I am about to send in my application to adjust status from J-1 to permanent resident (after marriage to US citizen), but I'm not sure about one issue.
The background:
Two years ago, I was almost deported back to my home country (in Europe) at the US border because I was spending more time in the US than in my home country. I had worked at a university on a J-1 visa, but was then traveling on the visa waiver program (way too often since I wanted to be with my boyfriend/now husband).
Although my wish was to stay in the US, the customs officers realized I had not done anything wrong, and after several hours of questioning I was allowed into the country. The next day I accepted a job offer and a couple of weeks later I traveled back to Europe to take care of a new visa.
Although I eventually received the J-1 visa, it took a while because they wanted to check the almost-deportation, by verifying my fingerprints. At the embassy, they did not believe my explanation that I was allowed into the country since it hardly ever happens that an officer reverses the initial deportation decision. This whole thing slowed down my application 2 months.
Now I am wondering if I should submit a letter explaining the almost-deportation situation with my application to adjust status. I really don't want this situation to slow down the green card application. Is it normal to send a letter to explain certain things, to be ahead of their questions?
Also, do you guys send in photocopies of all of your passport pages? The last page of my passport has a code on it, written by the customs officer at the moment he decided to deport me. When the decision was reversed, the code was crossed out. I hope this will not raise a red flag as it did when I applied for my second J-1.
Or do you think that since my second J-1 was approved, they will ignore the issue?
Thank you so much for your response! I'm going to be so relieved when this whole application is out of my hands, and in theirs.
The background:
Two years ago, I was almost deported back to my home country (in Europe) at the US border because I was spending more time in the US than in my home country. I had worked at a university on a J-1 visa, but was then traveling on the visa waiver program (way too often since I wanted to be with my boyfriend/now husband).
Although my wish was to stay in the US, the customs officers realized I had not done anything wrong, and after several hours of questioning I was allowed into the country. The next day I accepted a job offer and a couple of weeks later I traveled back to Europe to take care of a new visa.
Although I eventually received the J-1 visa, it took a while because they wanted to check the almost-deportation, by verifying my fingerprints. At the embassy, they did not believe my explanation that I was allowed into the country since it hardly ever happens that an officer reverses the initial deportation decision. This whole thing slowed down my application 2 months.
Now I am wondering if I should submit a letter explaining the almost-deportation situation with my application to adjust status. I really don't want this situation to slow down the green card application. Is it normal to send a letter to explain certain things, to be ahead of their questions?
Also, do you guys send in photocopies of all of your passport pages? The last page of my passport has a code on it, written by the customs officer at the moment he decided to deport me. When the decision was reversed, the code was crossed out. I hope this will not raise a red flag as it did when I applied for my second J-1.
Or do you think that since my second J-1 was approved, they will ignore the issue?
Thank you so much for your response! I'm going to be so relieved when this whole application is out of my hands, and in theirs.