Can I apply to change my Status to U.S Citizen?

G

grean

Registered Users (C)
I am subjected to years residency requirement But I was able to change my status to H-1B and currently I am on H-1B.I am also married to U.S Citizen for more than 2 years. I applied for a waiver based on No Objection letter but my waiver denied although I got a non objection letter from my embassy . Can I apply to change my Status to U.S Citizen.
 
You must become a permanent resident before you can apply for US Citizenship. You can't just "adjust" to citizenship, it is not an immigration status.

I guess you are talking about the J1 HRR? if your waiver was denied, you have no choice but to go home and meet the HRR.
 
I am sorry, I meant to say to apply for permanent resident but I wrote to citizenship by mistake
 
The only waiver ground that I can apply for now is the Hardship. My wife doesn't work and I am the head of the household and there is no other income except mine; Is this considered enough evidence to get the waiver. I know that it is hard to get the waiver since that mere spouse separation is considered enough reason.
 
grean said:
The only waiver ground that I can apply for now is the Hardship. My wife doesn't work and I am the head of the household and there is no other income except mine; Is this considered enough evidence to get the waiver. I know that it is hard to get the waiver since that mere spouse separation is considered enough reason.
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What separation? Your wife can always go with you. And this is not my word - if you file for hardship waiver, they will use this logic against you.
 
Sorry , I did a mistake a gain; I am thinking too much about this.I mean to say that mere separation is NOT considered enough reason I don't know what to do, I cant leave my wife here and the same time I cannot take her with me since I don't have a job or any income there and it will take me a long time to find the job.
Can finding lawyer solve the problem?!
 
Hardship waivers require extreme circumstances, such as your US citizen wife being severely disabled and almost completely dependent on you for her day-to-day care. Mere separation is not good enough. Otherwise everybody would qualify for the waiver.
 
You're lucky you got the H1B. Normally the 2-year HRR would prevent that. So be glad you got the H1B, and use the years of H1B status to save money and plan for your 2-year stay outside the US.

But if you're willing to spend $thousands for a lawyer, maybe it is possible to appeal the waiver denial, considering that you got the no-objection letter.
 
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So is it possible to possible to appeal the waiver denial by a a lawyer? how much does cost to hire a lawyer in this case?
 
I don't know if an appeal is possible. Get a short initial consultation with a lawyer to find out whether an appeal is allowed, and whether you have a good chance of winning. That would cost somewhere around $100-$300. Or possibly free, as some lawyers will give the initial consultation for free. Then if you appeal it's probably going to be in the $5000 - $10000 range. During the initial consultation they should be able to give you a ballpark price range, so don't rely on my guesstimate.
 
Jackolantern said:
No. When evaluating hardship waivers, they do not expect the US citizen to leave.
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Jack..you'd be incorrect on this one. While, it's the USC's choice to stay or not stay in US, USCIS will argue that if separation would result in extreme hardship, as claimed by the waiver of applicant, she could always relocate with him, UNLESS moving to another country would cause significant hardship on the USC, for example, the USC is dependent on medical care that requires her to stay in the US.

USCIS/BIA has used this argument many, many times. Here's one (In fact, this case has reference to others where similar arguments were used):
http://www.borderimmigrationlawyer.com/storage/Matter of Cervantes.pdf

The highlighted parts are arguments that BIA made in favor of why there should be no problem for USC wife to go back to husband's home country.

Additionally, at no time during the hearing did the respondent’s wife
suggest that she would suffer any particular hardship, let alone extreme
hardship, by moving to Mexico. See Shooshtary v. INS, supra, at 1051
(reviewing the Board’s denial of a waiver of inadmissibility under section
212(h)(1)(B) of the Act, and stating that a “‘waiver should be granted only
in those cases where “great actual or prospective injury” to the qualifying
party will occur. There must be an “extreme impact” on the citizen or lawful
permanent resident family member. . . .’” (quoting the Board’s decision
in the case, which in turn quoted Matter of Ngai, 19 I&N Dec. 245 (BIA
1984))). Furthermore, although the respondent’s spouse would lose the
physical proximity to her family, she speaks Spanish and the majority of her
family is originally from Mexico. Therefore, she should have less difficulty
adjusting to life in a foreign country. See Ramirez-Durazo v. INS, supra,
at 498 (noting that the family spoke Spanish, which would ease the children’s
transition to Mexican society and schools, and that any hardship would be
alleviated by numerous relatives living in the country to which the
qualifying aliens would be relocating); Ramirez-Gonzalez v. INS, supra, at
1211 (holding that the hardship resulting from separation from extended
family would be alleviated by immediate family relatives living in the
alien’s homeland); see also Matter of Pilch, supra, at 632 (noting that
numerous family members in Poland may be able to provide an emotional
base of support upon the aliens’ return to that country).
 
OK, I stand corrected then. I remember reading another case where they did not expect the USC to leave, but maybe that is because of different circumstances. So it looks like they decide on a case-by-case basis according to the background of the USC and the nature of the foreign country. I doubt they would expect a born USC who never left the US and has no family in Iran to move there, whereas they would think differently for a naturalized US citizen who grew up in Ireland, as far as moving back to Ireland or the UK is concerned.

I suppose they also have to consider whether the USC would even be allowed to move to their spouse's country in the first place. The other country may have immigration restrictions that would prevent that, especially if the USC has a disease like HIV or a criminal record.
 
Jack,
Of course it is on case by case basis. But they all face the same test - will the USC or US Resident face significant problems (of any kind) by moving to a foreign country?
However, even this doesn't guarantee a waiver approval. The applicant will have to prove much greater hardship than typical from separation to begin with. If they can't do that - it won't matter if the USC/US Resident can move to other country or not.
 
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