kevinkris
07-31 04:50 PM
Why do you need to go to Canada ? If your you have I797 you are approved and can start working with adjustment of status. Am I missing something ?
Hi, I am planning to goto india and i don't want to visit US Embassy in Chennai as i am working for a small consulting company. They will ask so many things.
I hope canada will be smooth.
My question is if US embassy in Canada don't want to extend my H1 will they cancel my current H1? Can i re-enter USA?
Hi, I am planning to goto india and i don't want to visit US Embassy in Chennai as i am working for a small consulting company. They will ask so many things.
I hope canada will be smooth.
My question is if US embassy in Canada don't want to extend my H1 will they cancel my current H1? Can i re-enter USA?
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mihird
03-15 10:50 AM
As such residency on h1b is extremely in recent times so I guess same is with fellowship.
You meant, getting residency on h1b is extremely 'difficult' in recent times? Anyways, if your wife has once got a residency on H1, getting a fellowship on H1 should not be that difficult. Hospitals are much easier on physicians that are already on a H1 status...its the same as its the case with IT employers...once on a H1, its easier to move around on a H1..
Just like my wife, your wife too now has sufficent H1 years to get through both residency and fellowship, I guess, so running out of time is not a problem either.
Only thing, people like you and me need to worry about is what if the residency is pursued at a non-profit (quota exempt H1) and wife decides to pursue fellowship at a for-profit (quota H1).
In that scenerio, fellowship on a H1 might be a bit of a problem...
I suggest, if your wife has already started residency on H1, avoid thinking of getting onto a J1 ever.
You will unnecessarily complicate her immigration profile...
You meant, getting residency on h1b is extremely 'difficult' in recent times? Anyways, if your wife has once got a residency on H1, getting a fellowship on H1 should not be that difficult. Hospitals are much easier on physicians that are already on a H1 status...its the same as its the case with IT employers...once on a H1, its easier to move around on a H1..
Just like my wife, your wife too now has sufficent H1 years to get through both residency and fellowship, I guess, so running out of time is not a problem either.
Only thing, people like you and me need to worry about is what if the residency is pursued at a non-profit (quota exempt H1) and wife decides to pursue fellowship at a for-profit (quota H1).
In that scenerio, fellowship on a H1 might be a bit of a problem...
I suggest, if your wife has already started residency on H1, avoid thinking of getting onto a J1 ever.
You will unnecessarily complicate her immigration profile...
RSM1444
04-04 02:05 PM
Some body with priority date of Dec 2008 voted yes. It looks like some confusion.
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webm
09-10 05:31 PM
Even i'm in the similar situation..
Online status,CRIS email says AP approval notice mailed on Sep2nd,2009 (TSC), but still haven't received it on hand..
We never know this crazy CIS system...May be have to wait till 30days and call the customer service.:(
Online status,CRIS email says AP approval notice mailed on Sep2nd,2009 (TSC), but still haven't received it on hand..
We never know this crazy CIS system...May be have to wait till 30days and call the customer service.:(
more...
fromnaija
10-05 12:49 PM
On the flip side, I know people who have gotten selected in DV the very first time. Like you said, that's why it's called a lottery. Anything can happen.
Does anyone know if it makes any difference if you file early or late? I know it's supposed be completely random but does anyone have any theory on how you might have a better chance? My take is that if you file too early (first few days) and if (with a big if) there is a bug in system then your application might get lost. So let the bugs be fixed in first few days and then file.
This is my strategy. I play my entry in the early weeks and play my wife's entry towards the end.
Does anyone know if it makes any difference if you file early or late? I know it's supposed be completely random but does anyone have any theory on how you might have a better chance? My take is that if you file too early (first few days) and if (with a big if) there is a bug in system then your application might get lost. So let the bugs be fixed in first few days and then file.
This is my strategy. I play my entry in the early weeks and play my wife's entry towards the end.
ponvas
08-10 05:24 PM
This mustang may be GC or citizen holder already . Want to have fun with people who are crying for help!!!
more...
s416504
03-07 01:52 PM
My friend went to Boston Airport ->Immigration/custom Office next day for correction. His father came on B1 visa but they put wrong month on I-94. That office corrected that immediatly. There must be something at every international airport.
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gc4me
04-23 10:16 AM
Is this true?
I-140 belongs to your employer and so USCIS only sends to your employer/attorney. For me, they sent it to my employer/attorney.
If your 140 is filed under premium. Just relax and have fun with your family. You will get approved 140 at your home in a week. Good part of the story is, I-140, USCIS sends to your home not to lawyer. :)
I-140 belongs to your employer and so USCIS only sends to your employer/attorney. For me, they sent it to my employer/attorney.
If your 140 is filed under premium. Just relax and have fun with your family. You will get approved 140 at your home in a week. Good part of the story is, I-140, USCIS sends to your home not to lawyer. :)
more...
ufo2002
09-11 04:48 PM
The BPCs fall under USCIS control? I didn't know that, thought all Labor-stage processing belongs exclusive under DOL.
