Do I need to file AR-11

[tender given]

Mr. Khanna, others..

I have been living in the current address for about 3 years now. I filed for my H1 and green card from my current residence. I have green card now. It looks like the INS the great has started to impose the AR-11 thing quite vehemently now.

It looks like this change of address rule has been in force for about 50 years, so I should've filed the AR-11 three years back itself.... my question is should I bother to file this now (even though it doesn't make any sense)



-- TG

[MS2003]

you should file anyway. Better safe than sorry

[AmericanWannabe]

If you file now 3 years after the move, it is a strong
evidence that you did not file 3 years earlier as law
required. This evidence can be used against you
in court. If you never file AR-11, you can let your lawyer
present in court the possibility that you actually
filed AR-11 withtin 10 days of move but the INS
lost the paper. Rememember as long as you remain
silient, it is up to the government to prove you did not
file beyond teh reasonable doubt. The fact that INS pretty
much ignored AR-11 is a reasosble doubt. Your lawyer
can call the INS to testify that they did ignore AR-11
in the past.

Of course, by law and by Bar ethics, your lawyer
can not suggest in court that you filed AR-11 in time
if he clearly know you did not. But there is a loophole
to get around this problem. You do not even tell
your lawyer the truth and the laywer do not
ask for it in the first place. Any lawyer who want
to defend his client on address change charge
with this strategy should not ask his client if he actually
informed the INS or not and told the client at teh first
meet that never ask, never tell.

Of course, you should never tell the INS that you
forgot to file AR-11 3 years ago. IF they ask,
you invoke your 5th. By law, your refusal to answer
such a question can not be used as evidence you failed
to file AR-11.

Of course, the above logic only applies to the criminal
part of not changing address.

Mr. Khanna, can you comment on my defesne strategy?
Based upon what I observed from the TV show "The Practice".
My strategy make perfect sense and it will work if the American
judges truly live up to what they are.