whitebottle
Registered Users (C)
Hello everyone,
I came to the US when I was 16yrs old in Dec, 2000 from India. I left home when I was 19 and lived my own life, went to college etc. I didn't talk to my parents till I was 22, when we spoke I asked my mom for my documents...passport and such. At this time my mom told me that our visas expired 3yrs after coming to the US and refused to give me my documents because they (my parents) feared that if I did anything then our entire family could get deported. Dad was on a H1B visa and I along with my brothers were on a H4 visa, don't know what visa mom was on...I believe an H4 as well. I didn't know what to think of all this at the time because I didn't know squat about immigration. In fact, I didn't even know what type of visa we were on up until last month.
I was busy with college so I just let this whole deal sit on the back burner. Now that I've graduated from college, I want to take care of my paperwork and get married to my boyfriend who I've been living with for the last 3yrs. So I met with an attorney, who advised that I obtain my passport and I94 from my parents. Earlier this month I contacted my mom and told her I'm getting married so I need my documents...so she mailed me my birth certificate and my passport. The problem is that my passport expired in Dec of 2009! According to the attorney's advise, I tried to renew my expired passport online but it is not as easy as the attorney made it out to be. I need proof of legal residency and various other documents to renew my passport which I don't have. The attorney suggested that I could take care of my paperwork after I get married to my boyfriend so I did the research and found out that to obtain a marriage license, I need a valid government issued ID which I do not have...and have no means of obtaining. I used to have a CA ID which expired in 2007, which I went to go renew but they needed a passport which I didn't have at the time...now I realize after doing thorough research that even if had had my passport at that time I would've still needed proof of legal residency in order for them to have renewed my ID.
I've been trying to reach the Indian consulate in SF but they don't answer the phone at all. I even left them a message but no word from them yet. The more and more I read about it and hear about it I just get so uncertain of my future...I want to continue my education so I can go to vet school and follow my dreams...please does anyone have any words of advice?
I came to the US when I was 16yrs old in Dec, 2000 from India. I left home when I was 19 and lived my own life, went to college etc. I didn't talk to my parents till I was 22, when we spoke I asked my mom for my documents...passport and such. At this time my mom told me that our visas expired 3yrs after coming to the US and refused to give me my documents because they (my parents) feared that if I did anything then our entire family could get deported. Dad was on a H1B visa and I along with my brothers were on a H4 visa, don't know what visa mom was on...I believe an H4 as well. I didn't know what to think of all this at the time because I didn't know squat about immigration. In fact, I didn't even know what type of visa we were on up until last month.
I was busy with college so I just let this whole deal sit on the back burner. Now that I've graduated from college, I want to take care of my paperwork and get married to my boyfriend who I've been living with for the last 3yrs. So I met with an attorney, who advised that I obtain my passport and I94 from my parents. Earlier this month I contacted my mom and told her I'm getting married so I need my documents...so she mailed me my birth certificate and my passport. The problem is that my passport expired in Dec of 2009! According to the attorney's advise, I tried to renew my expired passport online but it is not as easy as the attorney made it out to be. I need proof of legal residency and various other documents to renew my passport which I don't have. The attorney suggested that I could take care of my paperwork after I get married to my boyfriend so I did the research and found out that to obtain a marriage license, I need a valid government issued ID which I do not have...and have no means of obtaining. I used to have a CA ID which expired in 2007, which I went to go renew but they needed a passport which I didn't have at the time...now I realize after doing thorough research that even if had had my passport at that time I would've still needed proof of legal residency in order for them to have renewed my ID.
I've been trying to reach the Indian consulate in SF but they don't answer the phone at all. I even left them a message but no word from them yet. The more and more I read about it and hear about it I just get so uncertain of my future...I want to continue my education so I can go to vet school and follow my dreams...please does anyone have any words of advice?
