Banned to enter US

K

kpl275

New Member
I married my wife in January 2001, who at that time was living in United States. Unfortunately her status had long expired and so she had overstayed illegaly in US. Anyways, she left US voluntarily (with no cost to tax prayers) and joined me in Canada.

Recently I was offered a job in US and I am working now in US under provisions of TN Visa/NAFTA. It has come to my information that due to my wife's illegal overstay, she has been barred to enter US for 10 years. But I have also been told that there is a waiver for for it which can be received. I was told that I will have to apply for her visa and then the US consulate will forward the request for this waiver. So when I applied to US consulate, the visa officer told me that though it is possible to apply for waiver, but at the moment INS/DHS are not accepting any waiver applications and hence he refused my wife's visa application (We were applying from within Canada.

Does anybody know if it is possible for me to apply for her waiver from within US (As I am currently working and staying in US) and how should I go by doing that? Any help in this matter will be highly appreciated as my wife and my 7 month old daughter is staying all alone in Canada and it is very hard for them to stay for a long time like that.
 
There is a waiver available. You wife would need to show that refusing her admission results in extreme hardship to a citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent.

Unless you or your wife's parents are US citizens, your wife does not qualify for the waiver.
 
Thanks a lot for your replies.

But the visa officer told me that she can qualify for the waiver but only issue at the moment is that INS/DHS is not accepting any waiver applications. And so we need to keep on checking with US Consulate in Canada to see if DHS/INS has started providing waivers.

Now my company is willing to sponsor my immigration and hence was wondering if that will make any difference. What is this waiver called and under which law code she is barred and what is the law code that can allow her to apply for waiver.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Similar situation - married to us citizen out of status.

I came to us in 1991 an F-1 student from Indonesia. I went to college for 3 years and had to drop out for financial reasons. I have been out of status since then. I have been married to a us citizen for a year and we have a one year old daughter. I am trying to apply for status change through my wife but having a real difficult time. I signed as a us national for a form called I-9 with a recent employer which I had no idea would prevent me from getting a GC. I wouldn't have started that job if I knew about I-9 mishaps. Even though I paid taxes with my social secuirity number, I have talked to four different lawyers and all of them have pretty much the same opinion - USCIS would deny my application for signing I-9.

I don't have any family in indonesia. I know about the 3-10 year bar and most other laws now. My wife and daughter are the only people I know for last few years. Is there any options I have to stay in usa legally? Or move to Canada? I am applying for Canadian student visa/sponsorship through family member. If I am approved and want to leave usa voluntarily with my family at our cost to cross the border to Canada do I need to inform uscis in advance or would they deport me to Indonesia for my status violation? How hard it will be to leave usa? Or, is there any immigration provision for me to stay here?

Any suggestions would be helpful.
 
JoeF said:
The law about that was enacted in 1996. A person is inadmissible if the person claimed to be a US citizen.
I don't think there is a waiver for that. If anything is possible, you probably would need a reeeeally good immigration lawyer having experience with the really hard stuff. The lawyer around the corner wouldn't cut it.
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There is is a non-immigrant waiver but there is no immigrant waiver for a false claim to US Citizenship.

The non-immigrant waiver is discretionary.

See http://uscis.gov/lpbin/lpext.dll/in...acted-28061?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm

Although the cite above seems to indicate to the contrary, I seem to remember that there is an argument that has worked in some courts (and failed in others) that checking the "Citizen of National of the US" block on the I-9 may have only been a false claim to US Nationality, not US Citizenship. I would research this extensively before I attempted this argument since this area changes rapidly in immigration law. It also depends on when the claim was made.
 
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I know the I-9 has to be signed within 3 or 90 days provisions. My employer made me re-sign the I-9 after one year of emploment saying they could not find a copy of my I-9. Does it matter in my case? Is the employer supposed to carry I-9 information even after three years or 1 year after the date of resignation? I have been paying taxes since I started working. I would never be in that job if I knew what consequences I-9 form has. I have heard of people getting their GC application approved through married to us citizen even after they have been out of status, worked with other means and not paying any taxes. Isn't that a double standard? Is there any possibilities that this law will be changed soon? Can anyone tell me what options I have?
 
Most people who work illegally do so with fake EADs or fake green-cards. While using forged documents and lying to be a permanent resident are still criminal offenses, they are not specifically mentioned in immigration law as making you ineligible for adjustment of status. Pretending to be a citizen is one of the few instances specifically mentioned.

You can still file an I485. Your signing of an I-9 as a US national will only come up to bite you if USCIS knows about it. At this point, your I-9 sits peacefully in a paper box at your employers record storage company. Unless they got audited by USCIS/BICE, USCIS doesn't know about it.
I don't recall whether the I485 or the biography form ever ask how you established your work eligibility, but I don't think they do. They might ask you under oath during the interview and things would get dicey. But during the marriage based interviews they seem to be more preoccupied with the frequency of sex in your marriage rather than your prior employment eligibility misdeeds.
 
