I601A Warning

[Boiler 46,370]

12 hours ago, blondietuco said:

We got approved for an I601A waiver (wife).  She went for her consular interview at the US Consulate in Honduras.  During the interview, they informed her that she was inadmissable due to 2126E basically smuggling another person into the United States.  The person in question is her daughter that was 16mos old at the time.  After a number of discussions with my lawyer, she does not feel the element of financial gain exists for this to be a legitimate barring circumstance.  Needless to say, we are refiling, and there is a very likely chance we go to the back of the line, and have to get the 601A re-approved, as well as the 212 waiver approved.  I have been in touch with more lawyers, some have heard of this, some have not, but the Immigration Advocate at my congressman's office said it before I did.  Another lawyer told me it is happening very often in Ciudad Juarez as well.  Unfortunately, it looks like the Trump administration has left the I 601A in place as a means to get people to essentially self deport.

Whilst I think of it you were obviously screwed by your Lawyer.

 

1. There does not need to be a financial gain for this to apply, I would think the majority of waivers involve no financial gain as they are only available to immediate family who would have been unlikely to charge.

 

2. There is no I 601a reapproved.

 

3. Why does she need a I 212?

 

4. CDJ handles worldwide the largest number of waivers by far so yes.

 

5. Obama put in the I 601A, nothing has changed in its operation.

[Calicolom 266]

10 hours ago, geowrian said:

To be precise, the FAM applies here, not the AFM. The AFM is part of USCIS under DHS. The FAM is part of DOS, which handles visas.

Specifically, this situation is defined under 9 FAM 302.9-7(B)(5) (https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM030209.html)

"(CT:VISA-543;   03-27-2018)

(U) Encouraging, inducing, or assisting any other alien, even close family members, to enter the United States illegally can result in ineligibility y under INA 212(a)(6)(E). .  This is in contrast to the previous version of this law (INA 212(a)(31)) which was interpreted to exclude actions on behalf of close family members where the sole motive for the actions was family affection and not financial or other “gain.”"

 

Raises the question of why the lawyer was not familiar with the change as it was released to the public almost a full year ago.

Edit: I take that back. After some research, that provision has been there since at least 3/3/2016 (https://web.archive.org/web/20160417233010/https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM030209.html), which was during the prior president's term.

he will still believe the lawyer, he is paying the lawyer, so the lawyer must be right.

[Boiler 46,370]

Just now, Calicolom said:

he will still believe the lawyer, he is paying the lawyer, so the lawyer must be right.

Easy enough to check, lots of information out there.

[geowrian 22,338]

1 minute ago, Calicolom said:

he will still believe the lawyer, he is paying the lawyer, so the lawyer must be right.

You can lead a horse to water but cannot make it drink.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

3 hours ago, Boiler said:

The 1 601a came in about 6 years ago and gave people in the US with just the illegal presence issue basically a fast track method of avoiding the I 601 year of waiver processing.

 

As has been said it just applies to that and I have seen many many cases where the limitation has been misunderstood.

 

Having said that I am not sure about the smuggling aspect, I know that smuggling generally has no waiver except in this sort of case. I think I have seen this years ago.

 

You mentioned how they entered into Mexico, how did they enter the US? 

 

 

Yes, this! Did they come BACK to the US? How is going into Mexico smuggling??? (That the US government is interested in, anyway.) All the smuggling seems to be about ENTERING the US, not LEAVING it...

Edited February 28, 2019 by EM_Vandaveer

[geowrian 22,338]

2 minutes ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

Yes, this! Did they come BACK to the US? How is going into Mexico smuggling???

I just assumed they meant from Mexico into the US, given that they needed an I-601A and interviewed abroad they most likely EWI.

Back then, there was no fencing to stop cars and buses in some areas.

But it's a good question to raise as this was not clarified

[blondietuco 1]

4 hours ago, Boiler said:

The 1 601a came in about 6 years ago and gave people in the US with just the illegal presence issue basically a fast track method of avoiding the I 601 year of waiver processing.

 

As has been said it just applies to that and I have seen many many cases where the limitation has been misunderstood.

 

Having said that I am not sure about the smuggling aspect, I know that smuggling generally has no waiver except in this sort of case. I think I have seen this years ago.

 

You mentioned how they entered into Mexico, how did they enter the US? 

 

 

Boarded a bus in Mexico, and arrived in Brownsville.  Sorry if that was unclear.  Look, I am not trying to get into an armchair lawyer discussion, and was just trying to let people know my experience that is recent.  After this happened, I consulted several more attorneys, as well as the Immigration Aide with my Congressman.  All of them are saying this has started happening much more recently.  The lawyer I consulted with on Saturday even said that 19 year old Daca recipients are being denied because their younger age siblings were with them.  People can do what they want with the information.  

[blondietuco 1]

Okay, since the lawyer is "screwing me", give me the fix?  See, I'm not a lawyer, so any of you that have the solution, there's 5000 dollars in it for you.  Get my wife back in the country legally in 60 days.  My understanding is that the only waiver that can be applied for without leaving the country was the I601A, unlawful presence.  Could we have applied for the smuggling waiver from within the US as well?  If so, then well yes, the lawyer screwed me.  If not, we were going to have to have the separation regardless.  PM me if interested.  Hell do it in 30 and I'll give you one of my Rolexes.  I just want her back.

