Going back home

Absolutely not! What if you have your whole family there and you need to help them? What if it's been years since you left that country? Also if you inform the US gov't that you intend to go there for a good reason it is not lying. If on the other hand, you lie to the gov't and go to the country of origin, then you should be worried.
 
Please give us an example that USCIS doesn't follow their own rules and the ultimate outcome of their not following their own rules.

Nobody is arguing that showing a printout of USCIS web pages will get you somewhere. That's not the point.

The point is to exchange information, to discuss.

Please let us know if you have legal base on this issue.

wantmygcnow said:
This is bad advice. I wouldnt feel comfortable thinking that OK i can do whatever and USCIS "wont have the resources."

Ok its true that lots of time USCIS doesn't care and doesn't go after you but you know what IF they do, they do it like crazy.

Citizenship can be denied if you lied to obtain a GC. Thats in the law. When you go for an interview, you never know what the citizenship interviewer will ask you....

My advice would be to NOT go to your home country unless emergency... UNTIL you are a U.s Citizen. Do not believe in Any Lawyers or anything written on any USCIS's website...

In the END USCIS doesn't follow their own rules....and taking a printout from their website and saying well its said "all gc holders are equal" wont really help you out....

Again the logic by windywd that when Soviet uNion collapsed..every PA from that country would have been reveresed...is silly. Thats a bad example to use. Poltiical Asylum is based on more than one thing..Just because a coutnry is back to good ol' times doesnt mean that the person who obtained PA is still NOT persecuted...There is Race.religion..belief in an opinoin..etc..It doesn't mean that if country is safe a person is safe.

In PA from a country that is safe now, you are dealing with maybe thousands of individuals but if you go back to your home country..you are the single one..single person to fight against USCIS..and for them to poke around..

IF you do need to go back...get your evidence ready JUST IN CASE you need it down the road for your citizenship interview...
 
The answer is not necessarily. Explain to us the reason you think the woman with 4 kids and the gay guy from Iran were lying from my situations.

wantmygcnow said:
Going back to home country now... that you filed against..and bad mouthed because you thought you are persecuted..is not lying on your application?
 
jackdanie7 said:
There is no law that says that you cannot visit your home country or renew your home country passport. However, it is stated on the Immigration of Nationality Act Sec. 246. [8 U.S.C. 1256] Section (a) that the Attorney General has the right to rescind your adjustment if within five years after the adjustment date if he has reason to believe that you were not eligible to be adjusted at the time of the adjustment.

Those who are still waiting for your I-485 to be approved, my advice is not to even consider visiting your HC. The government has a right to deny your adjustment even if you were granted Asylum 10 years ago by claiming that the situation in your country has changed at the time of adjustment. I doesn't mean that you won't be under the radar on several occasions but doing so is a huge gamble.

If you have already been adjusted, my advice to you is not to visit your HC close to your adjustment date. Doing so may raise a question that you the situation in your country had changed at the time of adjustment. The further away you go home from the adjustment date the safer you are.

My opinion.

Totally Agree.
 
windywd said:
Basically, after getting GC you are free to go anywhere, including home country.

CIS does not have the resources to investigate since day one. They would act on any "perceived" fraud based on existing paperwork, like visa fraud.

In 1990, when Soviet Union collapsed, "in theory" they could reverse asylum status for those granted PA from USSR. They never did. Once they processed your case, it is done. After getting GC, no one is going to ask you "have you tried to obtain the passport of the country of prosecution?" They just don't have the resouces to look back.

This is factually incorrect. After the collapse of communism they REVOKED asylum status of people from the soviet block on a systematic basis. They also revoked asylum of people from Panana and Nicaragua due a change of government there. In response to this the US Congress enacted special legislation to allow these people to become permanent residents.
 
