F1 student, husband lied about sponsoring me and now jeopardized my status

kaylee said:
You're talking about preserving visitation rights, how about preserving visitation rights of the mother? If the mother can't enter in the US, how is that gonna go?
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As a noncitizen without legal authorization to live in the US, your rights would be considered way inferior to the rights of citizens, as far as the US government is concerned. Every day they deport parents and permanently separate them from their US citizen children.
 
Kaylee:
I understand sometimes how hard it is, and I am going through minor issues of my own, but just reading through your responses, I think the best option is to stay with him, get a good attorney, and have your paperwork done by june or the earliest. Assuming in the meantime he is not physically harming you or the child. you need to strengthen up yourself emotionally, and try see if you can get some local counselling.
I don't think you have the luxury of morality and ethics here. To save yourself and the kid, do it for the long term. 6months is nothing if you can stay safe in the meantime physically. sometimes, you have to eat the goat, and keep your pride down and lie low.
But make sure he moves on the paperwork. And you and the kid stay safe.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
The law is not written this way. It is explicitly written to consider the best interests of child. I cannot see any justification for taking her away from you.
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They wouldn't be taking away the child from her per se, they'd be taking away her from the child, by deportation. Which is something they do to illegal alien parents every day.
 
kaylee said:
If I hold on till June, I would be solely doing it for my legal status which is kinda unethical, isn't it?
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I don't think so. You entered the marriage for bona fide reasons, you have a child with him, and you are still open to making the marriage work if he would change his ways.
 
Jackolantern said:
As a noncitizen without legal authorization to live in the US, your rights would be considered way inferior to the rights of citizens, as far as the US government is concerned.
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Family law is not a matter for the US government. It is entirely a state issue. And state courts weigh immigration status and where the child will live, but only within the broader context of the best interests of the child. Really, it comes down to, would the child being separated from its mother be better than being separated from its father and living in a foreign country?

Kaylee, what country are you from? This is an important question.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Family law is not a matter for the US government. It is entirely a state issue. And state courts weigh immigration status and where the child will live, but only within the broader context of the best interests of the child.
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When it's about releasing the child to live abroad, it's not just a state issue or best interests of the child*; they also have to consider the Hague Convention. Winning full custody is far from sufficient to be allowed to take the child out of the country against the other parent's wishes. International law is applicable, not just state law.


*sometimes the Hague Convention rulings are against the interests of an individual child, for the sake of the greater goal of reducing child abductions. For example, a particular child stolen in Rwanda and sold to an affluent couple in Europe may be better off staying with them in Europe, but allowing them to keep the child would encourage more such abductions.
 
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Technically (in terms of the law), Jack is right. A US born child's primary rights are deemed to be with the US-Citizenship holding parent/family. The OP is unlikely to win a legal battle for custody, however tough the situation is..

Really tough situation with the OP, but if this goes to court, she is unlikely to win a battle with her spouse's family. RC, there isn't much precedent to this but like Jack mentioned, you wont find evidence to the contrary either.
 
I too think the OP has very little chance of winning custondy given the circumstances. Deportation might come before the custody battle ever reaches it verdict.

thomas_psu said:
Technically (in terms of the law), Jack is right. A US born child's primary rights are deemed to be with the US-Citizenship holding parent/family. The OP is unlikely to win a legal battle for custody, however tough the situation is..

Really tough situation with the OP, but if this goes to court, she is unlikely to win a battle with her spouse's family. RC, there isn't much precedent to this but like Jack mentioned, you wont find evidence to the contrary either.
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WhiteSand,
A lot of people are telling me to do just that, saying that im entitled to it at this point due to all the lies and deceit. I just don't know how its gonna turn out if I do decide to stay. Also, there is always the possibility that I Could stay and he still wouldn't file my papers even after he receives his citizenship.

TheRealCanadian,
I don't wanna disclose the country due to privacry reasons, but you can know that its a country that's not on any red lists, quotas, wars,... or anything of that nature. Could send it to you in a private message if you really wanna know. Also, a lawyer did tell me that the custody battle is different from the immigration battle as they will be handled by 2 different courts independently from each other but at the same time, she warned me that it would be hard for me to leave the country with the child in my situation.


One other things people, my husband is a LPR not a citizen so wouldn't that be considered in case of custody.
 
kaylee said:
One other things people, my husband is a LPR not a citizen so wouldn't that be considered in case of custody.
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True. But, that could potentially change by the time this gets to court, right? What about his family?

Another relevant question is, does your spouse want to have custody of your child, in case of a separation? If he gives up his custody rights, all this discussion is moot.
 
Thomas Psu,
His parents are citizens and yes his situation could change by that time. I beleive he would want custody for control issues or just to make my life harder!
 
My wife is student and she has seen people who abandoned school and many months later they came back (but after 2 or 3 months not 6), there is something called "reinstatement fo F1 student status", go to your college, talk to your international conselour and ask for that, if they accept you, you will be legal again and then you can find a sponsor to get H1. You had a baby so you are entitled to maternity leave, which gives you 3 months (or more depending on your health situation). Go to your doctor and ask for a doctor note with the period of your maternity leave, because if your baby is 3 months right now you are not supposed to be going to school or working anyway. And if you had problems during pregnancy and couldn't go to school for that reason, ask for doctor notes also.
 
Moon138, I already graduated , got my Master's in Finance, so its not like I left school or something, I would have to start a new program
 
kaylee said:
I don't wanna disclose the country due to privacry reasons, but you can know that its a country that's not on any red lists, quotas, wars,... or anything of that nature. Could send it to you in a private message if you really wanna know.
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Is it an EU country, or similar?

Also, a lawyer did tell me that the custody battle is different from the immigration battle as they will be handled by 2 different courts independently from each other but at the same time, she warned me that it would be hard for me to leave the country with the child in my situation.
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You will want to retain a good family law attorney, as well as an immigration attorney.
 
So start a new program, just get the doctor notes and get back your F1 status, I know you will have to pay for the semester but you don't have many other options, actually you don't have any other option other than getting a GC through marriage, but you said you want a divorce. After you get back your F1 status you can look immediately for a sponsor to get a H1. Now I'm not sure if you can apply for reinstatement because you are saying you didn't abandoned school, but you still can try in the same college.
 
If you are less than 180 days of accrued illegal stay, a second F-1 application may not be denied. Obviously there are cons associated with it..
 
kaylee said:
One other things people, my husband is a LPR not a citizen so wouldn't that be considered in case of custody.
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It's possible. However, in a divorce and custody battle if his lawyer is any good the lawyer will push him to secure citizenship quickly, whether it is claiming citizenship through his parents or the usual naturalization process. So you should assume he will be a US citizen during the court battles.
 
I see. Thank you for your input guys. I guess even after all of this, I really don't know what to do or what Im going to do. Its like someone hit a pause on my life and its at a stand still and Im just reflecting! :confused:
 
Guys,
I also found out that my husband owes about 20k in taxes. I'm guessing that that's the real reason why he did not file for citizenship. He's saying he has a payment plan with the IRS, I don't know how true that is, or if he's been keeping up with the payments. Can you get citizenship in his case? also, will you be able to sponsor your wife if you owe taxes? Im starting to get to the bottom of all of this! Thank you again for your help!
 
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