Overstay

[GnBnL 50]

Hi,

I have a friend who's about to start the K-1 process. She has an overstay only by a month or so, and I was once told by a lawyer that there is sort of a grace period for overstays, and for Canadians, they are more lenient. Anyone know if she needs to file with a lawyer? I thought no since she would have to fist file for K-1 before possibly being denied, then file a waiver? A lawyer she called quoted her $10-$15000!!!!!!! and told her "no problem" with the overstay... I told her to join up VJ asap and start getting her records in order. Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you VJ-ers for your endless support!

[S and P 9]

Do you know if they had any issues at the border?? If they have not, they should probably be fine.......my husband had an overstay and didn't require a waiver. They just need to be completely truthful to the amounts of time spent in the US on all of the paperwork.

[Nina~ 431]

Your friend need to ditch the lawyer asap because he is definitely taking her for a ride.

A) USCIS will NOT be lenient just because she is a Canadian.

B) There is very rarely a grace period for overstays, unless she was on an student or a work visa (and certain other visas). For those visas, there is usually a window of about 30 days for the person to gather their stuff and tie up loose ends before leaving the country. Otherwise there is NO grace period.

What visa did your friend overstay on?

[GnBnL 50]

no visa, she was just visiting. She has a border denial too, well, actually, the same as me, a voluntary withdrawal. Def needs to ditch the lawyer, she seemed relieved. I'm thinking it won't be an issue since she has not been in the country for a year. She didn't get a ban, and I'm assuming they would have instead of a voluntary? anyway, she's just getting started so she'll be here soon enough! S and P, how long was the overstay?

thanks for the help guys.

Should I just tell her to go ahead and file I-129F?

[S and P 9]

Do you know if they had any issues at the border?? If they have not, they should probably be fine.......my husband had an overstay and didn't require a waiver. They just need to be completely truthful to the amounts of time spent in the US on all of the paperwork.

just wanted to add.....that was our experience....we were worried about the overstay and got an attorney for the K1 process, and it turned out that we wasted our money, they didn't do anything we couldn't have done on our own.... no waiver was needed.... but I'm not positive it this is typical or if we just got lucky. Maybe someone else here has more info. to offer.

no visa, she was just visiting. She has a border denial too, well, actually, the same as me, a voluntary withdrawal. Def needs to ditch the lawyer, she seemed relieved. I'm thinking it won't be an issue since she has not been in the country for a year. She didn't get a ban, and I'm assuming they would have instead of a voluntary? anyway, she's just getting started so she'll be here soon enough! S and P, how long was the overstay?

thanks for the help guys.

Should I just tell her to go ahead and file I-129F?

he was in the US for 15 months.