Visa/U.S. Citizen Help! Tips! Suggestions! - merged threads

[MrFluffles 0]

Hey all! Have a friend that needs help and was wondering if you guys can give me some useful suggestions on what to do.

My friend has a j1 visa at the moment and her term (right word?) expires sometime in April. I'm pretty sure she's gotten a extension already, but long story short she would like to become a citizen of the U.S.

Now I talked to some friends of mine and they suggested that she should re-up for Tourist Visa, mainly because, if at all possible, she would like to live her life and not be forced into attending classes she has no passion for.

So I went online and found out that a Tourist visa only lasts for 6 months. (A year if one is lucky) So we come full circle with my friend wanting to be a citizen. Do visas and a path to citizenship correlate in any way? If they do, how? Are there any other visa options for my friend to stay longer than 6 months? It seems crazy to me!

Thanks so much for any suggestions in advance!

[TwoCats 55]

Hey all! Have a friend that needs help and was wondering if you guys can give me some useful suggestions on what to do.

My friend has a j1 visa at the moment and her term (right word?) expires sometime in April. I'm pretty sure she's gotten a extension already, but long story short she would like to become a citizen of the U.S.

Now I talked to some friends of mine and they suggested that she should re-up for Tourist Visa, mainly because, if at all possible, she would like to live her life and not be forced into attending classes she has no passion for.

So I went online and found out that a Tourist visa only lasts for 6 months. (A year if one is lucky) So we come full circle with my friend wanting to be a citizen. Do visas and a path to citizenship correlate in any way? If they do, how? Are there any other visa options for my friend to stay longer than 6 months? It seems crazy to me!

Thanks so much for any suggestions in advance!

You, and your friend, may want to read over the information offered here: http://travel.state....types_1326.html

These are the only options for an immigrant visa, unfortunately.

Step 1 - In general, to be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S. lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer, and be the beneficiary of an approved petition filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For petition information visit the USCIS website. Learn about the different processes for the major immigrant categories, which are:

• Immediate Relative and Family Sponsored
  • Family Immigration
  • Marriage to a Foreign National
    • Spouse or Fiance(e) of U.S. Citizen
    • Spouse of Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) in U.S.

    [*]Adopting a Child

  [*]Employer Sponsored

  • Employment Visas

  [*]Special Immigrants

  • Employment: Iraqi or Afghan Translators/Interpreters
  • Employment: Iraqis - Worked for/on behalf of U.S. Government
  • Employment: Afghans - Worked for/on behalf of U.S. Government
  • Employment: Religious Workers

Diversity Visa Program - Visas provided are drawn from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Unlike other immigrant types, Diversity Visas (DV) do not require a U.S. sponsor, and therefore a petition is not needed.

Edited February 17, 2011 by TwoCats

[Anh map 2,098]

Your friend will not become a citizen for several years. The first thing they would want to explore is obtaining a green card or work visa. A person cannot work legally with a tourist visa.

Also, does their current J1 visa have a home residency requirement? If yes, then that has to be addressed as well.

*Moved from US Citizenship forum to General Immigration forum*

Edited February 17, 2011 by Anh map

[NickD 202]

If you are a guy with a couple of bucks, can marry her, but has to be for love, not to just let her stay here, that is fraud and you can end up in a federal prison. Then there is that 50,000 limit lottery, fat chance of that. Or a work visa is she is a movie star or some kind of genius with a locker full of degrees. If she has a close relative living here, they can petition for her, but may take years.

Is there any other way of staying here?

[MrFluffles 0]

You, and your friend, may want to read over the information offered here: http://travel.state....types_1326.html

These are the only options for an immigrant visa, unfortunately.

If you are a guy with a couple of bucks, can marry her, but has to be for love, not to just let her stay here, that is fraud and you can end up in a federal prison. Then there is that 50,000 limit lottery, fat chance of that. Or a work visa is she is a movie star or some kind of genius with a locker full of degrees. If she has a close relative living here, they can petition for her, but may take years.

Thanks for the information! I went through all the info and now I'm kinda spinning my wheels. lol. Seems like you need to be privileged or have family in the U.S. to become a citizen. Like, for a Green Card she would only fit into Employment Third Preference... but, I have a feeling most people only fit in that one as well.

She has enjoyed being a au pair and wishes to continue it. Which is cool, cause, how many people actually know what they want to do as a profession for the rest of their lives? The problem is, I cant see where au pair would also fit when it comes to work visas. (besides j1) Does a au pair fit anywhere else? Paying for college, her agency, and her everyday life (as a j1) does get expensive.

Thanks in advance for the continued help as well, starting to get steered in the right direction.

Edited February 17, 2011 by MrFluffles

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thanks for the information! I went through all the info and now I'm kinda spinning my wheels. lol. Seems like you need to be privileged or have family in the U.S. to become a citizen. Like, for a Green Card she would only fit into Employment Third Preference... but, I have a feeling most people only fit in that one as well.

She has enjoyed being a au pair and wishes to continue it. Which is cool, cause, how many people actually know what they want to do as a profession for the rest of their lives? The problem is, I cant see where au pair would also fit when it comes to work visas. (besides j1) Does a au pair fit anywhere else? Paying for college, her agency, and her everyday life (as a j1) does get expensive.

Thanks in advance for the continued help as well, starting to get steered in the right direction.

