A curveball....
- Thread starter husaisa
- Start date
husaisa said:
Ah I see. Well in that case, there really is no way your wife could claim to be anything other than married, since it is well within USCIS rights to ask for tax transcripts.
I continue to believe the best course of action is simply to state she made an error during her original application. Don't try anything fancy or it might come back to bite you both.
my 2 cents
I don't see a problem unless she lied to the govt about her marital status. I could not make that out.
It is perfectly legal to be on a student visa while married to a GC holder or a citizen, she might not have wanted to immigrate. As long as you apply for the GC at least 6 months after the student visa was issued, there should not be a problem.
The question is, did she wilfully misrepresent her marital status in a visa application? You could probably apply for your citizenship and her GC based on your N-400, together, in which case most of these questions will never even be raised
drgeorge
I don't see a problem unless she lied to the govt about her marital status. I could not make that out.
It is perfectly legal to be on a student visa while married to a GC holder or a citizen, she might not have wanted to immigrate. As long as you apply for the GC at least 6 months after the student visa was issued, there should not be a problem.
The question is, did she wilfully misrepresent her marital status in a visa application? You could probably apply for your citizenship and her GC based on your N-400, together, in which case most of these questions will never even be raised
drgeorge
Shribuy said:DrGeorge - the whole issue is that she said, in her F-1 application, that she was single. That was after they were already married.
The question is was it malicious misrepresentation or an honest mistake and what to do now -- that is the whole point of this thread
The first F1 application is okay, I did not make myself clear enough - I am assuming that the tax statements were filed only after she came to the US. Was anything misrepresented after the first tax filing?
India used to allow religious marriage certificates as valid. In my case I never had a civil cert, and I never ran into a problem here with my appications GC or citizenship. Get a civil certificate in the US now, and explain this issue to the IO - there shouldn't be a problem
drgeorge
Thanks DrGeorge and Shribuy. The simple fact is that at the time she filed her F1 application she was married, I had already filed a tax return stating I was married, yet the box checked on it says single. Let us take the question of intent also off the table - from the IOs prespective it is malicious. I am going to get a lawyer present both for my N400 as well as her GC filing. Further -
(a) I am NOT going to have any kind of inaccuracy on my application or hers - that I am clear about. What I am not clear about is whether we need to bring this conundrum to the notice of the IO (Boatbod, as I read your last comment, you seem to suggest taking a proactive approach, in explaining the situation to the IO. Am I correct?) or let the IO make the discovery himself/herself
(b) Drgeorge,I am curious about your comment "....You could probably apply for your citizenship and her GC based on your N-400, together, in which case most of these questions will never even be raised..." . Can you give a little more colour to it? I think the idea of getting a civil certificate is also good as that proves to the officer the genuine confusion I had (before Shribuy clarified it) about my marital status.
(a) I am NOT going to have any kind of inaccuracy on my application or hers - that I am clear about. What I am not clear about is whether we need to bring this conundrum to the notice of the IO (Boatbod, as I read your last comment, you seem to suggest taking a proactive approach, in explaining the situation to the IO. Am I correct?) or let the IO make the discovery himself/herself
(b) Drgeorge,I am curious about your comment "....You could probably apply for your citizenship and her GC based on your N-400, together, in which case most of these questions will never even be raised..." . Can you give a little more colour to it? I think the idea of getting a civil certificate is also good as that proves to the officer the genuine confusion I had (before Shribuy clarified it) about my marital status.
Guys,
A quick update on the scene. I spoke to a lawyer. To reaffirm this board's opinion she said that there should no issues with my application. For my wife she advised me to get an I-601 (fraud waiver). I researched it a bit and found that the 601 is a popular form for Mexicans overstaying and then applying for their GC. BUT now I come to the interesting bit -
I got this while I was researching for a meeting with another lawyer.
As I had earlier told you guys, my wife is a Canadian citizen (by birth). She got her F1 visa at the airport - she did not even go to the embassy. In fact she simply took her I-20 (which was sent to her by the school) to the officer there and he asked her a couple of questions (not related to her marital status) and then simply stamped her I20. So she did not go to the US embassy and was not made to fill in any form where she would have chosen Unmarried over Married. And her I20 does NOT have her marital status - in fact it has my name as the sponsor (further confirming my intentions not to withhold any information).
Hence the ONLY place where she has stated her marital status incorrectly is on the application for admission to the school (on the basis of which she got the admission and the I20 papers). I do not think the INS has anything to do with her school application papers.
So my question is - Did she luck out by going straight to the Toronto airport and not the embassy (where perhaps she would have been made to fill in her marital status on a form for the embassy)? if so, then from the presepective of the INS, there has been no misstatement at all. The school may claim that it was misinformed, which is an entirely different matter.
Would be great to have your take before I take these details to the lawyer (Honestly, I think the conduct of lawyers is completely disgusting - will discuss more about that later.)
Sal
A quick update on the scene. I spoke to a lawyer. To reaffirm this board's opinion she said that there should no issues with my application. For my wife she advised me to get an I-601 (fraud waiver). I researched it a bit and found that the 601 is a popular form for Mexicans overstaying and then applying for their GC. BUT now I come to the interesting bit -
I got this while I was researching for a meeting with another lawyer.
As I had earlier told you guys, my wife is a Canadian citizen (by birth). She got her F1 visa at the airport - she did not even go to the embassy. In fact she simply took her I-20 (which was sent to her by the school) to the officer there and he asked her a couple of questions (not related to her marital status) and then simply stamped her I20. So she did not go to the US embassy and was not made to fill in any form where she would have chosen Unmarried over Married. And her I20 does NOT have her marital status - in fact it has my name as the sponsor (further confirming my intentions not to withhold any information).
Hence the ONLY place where she has stated her marital status incorrectly is on the application for admission to the school (on the basis of which she got the admission and the I20 papers). I do not think the INS has anything to do with her school application papers.
So my question is - Did she luck out by going straight to the Toronto airport and not the embassy (where perhaps she would have been made to fill in her marital status on a form for the embassy)? if so, then from the presepective of the INS, there has been no misstatement at all. The school may claim that it was misinformed, which is an entirely different matter.
Would be great to have your take before I take these details to the lawyer (Honestly, I think the conduct of lawyers is completely disgusting - will discuss more about that later.)
Sal
THat seems to be the general concensus. For the record - I did not intend any misrepresentation which is why I am as the main sponsor on her I20. Were she to be asked who this person is (who is giving you the money to study) she would have defintely replied withthe truth. Would be interesting if query11 decides to play the devil's advocate on this one....