starmanT

My apologies if my response didn't clear things up. I'll try and give a better timeline. My sister was born in India in 96, my family moved to the US a year after that. Their visa status was all good right up till sometime around 2010, after that there were some work issues with my dad which caused them to go out of status. So they were out of status for about a year max (I think it was just 4-6 months but assuming a year since I don't have the facts). The issue about not knowing these dates is that there isn't a paper trail. I believe my dad has the documents but it's going to be next to impossible getting them from him, that is why I posted here looking for alternatives to find out the exact dates and what exactly happened.

Is it advisable to petition for GCs, if they aren't coming long term? For my mom, I was planning to apply for GC once my income and job is a little more stable, since I was hoping to have her live with me. However, my sister is well settled in India with her own family and only wants to come for a vacation.

Thank you for your response. My apologies if it wasn't clear in the post, they were here for longer than 2 years. They came in 1997 and stayed till 2010-2011. Can you elaborate what B means? Can you also explain why 245i doesn't make sense for those dates. I did not know that I could look up the i94 online, thank you for informing me of that.

Thank you for the advice. I will speak to them about this and give it more thought.

Thanks for the information. Will doing a FOIA request give me information like dates they overstayed and whether 245i was paid or not? My apologies if this is a stupid question, I don't have much knowledge about FOIA or visa processes. My home country is India.

15 years ago (I think sometime between 2008-2010), my family overstayed their visa. I'll try and give some background. So I'm a US citizen, but my mom, sister and father are not, my dad came on a H1B and my mother on the spousal version of that. My dad is <abusive>, so my mom was kept in the dark about a lot. She doesn't know what exactly happened and it's next to impossible to get details out of him. The things I know, I found out after many many long discussions with him and I really don't want to deal with him any more. They had applied for their green card and were in the 'waiting' period of it (I think you're not supposed to leave the country during that time). Then there was some situation, where their visa expired and they overstayed. I believe it was for a couple months. He claims he paid for something called 245i where you pay for the months you overstayed. So there was no penalty (his words but again he's very untrustworthy) but I also know they were banned from entering the country for 10 years after this (again his words). We are past that 10 years period now. After those months when they overstayed, my family moved back to their home country and they haven't been back since. I grew up, came to the US for university and am working here now. When all this happened my sister and I were kids (she was around 12-13). My sister has applied for a tourist visa but I'm sure when she goes for her interview they will ask her about all this. She has no intentions of moving here and she's well settled in our home country. My question is, is there any way I could request records for her and my mom, in the US, to find out exact dates and stuff when they overstayed? We are going to consult a lawyer but I'm sure they will also ask for details about this. We don't have any paper trails or anything so it's very difficult to get those dates. They both have social security cards. If I do a FOIA request, would that help? Conversely, would doing that negatively impact her application in any way? Any advise is appreciated