confused

[fickbo 0]

ok, I have been married for 5 years to a Costa Rican National, she was caught working Illegally in 1994, her husband left her pregnant, so the judge told her she did not have to leave until the baby was 3 months old, she did not leave, I met her in 1999 (i am us citizen), married in 2001, we have a child together. my wife and our 3 US children are now in Costa Rica due to info we got from a laywer saying that if they pulled her over she would be taken away, so we moved to Costa rica. I have been told that she will have a 10 year bar from returning to the US. She left 06/2006, So, question is do I waste the $$ on the I-130 and have it denied or what do I do? please give me guidance

fickbo

[kitkat1 5]

It is not the petition for your wife that will be denied, it's the visa. Your first step is to file the petition in the US (you can use a family member's US return address and send it fed ex from CR or find out if Direct Consular Filing is available in CR). You must tell the truth on all of the forms by law. USCIS will still approve the petition with her having been illegal.

Once she has her interview, she will be denied for having been illegally present in the US for more than six months and you will be required to submit a 601 waiver and hardship letter providing extreme hardship to you, the USC, if her visa is ultimately denied and you are forced to relocate permanently to CR.

Check out the 601 forum on immigrate2us.net for examples of hardship letters, etc.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/ineligib...ities_1364.html

ALIENS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT.-

(i) In general.-Any alien (other than an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence) who-

(I) was unlawfully present in the United States for a period of more than 180 days but less than 1 year, voluntarily departed the United States (whether or not pursuant to section 244(e)) prior to the commencement of proceedings under section 235(b(1) or section 240, and again seeks admission within 3 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal, or

(II) has been unlawfully present in the United States for one year or more, and who again seeks admission within 10 years of the date of such alien's departure or removal from the United States,is inadmissible.