--------------
not true,, the DOL does not do labor certification for backlogged cases anymore..this work has been transferred over from the State workforce agencies/state departments of labor to the backlog reduction centers..So....while, the DOL is a seperate agency, the labor backlogs is no longer handled by them, it is handled by the BPC..
--------------
not true,, the DOL does not do labor certification for backlogged cases anymore..this work has been transferred over from the State workforce agencies/state departments of labor to the backlog reduction centers..So....while, the DOL is a seperate agency, the labor backlogs is no longer handled by them, it is handled by the BPC..
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bidhanc
03-06 10:57 PM
Same here. We submitted 485 on Jul2 without our medicals and some other major documents like birth certificates etc. Have had not issues till now. Got our receipt notices for 485, AP & EAD. Also got our EADs pretty quickly.
Wondering whether one can mail in the missing docs (including medical) with the 485 receipt instead of waiting for the RFE. Any ideas?
Hi stu*
Did you get an answer whether we can send the medical papers to USCIS now with I-485 receipts?
Would it work?
Anyone??
Wondering whether one can mail in the missing docs (including medical) with the 485 receipt instead of waiting for the RFE. Any ideas?
Hi stu*
Did you get an answer whether we can send the medical papers to USCIS now with I-485 receipts?
Would it work?
Anyone??
more...
newlife2
09-19 10:18 PM
Guys, I was just laid off and have efiled i539 3 days after the termination date for a status change to F2. Now working on the application letter. Do you think I should mention the layoff in the letter?
If I do mention it:
Con: The layoff might quickly catch the eyes of the immigration officer and if he want to check my status, he could find out the 3 days OOS.
Pro: My previous job was well paid. By mentioning it, I give the reason that why I want to stay at home as F2 instead of keeping the well paid job.
I guess I will mention it in the letter to explain the whole situation and hope everything will be all right. Let me know if anybody disagrees asap, I will mail out the stuff with in next two days.
If I do mention it:
Con: The layoff might quickly catch the eyes of the immigration officer and if he want to check my status, he could find out the 3 days OOS.
Pro: My previous job was well paid. By mentioning it, I give the reason that why I want to stay at home as F2 instead of keeping the well paid job.
I guess I will mention it in the letter to explain the whole situation and hope everything will be all right. Let me know if anybody disagrees asap, I will mail out the stuff with in next two days.
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somegchuh
10-31 01:39 PM
just as FYI, they mailed back the original 797 with the passport.
more...
house Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez
mheggade
05-08 03:54 PM
Call you Zoolander! :D
Fashion models and nurses have one thing in common. Both professions are dominated by females. I think the Congress critters (mostly elderly males) are simply looking for new exotic foreign opportunities. Dates with Java programmers? Not so interesting, sorry! :p
PS: my java coding is being a pain in the butt today.
How do u know all congress critters are looking out for females? Have you not heard the story of the infamous Senator from Idaho :D
Fashion models and nurses have one thing in common. Both professions are dominated by females. I think the Congress critters (mostly elderly males) are simply looking for new exotic foreign opportunities. Dates with Java programmers? Not so interesting, sorry! :p
PS: my java coding is being a pain in the butt today.
How do u know all congress critters are looking out for females? Have you not heard the story of the infamous Senator from Idaho :D
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4greencard
05-27 11:37 AM
How will the new bill affect the I-485 processing time?
Does anyone know the minimum and maximum times required for I-485 processing?
What type of factors delay the I-485 processing?
Let us say A filed for I-485 on the day 1 of the month when PD becomes current, B on the 15th day and C on the last day. Does this mean that A will get greencard first, B next and C last?
Thank you in advance for your information.
Does anyone know the minimum and maximum times required for I-485 processing?
What type of factors delay the I-485 processing?
Let us say A filed for I-485 on the day 1 of the month when PD becomes current, B on the 15th day and C on the last day. Does this mean that A will get greencard first, B next and C last?
Thank you in advance for your information.
more...
pictures Justin Bieber amp; Selena Gomez:
BEC_fog
04-23 10:55 AM
Yes, that means your I-140 is "filed" under EB2...But note that USCIS can always comeback & say it "can" or "can not" be approved under Eb2 based on the job description in Labor.
In rare scenarios, USCIS comes back with a "NO" to Eb2, especially if the JOB description in Labor does not suit an Eb2 requirement. But in 99% of the cases, its fine (because, attorneys normally don't file it under Eb2 if its not one).
All the best!!
I read this on immigration-law.com which says that USCIS lost a lawsuit about its ability to look into the employer's requirement for job.
04/17/2007: Jurisdictions for USCIS and DOL in the Labor Certification Employment-Based Immigration
* In the labor certification based immigration proceedings, there are two federal agencies involved: One is the Department of Labor and the other is Department of Homeland Security USCIS. The immigration statutes give the jurisdiction of the U.S. labor market test government function over to the U.S. Department of Labor and one of the key elements of the labor market test is the description and requirement of jobs and prevailing wage in the intended area of employment. Accordingly, when it comes to the issue of the employer's requirement for job, it has remained the jurisdiction of the USDOL. However, sometimes, the USCIS, in adjudicating I-140 immigrant petitions, tends to overstep into the issues which clearly fall under the jurisdiction of its sister agency, DOL.