You don't need to be privileged. You need to be useful to the United States, or there needs to be a humanitarian reason for letting you become a permanent resident. An example of a useful person is someone who has a skill or talent that is needed in the United States, and for which there is a shortage of qualified US citizens or LPR's. An example of a non-useful person is someone whose skills qualify them for nothing more than an unskilled or minimally skilled job, and for which there are already a surplus of qualified US citizens or LPR's. This is not to say that such a person is "useless". It only means they are not useful to the United States, and would probably end up taking a job from an American.

A J1 is an exchange visitor, usually for people who want to benefit from learning a job skill in the United States. J1 visas for au pairs allow someone to attend classes while providing child care services for a host family in the US. There is no conventional work visa for an au pair because there is no shortage of child care workers in the US. Many J1 visas for au pairs have a 2 year home residency requirement (HRR), which mandates that the visa holder return to their home country for a minimum of two years before they can change their status to any other class of visa. Your friend needs to determine if the HRR applies to them.

If your friend wants to become a US citizen then she first needs to find a route to become a permanent resident. One way to do this is to get an advanced degree in a field where there are available jobs and a shortage of Americans to fill those jobs. An employer can then sponsor her for an H1B visa, which can lead to a green card. If she remains in the US for five years with a green card then she's eligible to apply for US citizenship.

Or, she could fall in love with a US citizen...

[NickD 202]

On the Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Has been kind of changed to give me your aggressive filthy rich that can afford our way overpriced homes. Banks are refusing to sell those over one million reprocessed home for what they have in them because they fear the real estate market will drop causing them to lose even more money.

Stepdaughter talks about gong back to her home country to finish school, its free! Tuition was increased by 22% this last year and talking about another 26% increase this coming here. Housing around the university is outrageous for a broken down dump, criminal, and with the high cost of energy, she is afraid to turn up the heat. Heating most of the town anyway in that dump we are paying over 500 bucks a month for. And utilities are extra. We looked everywhere, all the same.

With plant closings, very difficult for her even to find a miserable minimum wage part time job, no surplus of workers looking for work. She would like to come home for the weekends, but the price of gas is back up to $3.50 gallon and still going up. Was shocked when she mentioned returning back to her home country to hear her mom say, GO!

Several of my wifes' friends have recently returned to their home countries that came here legally, working their cans off just to pay property taxes. If are streets are paved with gold, just for our super rich and super rich controlled congress. Got me to start looking around, to gain admittance and buy a cheap nice home, only have to show a minimum of a thousand dollar per month income. That is triggering some thoughts. Especially now during tax time.

I am a third generation Italian living here, Italy wants me back, its food for thought.

[MrFluffles 0]

Hey all! I'm back, trying to help my friend figure out a way to stay in the states. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/296131-visaus-citizen-help-tips-suggestions/

I have been doing research since that post, and I'm pretty sure I maxed out the useful information that I can find on the net.

Here's my question, is there anyone we could go talk too see if there are any other options available for me and my friend that we missed? Is going to a immigration lawyer a good idea, or will they just try to sell us snake oil? Is there anyone you guys would suggest? Oh, we live around the Chicagoland area.

Again thanks all! Never knew how hard this stuff was until I met someone I cared about trying to stay here!

[Haarp425 26]

Hey all! I'm back, trying to help my friend figure out a way to stay in the states. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/296131-visaus-citizen-help-tips-suggestions/

I have been doing research since that post, and I'm pretty sure I maxed out the useful information that I can find on the net.

Here's my question, is there anyone we could go talk too see if there are any other options available for me and my friend that we missed? Is going to a immigration lawyer a good idea, or will they just try to sell us snake oil? Is there anyone you guys would suggest? Oh, we live around the Chicagoland area.

Again thanks all! Never knew how hard this stuff was until I met someone I cared about trying to stay here!

On your friend's J visa, does it show anywhere a check box for “subject to the two-year rule”?

If no checked box, then your friend is not subject to the 2 year rule. However, even if this box is checked, time and situation may have changed in which your friend's skills might not be in demand or too much supply of same skills in your friend's home country which could be used as a basis of not subject to the 2 year rule. If you are still not sure, I would go a reputable attorney. Some attorneys do not charge for consultation and some charge.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Duplicate threads on the same topic have been merged. It is not necessary to start up a new thread to continue discussion on a previous topic - just continue on the existing thread so everyone has all of the information in the same place and can offer the best advice.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Here's my question, is there anyone we could go talk too see if there are any other options available for me and my friend that we missed? Is going to a immigration lawyer a good idea, or will they just try to sell us snake oil? Is there anyone you guys would suggest? Oh, we live around the Chicagoland area.

Again thanks all! Never knew how hard this stuff was until I met someone I cared about trying to stay here!

The US has currently 310,800,000+ residents. If there was any way for people to immigrate to the US only based on the desire to work hard and pay taxes and live here without meeting the requirements for an immigrant visa, the population would be about 1,000,000,000 higher.

There's absolutely nothing an attorney could do for your friend, short of giving her a $1,000,000.00 personal loan at 0% interest. Either your friend:

- becomes the spouse of a US citizen,

- invests at least $1Mio in a new business (which also needs to employ a minimum of 10 people), or

- has an advanced degree that would make her so valuable to a US company that they would go through the process of sponsoring and labor certification because they can't find anybody here who can do what she can do (think brain surgeon, nuclear physicist), she's plain out of luck.

Sorry.

Edited February 26, 2011 by Just Bob