Green Card Interview Issues... Please help!

[robdfw]

I am a naturalized US Citizen and sponsored my Mom (78 years old) for her green card 9 years ago. My Mom, in turn, sponsored my sister (59 years old) who is over 21 and unmarried (Divorced for 29 years) and whose application took 8 1/2 years before it was fully processed.

My sister had her green card interview on June 10 and it did not go well at all. The Consul was highly irritated from the beginning and would cut her off for no obvious reasons. He asked her about my Mom's travels back and forth from the US and she indicated that she lives in the US and visits Jordan regularly. In actuality, she usually stays in the US 2-3 months and spends a lot of time in Jordan because she is older and had medical exams that she undergoes for a condition she has.

Please note that my Mom comes to the US every year and has never stayed out of the country for more than a year and she has never had any issues getting into the US. When he asked her how long my Mother has been in Jordan on this trip, she said 3 months when in reality my Mom had been there 10 months. The Consul then ended the interview after 10 minutes and asked her to bring my Mom's passport and drop it off next week.

Obviously, he is trying to audit my Mom's entries and exits, which would be OK. The issue is my sister's incorrect statement, which he could note as lying under oath when it was pure confusion on her part. I checked with the Embassy and they indicated that she is not scheduled to meet with him anymore, which tells me that he will audit the passport and simply turn her down for the green card.

Please note that all her paperwork is in order. My questions are:

1. Do you think the Consul is auditing my Mom's passport to verify my sister's incorrect statements or to validate my Mom's legal status; i.e., did she stay out of the country for more than a year?

2. If she is denied, is there an appeal process? We have not done anything illegal. However, my sister was nervous as she has never had an interview in her life.

Any help you can provide is deeply appreciated.

 

[JohnnyCash]

It seems that Consular officer likes to see the copy of your mom's passport for two reasons-

(1) To make sure that your sister answered truth under oath

(2) If your mom is keeping the terms of her legal permanent residency.

Now it's going very bad for not only your sister but also for your mom. How and why? Once your sister will produce/submit the passport copy of your mom (which she must have to do anyway in order for her immigrant-visa application to be processed), then the officer will know that your sister DID lie under oath and under penalty of perjury.

Lying/mispresenting/concealing a material information/fact is considered an immigration fraud which renders a parmanent bar to enter into the US to an alien. This seems to happen to your sister now given the fact that officer likes to see/verify the copy of your mom's passport to match with the information what your sister told to the officer under oath. Confusion and not remember is not the defense anymore because she had the option to tell the officer that she doesn't remember or doesn't know; but instead she chose to lie or chose to give an incorrect answer. Thus, it's now VERY-VERY-VERY matter and she is on the verge of being barred forever from coming into the US. The only way she could be able to get forgiveness after filing a waiver application is-if your mom would suffer EXTREME hardship in the absence of her in the US which is very hard to prove given your mom lives most of the time in her home country. This EXTREME hardship standard is VERY hard to prove, trust me. Besides, there is a risk now that your mom might lose her green card as well, which means your sister will not be eligible to ask for a forgiveness based on your mom...and obviously, she cannot ask waiver based on you.

Consular officer now can recommend a petition to USCIS/Immigration court to revoke her green card because she has been living most of the times outside the country. Just because she never stayed one full year outside the US then that doesn't mean she didn't violate the terms of her permanent residency. Immigration laws don't say that one wouldn't lose his/her legal permanent residency if s/he won't be staying one full year outside the US; instead laws state that one would automatically lose LPR if s/he would remain outside the US for one full year in one trip, or if one would spend most of his/her time outside the US than inside the US. Green card is given to live inside the US and not outside the US.

If one wants to live most of the time outside the US then s/he would need non-immigrant visa like tourist one than a green card. But many people get a green card because they know that obtaining a tourist visa is impossible for them. And many people are getting away with it that they live most of the time outside and just come to US once a year to keep their green card, but sooner or later they all get caught and lose their green card. Unless one can prove a compelling reason for them to have stayed so long outside the US like being on a serious medical treatment or court case, USCIS will revoke their green card. It's so hard to justify a reason when someone has stayed outside the US for so many times.

So your mom is also now on the verge of losing her green card. Get an attorney as soon as possible even though there is nothing much an attorney can do anymore. Even filing the appeal won't do anything. Attorney and appeal work when there is a matter of laws and not when someone deliberately lied and misrepresented to obtain a benefit.

Good luck...

 

[robdfw]

Johnny,

Thanks for valuable input. I can't believe this has turned out this way. I do have a couple of questions:

1. When turning in my Mom's passport, should I provide a brief overview of her stays and the reasons why she goes back? She had two surgeries in 2001 and was about to undergo one this year but the doctor decided against it.

2. Is including an explanation indicative of the fact that my Mom's residency status is questionable? Basically, does my providing an explanation essentially serve as an admission that she is not a practicing permanent resident?

Thanks