Difficult situation, please need some good advice

U

USAhome

Registered Users (C)
Hello Everybody,

I came to this country about 9 years ago as a student and I am still in student visa (and always been that way). During this period, I learned English, received a BS in Management Information Systems, and a MA in Political Science. Currently, I am working for a famous IT company using my Optional Practical Training (OPT). I got this job through a contract company. Even though the contract company) had promised me to file for H-1B, but at the end they did not do it per their company lawyer's advice. The lawyer thought that I had a very little chance of getting H1-B approved and they did not want to lose their money. I am getting paid lot less than the prevailing wage (the contract company keeps most of my salary). Now, my OPT is expiring at the end of this year and I need to leave this job soon.

My home country has been in political turmoil for last 10 years. Recently, things are looking better and political parties are getting together and talking about bringing a lasting peace in the country. But peace talks keep failing because of personal interests of various political leaders. Nobody knows what is going to happen. I have never been back home since I came here. I was afraid of getting kidnapped and killed by rebels even though I never had direct threat to my life from them. I was active in politics back home and I had some death threats from members of opposition party (not the rebels) and had to stay away from home for sometime. These things are not recorded anywhere as I grew up in a remote village with no running water, electricity, phone, newspaper, and TV. Some people might remember what happened to me, some might not remember anything.

Now I am married and have two children. Both are born here. My wife is not from my native country. She comes from a very peaceful country. I do not mind living in her country, but I have never been there and I do not know the language. Even though my wife has been to my country a couple of times before we got married, she does not speak my language. That's where I met her. She came to the US in religious visa and changed it to F-2 when we got married here. I also changed my religion while in the US, which people from my country do not appreciate very much.

I am seriously thinking about applying for Political Asylum and I need some honest advice from those who have gone through this.

Do you think I should apply for Political Asylum? Do you think I have a good case? I may not able to bring any documents to support my claims other than myself telling the judge what I said here.

Please give me some good and honest advice.

Thanks
 
hi there

I would talk to a couple lawyers that specialize in asylum in your area. I recommend to talk to at least 2 lawyers because you will have 2 perspectives- not just a yes or no opinion, and you will start to understand how immigration works a little better.

Advise here will also be valuable (for the most part) but a professional opinion will clarify things much better.

Good luck!
 
USAhome said:
Hello Everybody,

I came to this country about 9 years ago as a student and I am still in student visa (and always been that way). During this period, I learned English, received a BS in Management Information Systems, and a MA in Political Science. Currently, I am working for a famous IT company using my Optional Practical Training (OPT). I got this job through a contract company. Even though the contract company) had promised me to file for H-1B, but at the end they did not do it per their company lawyer's advice. The lawyer thought that I had a very little chance of getting H1-B approved and they did not want to lose their money. I am getting paid lot less than the prevailing wage (the contract company keeps most of my salary). Now, my OPT is expiring at the end of this year and I need to leave this job soon.

My home country has been in political turmoil for last 10 years. Recently, things are looking better and political parties are getting together and talking about bringing a lasting peace in the country. But peace talks keep failing because of personal interests of various political leaders. Nobody knows what is going to happen. I have never been back home since I came here. I was afraid of getting kidnapped and killed by rebels even though I never had direct threat to my life from them. I was active in politics back home and I had some death threats from members of opposition party (not the rebels) and had to stay away from home for sometime. These things are not recorded anywhere as I grew up in a remote village with no running water, electricity, phone, newspaper, and TV. Some people might remember what happened to me, some might not remember anything.

Now I am married and have two children. Both are born here. My wife is not from my native country. She comes from a very peaceful country. I do not mind living in her country, but I have never been there and I do not know the language. Even though my wife has been to my country a couple of times before we got married, she does not speak my language. That's where I met her. She came to the US in religious visa and changed it to F-2 when we got married here. I also changed my religion while in the US, which people from my country do not appreciate very much.

I am seriously thinking about applying for Political Asylum and I need some honest advice from those who have gone through this.

Do you think I should apply for Political Asylum? Do you think I have a good case? I may not able to bring any documents to support my claims other than myself telling the judge what I said here.

Please give me some good and honest advice.

Thanks
Click to expand...


USAHome:
Sorry to hear about your situation. With a BS in MIS, why would the lawyer think your H-1 wont be approved? I know people who have H-1, working in IT, with an English degree.

If money was a concern, you could/should have paid for it out of your own pocket. But that option is gone until Oct 2007 since this year's quota is already full.

Asylum is a risky route. First you will have to explain why you did not apply sooner. You are still in valid status, so thats a plus; the 1-year rule won't apply to you.

Here are some options:
Apply for immigration to Canada AND go back to school in the USA after your OPT is done. Staying in status is critically important so make sure you are back on F-1 before your OPT expires.

You could sue the contracting company for back wages (they are required to pay you prevailing wages) but if you want to stay in the USA, its important to be maintain good relations with them for the time being. Tell them you are going back to school, that you'd like to come back and work for them again, if necessary you will pay the fees yourself, etc, but they need to apply as soon as possible for you, while you are still in school.

And then explore asylum. If you are in legal status, if asylum is denied, you will still be in status, and then can make decisions to go back to your wife's country, or Canada, or whatever in your own time, instead of being escorted to a plane by CIS.

Good luck.
 
i would have to agree with Floyd it is in your best interest to apply to Canadian immigration because a friend of mine got GC thru a skilled workers program.So i think its a wise choose for you and your family.
 
I wrote a long message addressing all of you who had repplied to my message, some reason I lost it. It also happened to me when I was posting my original message. I think there is a time limit how long you can type. It sucks. I hate it. Anyway, I think I need to learn to type faster and not worry about typos. I will write a message to you guys soon.

