I wish I had found this website years ago, it would have been so helpful. Instead, I found it a few months ago and I just lurked for a bit. Now that my application was approved, I'm here to tell my story. My case had a few hiccups and it was really touch and go at times.
My entire family came (illegally) to the US back in 1988. My mom got married to a US citizen and got her GC through 245i. She got right under the deadline too. Here is where the problems began. Not for my mom but for me. My mom's immigration "lawyer" was not a lawyer at all, he was a notary public. However, my mom didn't find out until later on. Anyway, in my mom's i130 she never put me as a son. Just my brother. Why? Her "lawyer" told her that since I was over 21 at the time she was filling her work, I did not need to be in the form. My mom just went along. I wasn't around. I was living with my dad and going through college. My mom got her GC and I was SOL. If she had petition for me it would have been years and I could not get married.
In 1999 I met my girlfriend and now wife. In 2001 she got her GC through NACARA and in 2006 she became a US Citizen. We missed 245i by a couple of years and every single immigration lawyer we saw (paying $$$ for consultations) told us that there was absolutely nothing we could do. Nothing. Nada. Zip. We were absolutely crushed because lawyer after lawyer said that there was absolutely positevely no hope whatsoever for us. I did not want to marry her because I did not want to give her a burden. Even with my girlfriend being a USC the lawyers told us there was nothing we could do. They said we could do the i130/i485 and that I would leave the country and then pretty much never get back. Luckily though, love always prevails and we got married in 2006. My wife said come hell or high water we would be husband and wife.
That is when we found a great lawyer who was simply positive that if my mom had gotten her GC through 245i, than I was grandfathered in and could then apply under 245i and I would get my GC. This was the first immigration lawyer who seemed to actually have read the 245i law. Some of you probably picked on this by now. Problem was that I was never included in my mom's i130 as a son. My lawyer however, ever the optimist, said that he was sure that if he wrote a letter to this effect on my i130/i485 that he could make the case it was simply an oversight by a notary.
I am my mother's son. We included birth certificates and my mom's original documents with the immigration forms. Cut to the chase, I received my interview notice for Sept 21, 2007. We go to the interview. Everything is going well, then the interviewer gets to my mom's forms. We explain the problem and he says that it is in fact a problem. Of course, he has to talk to his supervisor and will get back to us in a couple of weeks. I must confess, my heart broke into a million pieces. The interviewer was just stone cold facts. This this and that. You'll hear from us soon. My lawyer didn't even look confident. On the way out we talked about alternate plans if my application was denied. I waited and waited and today I received my welcome letter! Years and years of waiting and it's all finally over.
I know some people might look at my case and say I never had anything to worry about, on the surface the case does not seem that complicated, but I spent almost 7 years with this on my head. What could I do? I went with what professional lawyers told me. I had to accept they knew more than I did on the subject. My lawyer was an angel sent from heaven. I'm positive of that. I guess if you take one thing from my story is to never lose hope and to get yourself a good lawyer. It sucks that my mom (and many other people do as well) got suckered by a notary public passing off as a true immigration lawyer. I wish good luck to everyone going through this. I'm still kind of in a haze. I have done nothing but worry about my legal status since high school (I'm 30 now). Every single day was "is today the day?" All the days without work, all the good news about immigration, all the bad news, all the panics, all the misinformation, all the temp jobs under the table that barely paid the rent. The best thing I did though, was go to College and get a degree and I have my dad to thank for that. Now I have a great job, health insurance, the most awesome wife and most importantly...a real future. I can't believe it, when I wake up tomorrow and go to work, it will be the first day in forever where I will not have a single worry about my legal status...tomorrow is literally the first day of the rest of my life....good luck to everyone and God bless you all.
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DOn't you just love "grandfather" clauses? lol
Originally Posted by omar_b