My understanding from the lawyers is that when someone applies for adjustment of status USCIS verifies the employment, and tax record for the last five years. I am sure they can access applicant's tax record if they want to - through labor dept or IRS. They will definitely be able to tell where the applicant worked and they can knock on the door of the employer. Has anyone been able to change status on I-9 from US National to other options? Is that worth trying for? My marriage does not have a question, question is will I be able to change my status and stay here with my family legally if I apply?
 
They will definitely be able to tell where the applicant worked and they can knock on the door of the employer.
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They are able to, but they rarely do. On average, the USCIS guys have 12 minutes to approve an I485. While they could start a lenghty investigation, in most cases they just check whether all the paperwork is in order and then send the case for an interview. They get paid to decrease the stack of files on the left side of their table, it is not like they get a bonus for denying cases.
 
The USCIS will not know if you check/mark US Citizen unless you worked for government jobs. You should apply I-485 and read the application throughly
 
mrktp said:
I came to us in 1991 an F-1 student from Indonesia. I went to college for 3 years and had to drop out for financial reasons. I have been out of status since then. I have been married to a us citizen for a year and we have a one year old daughter. I am trying to apply for status change through my wife but having a real difficult time. I signed as a us national for a form called I-9 with a recent employer which I had no idea would prevent me from getting a GC. I wouldn't have started that job if I knew about I-9 mishaps. Even though I paid taxes with my social secuirity number, I have talked to four different lawyers and all of them have pretty much the same opinion - USCIS would deny my application for signing I-9.

I don't have any family in indonesia. I know about the 3-10 year bar and most other laws now. My wife and daughter are the only people I know for last few years. Is there any options I have to stay in usa legally? Or move to Canada? I am applying for Canadian student visa/sponsorship through family member. If I am approved and want to leave usa voluntarily with my family at our cost to cross the border to Canada do I need to inform uscis in advance or would they deport me to Indonesia for my status violation? How hard it will be to leave usa? Or, is there any immigration provision for me to stay here?

Any suggestions would be helpful.
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There is NO WAIVER available to you.

While you may apply for the green card and get approved, it is only a matter of time before CIS/ICE/CBP finds out about your false claimed. Once they find out, you will be deported.

Your choices are to continue to break the law and hope you don’t get caught or leave the US now and start a new life in your home country, while your still young.
 
1-9

The chances that the uscis would go to your employer to check how you filled out the 1-9 form is laughable. They do stuff like that only if they think or suspect that you are a terrorrist or drug dealer, or the interviewer just don't like you personally and wants to make your life miserable .But the reality is that , probably , 95% of the time they would not, if you filled your application properly, your and wife and kids are citizens like you said. You better file for your greencard b4 you get caught and deported.
I have seen people claim that they were not paying attention when they checked that box, and were let go and approved by the INS.
If i were in your situation, i would apply right away. the benefit far outweigh the risk, if you get caught today, you are a gonna!!
I got my citizenship through marriage, they never checked with my employers how i signed paperwork.The govt do stuff like that for most part, if they start looking for excuse to send you back .
 
linuxgeek said:
The chances that the uscis would go to your employer to check how you filled out the 1-9 form is laughable. They do stuff like that only if they think or suspect that you are a terrorrist or drug dealer, or the interviewer just don't like you personally and wants to make your life miserable .But the reality is that , probably , 95% of the time they would not, if you filled your application properly, your and wife and kids are citizens like you said. You better file for your greencard b4 you get caught and deported.
I have seen people claim that they were not paying attention when they checked that box, and were let go and approved by the INS.
If i were in your situation, i would apply right away. the benefit far outweigh the risk, if you get caught today, you are a gonna!!
I got my citizenship through marriage, they never checked with my employers how i signed paperwork.The govt do stuff like that for most part, if they start looking for excuse to send you back .
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Linuxgreek I have a question for you. Can you contact me via email. THANKS
 
trialanderror83 said:
Linuxgreek I have a question for you. Can you contact me via email. THANKS
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You do realize that Linuxgeek's post was from April 9, 2006 and that the last time this person signed on was April 2007?

Why don't you try sending this person an e-mail yourself? Click on their name, select public profile and click on the link to send them an e-mail.
 
TNguy78 said:
You do realize that Linuxgeek's post was from April 9, 2006 and that the last time this person signed on was April 2007?

Why don't you try sending this person an e-mail yourself? Click on their name, select public profile and click on the link to send them an e-mail.
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What would I do without your advice? Yes thank You
 
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