* Well, this jurisdictional issue was brought to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 7th Circuit in Hossier Cares, Inc. v. Chertoff , Case #06-3652 (7th Cir, April 11, 2007) [Click "Opinion" to Download], which ruled that when it comes to the employer's job requirement issues, it is clearly the jurisdiction of the DOL and the USCIS should have no business to mess up with the issue. Isn't it something?!? The court says to the USCIS that you mind your own business with the issue of whether alien beneficiary is qualified for the job and stay out of the business of the employer's needs. Hoorah!
In rare scenarios, USCIS comes back with a "NO" to Eb2, especially if the JOB description in Labor does not suit an Eb2 requirement. But in 99% of the cases, its fine (because, attorneys normally don't file it under Eb2 if its not one).
All the best!!
I read this on immigration-law.com which says that USCIS lost a lawsuit about its ability to look into the employer's requirement for job.
04/17/2007: Jurisdictions for USCIS and DOL in the Labor Certification Employment-Based Immigration
* In the labor certification based immigration proceedings, there are two federal agencies involved: One is the Department of Labor and the other is Department of Homeland Security USCIS. The immigration statutes give the jurisdiction of the U.S. labor market test government function over to the U.S. Department of Labor and one of the key elements of the labor market test is the description and requirement of jobs and prevailing wage in the intended area of employment. Accordingly, when it comes to the issue of the employer's requirement for job, it has remained the jurisdiction of the USDOL. However, sometimes, the USCIS, in adjudicating I-140 immigrant petitions, tends to overstep into the issues which clearly fall under the jurisdiction of its sister agency, DOL.
* Well, this jurisdictional issue was brought to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 7th Circuit in Hossier Cares, Inc. v. Chertoff , Case #06-3652 (7th Cir, April 11, 2007) [Click "Opinion" to Download], which ruled that when it comes to the employer's job requirement issues, it is clearly the jurisdiction of the DOL and the USCIS should have no business to mess up with the issue. Isn't it something?!? The court says to the USCIS that you mind your own business with the issue of whether alien beneficiary is qualified for the job and stay out of the business of the employer's needs. Hoorah!
dresses Photo Of Justin Bieber Giving
dextro_a
02-05 02:29 PM
There is a hospital in Brooklyn New York where one of my friend was given H1-B and he is doing his residency from there. I will let you know.
I just thought its better reply then just assuming that university will do H1B for you.
I just thought its better reply then just assuming that university will do H1B for you.
more...
makeup Selena Gomez is quot;Really Happyquot;
jcrajput
10-02 11:11 AM
I will need to refile I485 application for myself and my wife. It was rejeted in error from USCIS. I have question:
Should I re-file with old fees or new fees? Any one can help me here?
My application was originally filed at NSC on July 2nd.
Thank you,
Should I re-file with old fees or new fees? Any one can help me here?
My application was originally filed at NSC on July 2nd.
Thank you,
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deecha
02-26 02:28 PM
Follow your own advice. You are incorrect here.
Out of Status is forgiven for I-130 Spouse of US Citizen as long as entry into USA was a legal one.
Rules are different if I-485 application is filed based on marriage to US citizen.
__________________
Not a legal advice.
Thank you. I was going to reply to Dealsnet and state that, but you beat me to it.
On a side note, i was going to add that out of status itself does not determine the start of the clock, for the 3 and 10 year bans, .. that would be "unlawful stay" determined from the expiration of the date on the I-94 OR an administrative determination of unlawful stay based on when they discovered the out of status situation. However, for the above purposes [GC based on marriage], this point is moot.
Out of Status is forgiven for I-130 Spouse of US Citizen as long as entry into USA was a legal one.
Rules are different if I-485 application is filed based on marriage to US citizen.
__________________
Not a legal advice.
Thank you. I was going to reply to Dealsnet and state that, but you beat me to it.
On a side note, i was going to add that out of status itself does not determine the start of the clock, for the 3 and 10 year bans, .. that would be "unlawful stay" determined from the expiration of the date on the I-94 OR an administrative determination of unlawful stay based on when they discovered the out of status situation. However, for the above purposes [GC based on marriage], this point is moot.
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purgan
11-11 10:32 AM
Randell,
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
austingc
08-06 03:28 PM
Folks, Let us not use this forum for non-immigration matters.
This topic is posted under General Information > Interesting Topics
Billu did not post this under immigration matter, so dont read it if you dont want to.
This topic is posted under General Information > Interesting Topics
Billu did not post this under immigration matter, so dont read it if you dont want to.
starseed
07-21 05:49 PM
I did read some other posts re: this, but I'm not too sure how to go about it, what to say to them, etc? Should it be in writing, by phone? Plus the state of CA is so overwhelmed with budget issues, do you think they'd want to devote time to it? :confused:
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