need urgent help please

[help :( 2]

hello, i am in need of some urgent assistance

i am a lawful permanant resident since February 2009. i married my husband in Australia and we had one son there. after 3 years i was granted my visa and migrated here.

Before we moved, i supported my husband in AU, and paid off $6,000 of his debt he had so we could have a fresh start. he promised many things including buying a house, showing me america and working while i raised the children, and told me i could continue my studies for my degree. he did say that for the first few months we would live with his parents while he went to a job he had arranged when we arrived.

I arrived in US and he had neglected to tell me his family lived in a FILTHY trailer that had faeces on the floor and dead animals in air ducts etc. (he told me they lived in a nice house)

i found out i was pregnant 2 months after arriving and was so upset/disgusted at the living arrangements i locked myself in the bedroom. after 6 months he told me he had gotten an apartment, so i thought we could finally begin life as planned, but immediately after we moved he changed. he kept all my documents & ID, would not give me a key to they apartment and was not allowed out unless he took me. He never bothered to look for work, and sold the childrens foodstamps for money so we always had not enough food and very poor quality things like hotdogs and macaroni.

After the baby was born he refused to file his dual citizen papers for australia so i cannot return there unless i leave him behind which i will not do.

he started school and used the school grants to buy expensive clothes and car audio for himself, and refused to take me to a doctor or dentist saying it was "a waste of money"

finally in february this year i caught him cheating on me and he said he was going to divorce me. after a while he said he would work things out and started being kind to me, letting me go to the grocery store, he bought me a pair of shoes and even let me see a dentist to have a badly abscessed tooth removed. but i found him secretly contacting immigration trying to deport me (which he cant do since im here legally)

Then in August i contacted an immigration lawyer and he found out and injured me when he tried to take my phone away so i couldnt call for help.

I filed a protection order against him which ordered him out of the house, but he somehow had it ammended so that he could stay so i took my eldest son and stayed in a domestic violence shelter (he had taken the baby to his sisters when he found out about the protection order so i was unable to get him back for 2 weeks)

It went to court and i had an attorney appointed by the shelter. i was awarded the apartment, but he was given temporary custody of the boys since he had foodstamps and his family vouched they would support him while i had no means of getting food.

He then breached the protection order and police were called, causing my attorney to withdraw and while i was in the shelter he emptied and closed the joint bank account.

i am now in DESPERATE need of legal help. He does not bring the children to me on time as ordered (i get them in day, he has them overnight)and i found out he has another bank account i did not know about with nearly $6,000 in it. Where can i get a GOOD lawyer to help me enforce the affidavit of support and that can help in the divorce so that i can get on my feet again?

i live in Howard County in Indiana, and there are very few lawyers available, and none that will take the case without retainer

[jkelly07 120]

did you fil file to remove conditions yet,he is respondsable for you he signed the affidavit of support,go to the welfare dept in your area ask for help food stamps a check,or section 8,report him to uscis, and keep all records of every thing,sorry your having this trouble, good luck to you,

[help :( 2]

did you fil file to remove conditions yet,he is respondsable for you he signed the affidavit of support,go to the welfare dept in your area ask for help food stamps a check,or section 8,report him to uscis, and keep all records of every thing,sorry your having this trouble, good luck to you,

how do i file to remove conditions? i didnt know i had any conditions.

am i allowed to apply for foodstamps? i dont want to be deported for being a public charge

[Boiler 45,942]

There seems no immigration issues, sounds like she has her GC and could be a citizen by now.

Getting benefits as a single adult is difficult to impossible.

Go back to the shelter and see if they will re-arrange the lawyer?

[help :( 2]

There seems no immigration issues, sounds like she has her GC and could be a citizen by now.

Getting benefits as a single adult is difficult to impossible.

Go back to the shelter and see if they will re-arrange the lawyer?

there are no immigration issues, i can apply for citizenship in 3 years

custody has not been finalised so i may be able to apply as a single parent...but i dont want to become a public charge

the shelter has exhausted all resources and me and my case manager are desperately trying to find help. I want to find out how to go about petitioning for the affidavit of support in order to pay for a good lawyer and set myself up

[Boiler 45,942]

Are you working?

[help :( 2]

Are you working?

no. i have been at home raising our 2 children.

he also has all my documents/greencard/social security card and i have no means of transport so looking for work is extremely hard

[az110965 252]

[quote name=help ' timestamp='1322883168' post='5035397]

how do i file to remove conditions? i didnt know i had any conditions.

am i allowed to apply for foodstamps? i dont want to be deported for being a public charge

You can NOT be deported for receiving means tested benefits.

[help :( 2]

You can NOT be deported for receiving means tested benefits.

really? he had said i could be deported if i got government assistance.

i guess that was another lie

[Nina~ 431]

File a police report saying that your documents were stolen. Then you can contact the SSN & USCIS to request new cards.

Have you tried contacting the Catholic Charities in your area for legal help?

http://www.indianajustice.org/Home/PublicWeb/LegalSvcs/byCounty

Here is a link for free/low cost attorneys in Howard County. As an LPR, you have just about the same rights an USC and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[help :( 2]

File a police report saying that your documents were stolen. Then you can contact the SSN & USCIS to request new cards.

Have you tried contacting the Catholic Charities in your area for legal help?

http://www.indianajustice.org/Home/PublicWeb/LegalSvcs/byCounty

Here is a link for free/low cost attorneys in Howard County. As an LPR, you have just about the same rights an USC and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

no, i hadnt thought about charities..thankyou =) ill look into that

i looked at that site already and it just gives legalaid and one that couldnt help

i thought i had limited rights... my husband always said i have no rights until i get citizenship. until then i have to rely on him to get anything. im going to call immigration on monday, and see what my rights are...

thankyou =)

[Boiler 45,942]

You can NOT be deported for receiving means tested benefits.

Begs the issue of what means tested benefits.

I have seen one case of where a divorce involved the affidavit of support, there the wife could show that she was unable to mitigate her loss by obtaining a job.

It is very very unusual.

Sounds like what you really need is a divorce lawyer.

[mr and mrs 187]

As an LPR, you have just about the same rights an USC and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

reread this comment ten times. this is the first thing you need to remember. you have more rights than you have been led to believe.

you do not need him to do this. the money issue may make this harder, but you will find a way!

keep us posted. i want to know when you get your happy ending!

[ceadsearc 516]

You won't be deported for using means tested benefits but if you aren't eligible then you probably will be denied when you apply. Otherwise, the government can go after your husband for the money to pay it back.

The affidavit of support is not to support you, though. It's a contract between him and the government. Even with a great lawyer your chances are slim to none of getting him to support you based on that affidavit.

Try to find a family lawyer who does free consultations or contact a place like Catholic Charities for assistance. This is a family law issue, not an immigration one.

[Justine+David 218]

It is ILLEGAL for him to keep your green card away from you. You need to get that back so that you can get a job (or get child support via a divorce order?). I don't know about all the resources that you can get, but you need to dump this guy and fast. He is NO good for you OR your children.

And yes, you have nearly all the rights of a US citizen. The exceptions are that you can't vote or take public office and maybe a few minor other things. But you have about 99% of the same rights as an American citizen.

He sounds like a ####### and I hope you can get out of that situation because it sounds like he is manipulating you for his own ends. Please do not give into him, for your sake and your children's sakes. Do you have family or a support system in Australia? What do they say?

Now to get to the green card question: When you got your green card, how many years were you married? If it was more than 2, then you should be okay and don't have to remove conditions, like a previous poster had said.

Edited December 3, 2011 by Justine+David