Thanks guys for replying my message and still would like to hear from other members.
 
USAhome said:
I wrote a long message addressing all of you who had repplied to my message, some reason I lost it. It also happened to me when I was posting my original message. I think there is a time limit how long you can type. It sucks. I hate it. Anyway, I think I need to learn to type faster and not worry about typos. I will write a message to you guys soon.

Thanks guys for replying my message and still would like to hear from other members.
Click to expand...

I've never had the forum time out on me, but occassionally around mid-day its too busy to respond. Type your message in a word processor or notepad, and then paste it here if time is an issue for you.
 
floyd, thanks for the typing tip.

henry97, thanks for giving me some advice to check with a couple of laywers. I will do that soon. I talked to a laywer who happened to be a good friend of mine. He thinks I should go ahead with it. He is a new lawyer (practicing for 6 months now), but plus side is that he went though political asylum himself and got his GC about a year ago.

floyd, about not getting the H1-B, I think it was my salary that was the problem, not my degree. I get paid lower than the prevailing wage.

I have already applied for and have been accepted to a good MS in MIS program with full tuition scholarship.

I have been putting together my application materials for Canadian Immigraiton for last a couple of months.

KaLpsiz, thanks for supporting me to go with Canadian Immigration process.

I am very surprised that nobody even bother to answer my questions except three of you. I thought most of the people in this forum went through hard times in their lives and are willing to help those who are going through that stage. I hope to hear from many of you.

Thanks
 
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I am very surprised that nobody even bother to answer my questions except three of you. I thought most of the people in this forum went through hard times in their lives and are willing to help those who are going through that stage. I hope to hear from many of you.
Click to expand...

my dear friend you got the answer to your question from Henri97 , get a good lawyer and if you really need more help from this forum
share your Country
share prosecution
why you fear to return to your home
share proofs

and someone nice enough will make a case for you so you can take it to the court

sorry for being so straight forward but i am surprised that you surprised :D
 
USAhome said:
floyd, thanks for the typing tip.

henry97, thanks for giving me some advice to check with a couple of laywers. I will do that soon. I talked to a laywer who happened to be a good friend of mine. He thinks I should go ahead with it. He is a new lawyer (practicing for 6 months now), but plus side is that he went though political asylum himself and got his GC about a year ago.

floyd, about not getting the H1-B, I think it was my salary that was the problem, not my degree. I get paid $15 per hour which is much lower than the prevailing wage.

I have already applied for and have been accepted to a good MS in MIS program with full tuition scholarship starting Jan 2007.

I have been putting together my application materials for Canadian Immigraiton for last a couple of months. Everything is pretty much ready except still trying to decide which route to take, federal or Quebec. I heard federal takes 3-4 years now a days. For Quebec, don't know French well, very basic.

KaLpsiz, thanks for supporting me to go with Canadian Immigration process.

I am very surprised that nobody even bother to answer my questions except three of you. I thought most of the people in this forum went through hard times in their lives and are willing to help those who are going through that stage. I hope to hear from many of you.

Thanks
Click to expand...

USAHome:
Congratulations on your scholarship--looks like you are all set at least for the short term.

Don't be dismayed about the lack of answers. There can be many reasons: perhaps not everyone had an answer for you, or felt that the topic was already covered, so they did not want to make "me-too" posts.

Come back and tell us how it goes.

Floyd
 
clisp said:
my dear friend you got the answer to your question from Henri97 , get a good lawyer and if you really need more help from this forum
share your Country
share prosecution
why you fear to return to your home
share proofs

and someone nice enough will make a case for you so you can take it to the court

sorry for being so straight forward but i am surprised that you surprised :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for being straight forward. I like that. Let me be straight forward with you too. You seem to write very good English, I am sure you know how to read as well. If you have read my original post, you would have found everyting you were looking for other than the name of my native country.

Let me copy some of those paragraphs and please read them carefully this time.

-------
...I have never been back home since I came here. I was afraid of getting kidnapped and killed by rebels even though I never had direct threat to my life from them. I was active in politics back home and I had some death threats from members of opposition party (not the rebels) and had to stay away from home for sometime. These things are not recorded anywhere...

...I also changed my religion while in the US, which people from my country do not appreciate very much...

...I may not able to bring any documents to support my claims other than myself telling the judge what I said here...
---------

Thanks for your time.
 
floyd said:
USAHome:
Congratulations on your scholarship--looks like you are all set at least for the short term.

Don't be dismayed about the lack of answers. There can be many reasons: perhaps not everyone had an answer for you, or felt that the topic was already covered, so they did not want to make "me-too" posts.

Come back and tell us how it goes.

Floyd
Click to expand...

Floyd,

Thank you for being so nice and giving me good advice. I will check with lawyers and I will let you know what they said about my case.

Thanks and have a wonderful day.
 
Usahome

Ddear usahome,

do you mind telling us which country your wife came from ?

because if she came from a western country, you should move there, its easy for you, you can get a passport there , and western passport is similar to american passport


ND: FEB 2001
FP : MAY 2004
BIO : AUG 2005
APPROVAL ; AUG 16 2005
 
John Smith 1 said:
Ddear usahome,

do you mind telling us which country your wife came from ?

because if she came from a western country, you should move there, its easy for you, you can get a passport there , and western passport is similar to american passport


ND: FEB 2001
FP : MAY 2004
BIO : AUG 2005
APPROVAL ; AUG 16 2005
Click to expand...

Thank you for message and the tip. My wife and I are both from Asia

Thanks
 
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