This following is taken from a chapter of the Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook published by the AILA for use by lawyers:

An important part of the BICS officer's adjudication of a naturalization application is a review of the applicant's complete file including the immigrant visa or adjustment of status documents. Comparison of this information with information subsequently received from the naturalization application, from various security checks and from the applicant during the course of the naturalization interview can indicate that the applicant's permanent residence may not have been lawfully obtained. INA 237(a)(1)(A) provides any alien who at the time of entry or adjustment of staus was within one or more classes of aliens inadmissible by existing law at such time is deportable. [emphasis added]

The book then goes on to list various situations in which the attorney should not file a citizenship application for the client because the client risks deportation. One of the situation is a former asylee who visited her home country right after becoming a LPR on the basis of asylum.
 
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At the time of adjustment are you still an asylee? If the government hasn't terminate it you are.

The government can decide 10 years later that at the time of adjustment you were safe to go back to home country. And the government may wish they had terminated your asylee status 10 years ago. But it's too late. Nobdoy can turn back time.

There is no law stipulates that asylum status expires once home country conditions change. Asylum status could expire, but not without procedure.

jackdanie7 said:
There is no law that says that you cannot visit your home country or renew your home country passport. However, it is stated on the Immigration of Nationality Act Sec. 246. [8 U.S.C. 1256] Section (a) that the Attorney General has the right to rescind your adjustment if within five years after the adjustment date he has reason to believe that you were not eligible to be adjusted at the time of the adjustment.

Those who are still waiting for your I-485 to be approved, my advice is not to even consider visiting your HC. The government has a right to deny your adjustment even if you were granted Asylum 10 years ago by claiming that the situation in your country has changed at the time of adjustment. I doesn't mean that you won't be under the radar on several occasions but doing so is a huge gamble.

If you have already been adjusted, my advice to you is not to visit your HC close to your adjustment date. Doing so may raise a question that you the situation in your country had changed at the time of adjustment. The further away you go home from the adjustment date the safer you are.

My opinion.
 
Apart from section 246, they can and certainly do also deport people on the basis other provisions of law that do not have a time limit. Like 237(a)(1)(A).


jackdanie7 said:
There is no law that says that you cannot visit your home country or renew your home country passport. However, it is stated on the Immigration of Nationality Act Sec. 246. [8 U.S.C. 1256] Section (a) that the Attorney General has the right to rescind your adjustment if within five years after the adjustment date he has reason to believe that you were not eligible to be adjusted at the time of the adjustment.

Those who are still waiting for your I-485 to be approved, my advice is not to even consider visiting your HC. The government has a right to deny your adjustment even if you were granted Asylum 10 years ago by claiming that the situation in your country has changed at the time of adjustment. It doesn't mean that you won't be under the radar on several occasions but doing so is a huge gamble.

If you have already been adjusted, my advice to you is not to visit your HC close to your adjustment date. Doing so may raise a question that the situation in your country had changed at the time of adjustment. The further away you go home from the adjustment date, the safer you are.

My opinion.
 
wantmygcnow said:
This is bad advice. I wouldnt feel comfortable thinking that OK i can do whatever and USCIS "wont have the resources."

Ok its true that lots of time USCIS doesn't care and doesn't go after you but you know what IF they do, they do it like crazy.

Citizenship can be denied if you lied to obtain a GC. Thats in the law. When you go for an interview, you never know what the citizenship interviewer will ask you....

My advice would be to NOT go to your home country unless emergency... UNTIL you are a U.s Citizen. Do not believe in Any Lawyers or anything written on any USCIS's website...

In the END USCIS doesn't follow their own rules....and taking a printout from their website and saying well its said "all gc holders are equal" wont really help you out....

Again the logic by windywd that when Soviet uNion collapsed..every PA from that country would have been reveresed...is silly. Thats a bad example to use. Poltiical Asylum is based on more than one thing..Just because a coutnry is back to good ol' times doesnt mean that the person who obtained PA is still NOT persecuted...There is Race.religion..belief in an opinoin..etc..It doesn't mean that if country is safe a person is safe.

In PA from a country that is safe now, you are dealing with maybe thousands of individuals but if you go back to your home country..you are the single one..single person to fight against USCIS..and for them to poke around..

IF you do need to go back...get your evidence ready JUST IN CASE you need it down the road for your citizenship interview...


