

No baron, thousands of Mexicans enter the US every day with no passport. She already has the experience apparently.

[wshc 46]

One more thing,

Listen to Jim, he is correct on all accounts and knows these things better than most immigration attorneys!!

Thanks for the correction Jim, the lifetime ban is for a few other things, such as pretending to be a US Citizen (fraud), which using a driver's license from a state that requires legal residency to obtain a driver's license could be seen as doing. That is to say, if your wife tried to cross the border with a driver's license a CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officer could see that as trying to present oneself as a US Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident, which could trigger a lifetime ban since it could be consiedered immigation fraud. (Then again you could get an Officer that waives you through and asks how was the trip. It is extremely risky because you don't know what you will get at the border.)

You may want to read this article to gain an insight in to the process:

http://www.borderimmigrationlawyer.com/home/2010/4/29/is-there-any-way-a-lifetime-ban-for-fraud-can-be-removed.html

Good luck in any case

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

The thing is this: she ain't coming back without an I601 waiver for a decade, legally. If she enters again without inspection she will again have no status to adjust from, but in this case, based on the second unlawful border crossing, she would not even be able to benefit from a wide-spread amnesty.

The only way is to file an I-130, wait for it to go to NVC and then to Juaraz, be present at the interview, then go the I-601 route with a professionally drafted waiver petition. They will still be separated for a year or two, and the gig will consume about $8,5K in attorney fees, but there is no plan B available.