can someone please help answer the question?

I

idol83

Registered Users (C)
I have advance parole but need to
go back to home for marriage.
The attorney said the only chance my wife can apply
h4 is for me to have a valid H1 visa which
I don't. I plan to go to Mexico and apply one
but someone also said that the consulate
may ask me and my wife
to apply together thus rejecting my wife's application
based on the fact I already have an visa from Mexico,
also they may ask my wife why I go to
Mexico for visa instead of the home country.
My question is I want to go back to apply with
my wife together but don't want to get checked
and stuck for too long, if I do
get checked, can I still come back in time
using my advanced parole? will they hold my passport
during the security check period? please help.
 
Provide some details of your status..

If you are to get advice that is halfway decent, you will have to provide some details of your current status, what your plans are, filing dates etc. If you are concerned about privacy and are reluctant to disclose the above information, you may find it hard to obtain a useful second opinion in these forums.
 
What is your status ????????????????????????

Are you working using EAD ???????????????????

Do you have a pending case AOS or did you file I485 ???????

How do you work with out H1 if you don't have EAD ???????
 
Hi Idol,
If you apply for Visa in Mexico and then go to your home country, and then your wife applies for her VISA, the cousual will not ask why you preferred to apply for visa in Mexico. He cannot reject your wife's visa because you applied for your Visa in mexico. The consulate at Mexico may reject your visa, asking you to apply at your home country. However, there is always a chance that anyone's visa can get rejected.

If you do go to your home country and then apply for a visa, your concern is that you might get FBI name checked (Yes FBI name check is also done for VISA applications for people from certain countries), and it will take a long time to get the answer. Well I am positive that the consulate cannot hold your passport for 2-3 months. Look at it this way, what if you had an emergency, and had to go to some other country, there are lot of other reasons that the consular cannot keep your passport for a very long period of time without your permission. As far as I know, no where on the VISA application form it says that the counsular has the right to keep your passport for few months, so you can always get your passport back.

Please don't go by my words, these are my thoughts and what I feel. I can be completely wrong, and if I am please educate me.
You should ask an attorney or someone more experienced in this matter. This is a sensitive topic, so do all your reserch first.
 
thanks for you guys' reply

I should've been more clear about my case.
I filed 485 last October and used AP for travel
but not EAD although I have it. I also got the AP
and EAD renewal. My 6-year H1 won't use up until Dec 05.
I meant that I need to apply for an H1 visa stamp since
my current H1 visa stamp already expired, and that
is the only chance my wife can apply for an H4. I found
out that if I go back to home to apply for an H1 and got checked,
they won't hold my passport, so the question
is "Can I still come back with my AP during the check period
since I have a possession of a valid AP?".
I can't afford to get stuck at my home country for too long.
It seems that the chances of getting checked and stuck
is much slimmer if going to Mexico but what if the consulate
at my home country asks my wife that she should apply
together with her husband?
 
The consular cannot ask your wife to apply togather with her husband, because then he is putting a condition that she knew her whole life who she was marrying and when she was marrying and that her husband knew that too and so he should wait till he gets married to apply for his VISA. This is ridiculus. Don't worry about that.

Regarding your H1, since you already have a stamp on H1, I know that you can apply by mail to the state office in DC for visa re-validation, I don't know how long that process takes, but that is your best bet. I think that the state department still does visa re-validation if you have an H1 stamp already on your passport. Look into it. You can go to http://travel.state.gov
 
Just a word of caution if you intend to apply for a visa at the state deparment. It could take in theory upto 90 days, that's what I was told by my attorney and hence you should be prepared for that. However my experience when I did it last year, I think in June'02, was very quite the opposite. I got the passport with visa stamped in an incredible 12 days time.
 
thanks for the reply.

My problem is that my H1 visa stamp has expired for more than 1 year thus making me ineligible for revalidation. The only choice is to get an h1 visa so that my wife can apply for H4. Since I currently have advance parole, my question is that if I do get
checked at Mexico, can I use advance parole to come back?
Also another related question, my wife has a baby girl from her
previous marriage whom she has full custody over. Does anyone
know if I need to go through adoption process in my home country in order for the baby girl to be eligible for her own H4?
Any suggestions/advices are welcome.
 
Your case is presented to all of us in piece meal. It seems to me that its complicated.

I suggest you contact an attorney to discuss your case.

Thanks
 
Dear idol83

If your H1 is expired what is your work status now? Are you using EAD to work? If your answer for the second question is yes then it is my understanding that you are on AOS and have a pending case. You also said you have AP then you must have a pending case therefore the only option to bring your wife here is only by including her in your case. I don't understand the Mexico thing if you don't have a valid H1 how on earth do you think INS issue H4 for your wife.

Or there must be something you don't want to discuss in public.
 
thanks for the reply.

To clarify one more time, my H1 visa stamp in my passport
has expired, not my H1 status which won't be used up until 12/2005 (6 years). yes, you are right, I am in AOS, but the
fact that I used AP for travel does NOT terminate my H status
unless I use EAD for work. I have EAD and am not using it.
To make my wife eligible for applying H4, I need a valid H1 visa,
thus going to Mexico to get one seems to be an option with
relatively less chance of getting security checked there.
Hope that explains the case. There is nothing I don't want
to discuss in the public as far as my case goes. I have been in
US legally for the past 8 years, you made it sound like I
have somthing to hide. No that is not the case. I am simply
looking for the best way the ensure a quick family reunion,
especially considering this is my second marriage
and i also am a single dad with a two-year-old boy.
Hope you understand.
 
idol83:

One of your concerns seems to be the fact that you might get stuck in your home country, pending security checks done by the consulate, if you apply for a visa.

I dont see how this process would be any different if you apply in Mexico. As far as I know, the security check procedure would be the same irrespective of which consulate you apply from. Delays if any are due to the different agencies that are involved and not necessarily due to the local consulate. Of course this is based on just what I have read in this forum and elsewhere (I dont have any first-hand knowledge of this). So I dont see any particular advantage to applying in Mexico.

K.S.
 
Seems like you have a plan. Be sure to satisfy yourself in the H-1 forums if consulates in Mexico have been willing to give H-1 visas to non-mexicans. I have read on and off that consulates now look askance at this idea.

It would be much more straight forward though for you to apply for your H-1 visa along with your dependents in your home country.

"Does anyone know if I need to go through adoption process in my home country in order for the baby girl to be eligible for her own H4?"
I do not know the exact answer to this, but it would appear that once the marriage is recognized, US law would automatically regard you as the father of the girl. However, I would check all these aspects with a lawyer even if I do not want to hire one to file the papers.

Good luck.
 
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