If following your logic, then you can NEVER go home even if you get citizenship. The law says that they can only deprive of your citizenship if obtained fraudulently. So, if your PA is fraud, GC is, so as citizenship.

The fact is, a lot of people do even before GC, and have no problem.
 
thankful said:
This following is taken from a chapter of the Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook published by the AILA for use by lawyers:

An important part of the BICS officer's adjudication of a naturalization application is a review of the applicant's complete file including the immigrant visa or adjustment of status documents. Comparison of this information with information subsequently received from the naturalization application, from various security checks and from the applicant during the course of the naturalization interview can indicate that the applicant's permanent residence may not have been lawfully obtained. INA 237(a)(1)(A) provides any alien who at the time of entry or adjustment of staus was within one or more classes of aliens inadmissible by existing law at such time is deportable. [emphasis added]

The book then goes on to list various situations in which the attorney should not file a citizenship application for the client because the client risks deportation. One of the situation is a former asylee who visited her home country right after becoming a LPR on the basis of asylum.
 
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thankful said:
This is factually incorrect. After the collapse of communism they REVOKED asylum status of people from the soviet block on a systematic basis. They also revoked asylum of people from Panana and Nicaragua due a change of government there. In response to this the US Congress enacted special legislation to allow these people to become permanent residents.

That portion I did not know. All I know is that two of my Russion friends got GC right around that time and they told me there was a public outcry to stop INS reversing.
 
thankful said:
This is factually incorrect. After the collapse of communism they REVOKED asylum status of people from the soviet block on a systematic basis. They also revoked asylum of people from Panana and Nicaragua due a change of government there. In response to this the US Congress enacted special legislation to allow these people to become permanent residents.


Even after they obtained their GC and citizenship?
 
If you have cheated the system by lying to get asylum, yes, you could be deported, no matter if you are a LPR or not.

Imagine a system that once you become a LPR you can brag about your abusing the asylum system!

At the same time, going back home after adjustment does not equal to fraudulant case.
 
Minsk said:
Even after they obtained their GC and citizenship?


No that was for people who were waiting to become PRS and were on asylee status. My point was simply that they can adminsitratively reverse an earlier asylum or green card decision. Having a green card does not immunize you from deportation if they have reason to believe that your green card was acquired illegally. This routinely happen to citizenship applicants and the Government is especially wary with former asylees.
 
TimZ said:
If you have cheated the system by lying to get asylum, yes, you could be deported, no matter if you are a LPR or not.

Imagine a system that once you become a LPR you can brag about your abusing the asylum system!

At the same time, going back home after adjustment does not equal to fraudulant case.


No it does not per se. But it is a huge red flag and every sane immigration officer will follow up with this.

If someone from Poland was granted asylum in the 1980s because of her political activities back home and became a LPR. Supposed further that she did not become a citizen either because she did not want to or because she could not pass the exam. Can she visist Warsaw today in spite of the fact that she obtained her green card on the basis of asylum? The answer would be yes as Poland has changed so dramatically.

On the other hand, if that person is from China and obtained asylum by claiming to be deeply involved with the Tiananmen protest. That person wrote on the asylum application that the Chinese government had been actively looking for him. Given the lack of political change there, do you think an INS officer will not become suspcious if that person happily toured China?
 
I just called my Lawyer

After reading this whole thread, I decided to call my lawyer, just out of curiosity. I know this subject can be dabated forever without reaching to any decisive conclusion. Because there are people who have personal experiences and different lawyers with different opinions. Some interpret certain USCIS law one way and some go the other way around.
I'm neutral and willing to listen to both sides and mind you none of the party is wrong.
Anyway, I asked my lawyer that is it OK if I renew my passport after I get GC. He said, "that shouldn't be a problem."
I asked him, what if I go back home after I become a Permanent Resident. He said, that after you become LPR, you are same as any other GC holder and shouldn't be a problem.
Guys, don't bombard me with your opinion as I share the same mixed feeling as a lot of other members here. I'm posting it just as I heard from my lawyer. It is his response, take it for whatever its worth.
 
