Anyone have a fiance or fiancee from Tunisia

[Tunisianlover 0]

thats such a good question, I will find out on monday and will post after. Thanks everyone

[Jenn! 918]

Okay.

First things first.

It is not going to do you any good to pretend he wasn't in Italy for the time you lived there; aside from lying on an official form, it's going to make it impossible to talk about your relationship.. Don't even think about that.

Next:

Get the police certificate and the court records if you can. Not every crime makes you inadmissible. The 'standard' is 'crime indicating moral turpitude', and it's *roughly* the intuitive distinction we have between a felony and a misdemeanor, but the devil is in the details. (The U.S. is harsher on drug crimes than we would naturally think, and more lenient that we might think on certain regulatory crimes.)

You need to know what he was originally charged with, whether there was a plea, of what specific charge he was convicted, and what the maximum sentence could have been, as well as how he was actually penalized.

Then you need to consult with a lawyer, because immigration boards' advice are only as good as the number of members who have direct personal experience with it. Immigrate2us.net is another board that has more people dealing with these kinds of problems.

If your fiance turns out to be inadmissible, then you'll have the option of filing a waiver where you argue that relocating to Tunisia to be with him would constitute an extreme hardship to you. You'll submit that, and then some time later they'll approve or deny the waiver.

Yup.

The thing is that they're caught in a catch-22, IMO. Requesting the police certificate now while he's still in Italy will alert the police to his illegal presence, and he could be deported. If instead, he goes back to Tunisia before he requests the certificate, he could find out that what's on the certificate will complicate the whole process, and it's possible that he could be denied a waiver, in which case he'd be "stuck" in Tunisia.

The bottom line is that if you guys want to go through with this, he will have to go back to Tunisia at some point. Might as well be now.

Does one have to be legally present in a country to visit the consulate there? A number of people have reported that 'being illegal in one country has not matter to the US one bit', but it's unclear whether that was after or during a period of undocumented stay.

For most consulates, yes you have to be a legal resident in order for the consulate to process your visa. From what Christina says, it appears that Spain operates a bit differently. As far as just visiting the consulate to ask a question or something, I don't know. When people say that illegal stay in a country doesn't matter to USCIS, that means that having accrued illegal time in any country other than the U.S. in the past won't affect the outcome of your petition.

So, if he goes back to Tunisia, they won't hold his illegal time in Italy against him.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Jenn!

[Tunisianlover 0]

we are going back, I keep saying after we are approved. Unless I can get around it. I will be calling the embassy Monday.

[jpaula 20]

You already have alot on your plate, so I am hesitant to add more...But (always a but), I would prepare for the possibility of having to file a waiver. This adds alot of time and uncertainty to the process and also requires alot of work, so it is worth starting to think about now. While getting the police record is definitely the first step, it is up to the CO to determine if he is inadmissible due to that police record so you will never really know until your interview. You could get lucky, but I have seen many many cases denied and a waiver required for things you would not think were a very big deal (decades old shop lifting for ex). Have a look through www.immigrate2us.net. It is the best source for waiver info. Again, you may not need it, but from what you have said of your case so far I would at least be prepared.

I should add here that what you do not, not, not want to do is lie, through ommission or otherwise, during any part of the process. If you do not know all the details of what has happened, if your husband is not forthcoming with you this is the first thing to work on. Make sure you are BOTH honest in your answers. Easier to deal with the known than to have USCIS find out on their own.

Edited October 28, 2007 by jpaula

[Tunisianlover 0]

Fantastic advice and I will be getting prepared for it all.

[Jenn! 918]

You're welcome.