[geowrian 22,338]

58 minutes ago, blondietuco said:

Okay, since the lawyer is "screwing me", give me the fix?  See, I'm not a lawyer, so any of you that have the solution, there's 5000 dollars in it for you.  Get my wife back in the country legally in 60 days.  My understanding is that the only waiver that can be applied for without leaving the country was the I601A, unlawful presence.  Could we have applied for the smuggling waiver from within the US as well?  If so, then well yes, the lawyer screwed me.  If not, we were going to have to have the separation regardless.  PM me if interested.  Hell do it in 30 and I'll give you one of my Rolexes.  I just want her back.

Unfortunately, there was no way for her to gain legal status in the US without having to wait for an I-601 being filed & approved after the interview.

The point is that the lawyer really dropped the ball in not making this risk abundantly clear. We can debate how often it occurred in the past, but it has been a known risk for years. Unfortunately, now you're paying the price for their lack of awareness and/or clarity.

[Boiler 46,370]

54 minutes ago, blondietuco said:

Okay, since the lawyer is "screwing me", give me the fix?  See, I'm not a lawyer, so any of you that have the solution, there's 5000 dollars in it for you.  Get my wife back in the country legally in 60 days.  My understanding is that the only waiver that can be applied for without leaving the country was the I601A, unlawful presence.  Could we have applied for the smuggling waiver from within the US as well?  If so, then well yes, the lawyer screwed me.  If not, we were going to have to have the separation regardless.  PM me if interested.  Hell do it in 30 and I'll give you one of my Rolexes.  I just want her back.

Nobody is having a go, well I am not, just trying to explain the situation to you.

 

I do not know to what extent the smuggling thing has been applied before, I know I have seen it before a long time ago so certainly not something new, more common, who knows, my guess is that nobody who is not working at the Consulate could tell you.

 

There are Immigration Lawyers who specialise in this area, there used to be a web site covering mainly this, closed down a few years back.

 

Like I say I am out of touch but here is a web site from one Lawyer who does these and pretty much nothing else.

 

http://www.scottimmigration.net/content/i601memo

 

What should the Lawyer have done, well explain to you what the I 601A is and go through the case to discuss any other issues that may come up, smuggling in this case. So basically you can make an informed decision as to what to do.

 

You have the money and I can not help with your timeline, I would be inclined to speak to Laurel Scott or one of the others who does these just to make sure.

 

An I 601 takes a year or so, not that difficult to get but usually no way of speeding it up. If you had been aware of this being likely you could have it ready to go.

 

I realise this may not help but I have seen many cases where people have had multiple entries and did not know the consequences or thought nobody would know, that is 9C and no waiver available until you have been out 5 years.

[Boiler 46,370]

2 hours ago, blondietuco said:

Boarded a bus in Mexico, and arrived in Brownsville.  Sorry if that was unclear.  Look, I am not trying to get into an armchair lawyer discussion, and was just trying to let people know my experience that is recent.  After this happened, I consulted several more attorneys, as well as the Immigration Aide with my Congressman.  All of them are saying this has started happening much more recently.  The lawyer I consulted with on Saturday even said that 19 year old Daca recipients are being denied because their younger age siblings were with them.  People can do what they want with the information.  

I am not sure what that entails, but if she can show they were inspected, went through a Port of Entry, then that would negate the smuggling charge. Also if that was the case something a LAwyer should have considered because that means you can adjust inside the US.

 

I have seen that done, but very much depends on the specific circumstances, any evidence.

[blondietuco 1]

14 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I am not sure what that entails, but if she can show they were inspected, went through a Port of Entry, then that would negate the smuggling charge. Also if that was the case something a LAwyer should have considered because that means you can adjust inside the US.

 

I have seen that done, but very much depends on the specific circumstances, any evidence.

Couldn’t adjust from in the US due to an in absentia deportation order from May 2000. My lawyer was able to get ICE Chief Counsel to enjoin to re open and have those vacated. That is how we were able to consular process. 

[Boiler 46,370]

Just now, blondietuco said:

Couldn’t adjust from in the US due to an in absentia deportation order from May 2000. My lawyer was able to get ICE Chief Counsel to enjoin to re open and have those vacated. That is how we were able to consular process. 

Ahh, well that explains a bit more and raises more questions. Now to state the obvious we are not professionals in this area, and more importantly do not know the whole case.

 

Technically you could still do Consular processing, might also explain the I 212 reference as that covers Deportation, but then the I 601A does not.

 

With a Deportation Order there are other things that could arise but presume this was well before you were involved. How did she come to their attention? She seems to have come in without being stopped.

[Visitor User 253]

2 hours ago, blondietuco said:

Couldn’t adjust from in the US due to an in absentia deportation order from May 2000. My lawyer was able to get ICE Chief Counsel to enjoin to re open and have those vacated. That is how we were able to consular process. 

You mean they didn’t attend their NTA?

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

The plot thickens. You need to get a good attorney & prepare & file I-601 (&I-212, if necessary). Then wait. Is there any way that she can move to MX very close to the border & you can go live with her there while the waivers are processing? I believe many have done so in your situation (as well as those with permanent bans that can be waiverable after 10 years outside the US). I realize her being Honduran might complicate her living in MX, just an idea off the top of my head.