I hate to jump into this as well because I find this whole debate silly. However as posted here two years ago I was advised by my attorney in very clear term that asylees should not go back to their countries before citizenship. He told me that he has represented people placed in deportation proceedings for this reason.

My attorney is Michael Maggio. http://www.maggio-kattar.com/seniorstaff/maggio.asp

He is considered one of the best attorneys in the country. He is also in close touch with the USCIS at the most senior levels. I said this because at the time it took the USCIS forever to approve I-730 petitions. I really needed to bring my dependents here ASAP. Mr. Maggio could pick up the phone while I was in his office and spoke to someone at USCIS central office. My petition was approved the following next week.

So I have faith in the view of my attorney which is by the way consistent with common sense (for a person to go back home after asylee adjustment is like someone who begged everybody for money on account of starvation and then after getting people's charity went to Europe for a luxury tour).


Punjabi_Munda said:
After reading this whole thread, I decided to call my lawyer, just out of curiosity. I know this subject can be dabated forever without reaching to any decisive conclusion. Because there are people who have personal experiences and different lawyers with different opinions. Some interpret certain USCIS law one way and some go the other way around.
I'm neutral and willing to listen to both sides and mind you none of the party is wrong.
Anyway, I asked my lawyer that is it OK if I renew my passport after I get GC. He said, "that shouldn't be a problem."
I asked him, what if I go back home after I become a Permanent Resident. He said, that after you become LPR, you are same as any other GC holder and shouldn't be a problem.
Guys, don't bombard me with your opinion as I share the same mixed feeling as a lot of other members here. I'm posting it just as I heard from my lawyer. It is his response, take it for whatever its worth.
 
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I agree, except that not every sane immigration officer follows up with that.

thankful said:
No it does not per se. But it is a huge red flag and every sane immigration officer will follow up with this.

If someone from Poland was granted asylum in the 1980s because of her political activities back home and became a LPR. Supposed further that she did not become a citizen either because she did not want to or because she could not pass the exam. Can she visist Warsaw today in spite of the fact that she obtained her green card on the basis of asylum? The answer would be yes as Poland has changed so dramatically.

On the other hand, if that person is from China and obtained asylum by claiming to be deeply involved with the Tiananmen protest. That person wrote on the asylum application that the Chinese government had been actively looking for him. Given the lack of political change there, do you think an INS officer will not become suspcious if that person happily toured China?
 
Every competent doctor will tell you in very clear term that you should never smoke.

How would you think about a doctor who tells you that if you smoke one cigerette you would immediately die?

jw1951 said:
I hate to jump into this as well because I find this whole debate silly. However as posted here two years ago I was advised by my attorney in very clear term that asylees should not go back to their countries before citizenship. He told me that he has represented people placed in deportation proceedings for this reason.

My attorney is Michael Maggio. http://www.maggio-kattar.com/seniorstaff/maggio.asp

He is considered one of the best attorneys in the country. He is also in close touch with the USCIS at the most senior levels. I said this because at the time it took the USCIS forever to approve I-730 petitions. I really needed to bring my dependents here ASAP. Mr. Maggio could pick up the phone while I was in his office and spoke to someone at USCIS central office. My petition was approved the following next week.

So I have faith in the view of my attorney which is by the way consistent with common sense (for a person to go back home after asylee adjustment is like someone who begged everybody for money on account of starvation and then after getting people's charity went to Europe for a luxury tour).
 
I have huge interest in this issue and read every comment in this thread. I have been asking many and read a lot about this issue before. the answers you get are mixed. I guess it is because it depends in the circumstance of each case. some might have gone back home and yet got their citzenship easy while in principle and logic it seems that they should not get it as they have gone back to the country where they claim that they are being presecuted or other reason. I asked my lawyer recently and had a good lengthy discussion about this. what he said is this. you might be lucky but there is a big chance that your citzenship claim might be denied. in short "donot go to your home country even with GC". worse than that he said, an immigration officer can stop you at entry to US and question you about your trip and might even deny your entry. I was not happy with the answer but that is what he said.
 
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