aspiringcarbon
Registered Users (C)
The short version: How would a mentally disabled, financially challenged person who is a long-time US resident obtain US citizenship and / or renew their green card?
The long version: A young, foreign-born girl was brought to the US in the 1960s by her parents. The girl was born with physical and mental disabilities. The parents gave her to a US citizen, who raised her as his daughter. She has had no further contact with her parents, and she does not speak the language of the country in which she was born.
The man never got a US citizenship for his adopted daughter, because she was / is unable to pass the test. He is now in his 70s and can't find the original adoption papers. She has her birth certificate, but it's nearly impossible to read. She has green card status.
In the years since, the girl (now a woman) married a US citizen and had 3 children with him. They divorced. She married another US citizen and has been with him for 15 years. The woman is now in her 50s.
She receives a small Social Security disability payment, in addition to her husband's small wage, but they have huge outstanding medical bills. (Her husband's health is also very bad.)
Financial problems kept them from renewing her green card. It's been expired for 3 years. During that time, they changed their home address.
Her husband is a long-distance driver and is very rarely home. He has no internet access. She is mentally unable to use the internet. Her children won't / can't help her, and none of them understand the USCIS forms. They don't have the money to hire an attorney.
As I understand it, if she goes to a USCIS location for help, they may deport her because she failed to update her address. In addition, the husband wants to move them to a country (not the country of her birth) where it will be cheaper for them to live, and where they will be able to receive government health care. Again, as I understand it, she will lose her US residency if she goes with him without first getting her US citizenship.
This is literally a life or death situation for this couple. Is there any hope?
The long version: A young, foreign-born girl was brought to the US in the 1960s by her parents. The girl was born with physical and mental disabilities. The parents gave her to a US citizen, who raised her as his daughter. She has had no further contact with her parents, and she does not speak the language of the country in which she was born.
The man never got a US citizenship for his adopted daughter, because she was / is unable to pass the test. He is now in his 70s and can't find the original adoption papers. She has her birth certificate, but it's nearly impossible to read. She has green card status.
In the years since, the girl (now a woman) married a US citizen and had 3 children with him. They divorced. She married another US citizen and has been with him for 15 years. The woman is now in her 50s.
She receives a small Social Security disability payment, in addition to her husband's small wage, but they have huge outstanding medical bills. (Her husband's health is also very bad.)
Financial problems kept them from renewing her green card. It's been expired for 3 years. During that time, they changed their home address.
Her husband is a long-distance driver and is very rarely home. He has no internet access. She is mentally unable to use the internet. Her children won't / can't help her, and none of them understand the USCIS forms. They don't have the money to hire an attorney.
As I understand it, if she goes to a USCIS location for help, they may deport her because she failed to update her address. In addition, the husband wants to move them to a country (not the country of her birth) where it will be cheaper for them to live, and where they will be able to receive government health care. Again, as I understand it, she will lose her US residency if she goes with him without first getting her US citizenship.
This is literally a life or death situation for this couple. Is there any hope?