Hello,
My parents immigrated into USA when I was below 21. So I was qualified to immigrate into USA, too. As a Green Card holder I lived and worked in USA for a few years. Then I visited my home country. I missed my return flight and I was forced to purchase a new ticket. I chose a round-trip ticket because they are cheaper. In fact, I was not intending to use the return flight when I purchased this new ticket. After six weeks of stay in my home country I was about to return to USA. However, the airline security at the airport did not allow me to board the plane. They made me a suspect. I had to stay in my home country until the investigation was over. I was cleared by the police of my home country pretty fast, but for the FBI it took 19 months until they found me as clean. During this time FBI reported to INS so that I could not enter USA. As I had to stay in the country of my citizenship, I lost my job in the US. I had to ask friends to quickly sell all my stuffs because I could not afford to pay my rent in America. Now I have nothing except my innocence. I don’t even have money to pay a good lawyer in America. The homeland security police of my country told me that I might enter the US as a tourist, but I would have lost my Green Card. I would also have to accept to be imprisoned in the US even though my innocence has been proven even by the FBI. The police explained it with the foolish American Patriot Act. I could expect to be in prison for 24 hours or for a few weeks or months. Until now I haven’t worked in the country of my citizenship. I was living from my savings and the money that I got from selling all my stuffs in America. All I have left in America is a bank account. Since I was cleared by FBI, some time has been passed now. I couldn’t make a decision whether I should return to the US or whether I should stay here in the country of my citizenship because of security reasons. Therewith I don’t mean that I am afraid of becoming a victim from an attack by I am afraid of American police. I was also afraid that I could be banned for the rest of my live from entering the US if I enter USA with my Green Card. My Green Card expires in two years. Then I would have to renew it for ten more years. But this would only be under normal circumstances. I am also afraid of visiting the US embassy here in the country of my citizenship because they could confiscate my Green Card.
The whole incident would have destroyed me emotionally if I did not fall in love with a beautiful American woman. She wants me to marry her and to live with her in the US.
My first question now is the following: When I visit the US embassy here in my country of citizenship and tell them my story, would they confiscate my Green Card?
If they do, will there automatically be a ban for a certain amount of time during which I am not allowed to enter the US? How is it when somebody gives back his Green Card or when his Green Card has been revoked?
If my Green Card is not valid any more, am I allowed to apply for a Green Card once I have married my girlfriend? That would mean that I would immigrate into USA for the second time. This, in turn, means that you can leave America and abandon your Green Card and immigrate into USA over and over again, for example, the first time if you get married with an American girl, the second time when your parents are American citizens, the third time when a company invites you etc. etc. etc.
Will I ever be allowed to apply for the American citizenship, especially after such an investigation has been done? I’m sure that something has been stored in their computers for the rest of my life.
Maybe I do not enter the US as soon as I have married my American girlfriend. Can I apply for the Green Card even after one, two years of marriage with an American citizen? Or is there a timeline during which I have to apply for the Green Card beginning at the time when I marry.
If I sign a marriage contract with my girlfriend in order to protect her in case we get divorced one day, would this be regarded as a sign of false marriage just to get a Green Card? Please consider that statistically every second marriage in the US will be divorced and from that perspective it is just logical to sign such a contract. Can you provide me a link where I can download such a marriage contract? I have never been married before, but from friends of mine who got divorced, I know how nasty it can get when you did not sign a marriage contract.
One thing you should know is that during my stay in America I had never committed a crime or got a ticket for driving too fast or anything else. However, I never filed the so-called AR-11 whenever I changed my address. But the address INS had originally is still correct because by this address I was reachable. All letters would have redirected to my new address at all times. I thought AR-11 is just for people who cannot be reached by their old address anymore. Before you hang me, please consider that I got my Green Card in 1996, thus, at a time when Internet was not as advanced as it is today. As I had this information, it never came into my mind to check it because this information made sense. Now I know about the importance of filing for AR-11 and that those who do not do that become a suspect. I hope this will not ban me from entering the US for the rest of my life.
I appreciate the time you have taken to read this and I thank you for your sincere feedback.
Haary
My parents immigrated into USA when I was below 21. So I was qualified to immigrate into USA, too. As a Green Card holder I lived and worked in USA for a few years. Then I visited my home country. I missed my return flight and I was forced to purchase a new ticket. I chose a round-trip ticket because they are cheaper. In fact, I was not intending to use the return flight when I purchased this new ticket. After six weeks of stay in my home country I was about to return to USA. However, the airline security at the airport did not allow me to board the plane. They made me a suspect. I had to stay in my home country until the investigation was over. I was cleared by the police of my home country pretty fast, but for the FBI it took 19 months until they found me as clean. During this time FBI reported to INS so that I could not enter USA. As I had to stay in the country of my citizenship, I lost my job in the US. I had to ask friends to quickly sell all my stuffs because I could not afford to pay my rent in America. Now I have nothing except my innocence. I don’t even have money to pay a good lawyer in America. The homeland security police of my country told me that I might enter the US as a tourist, but I would have lost my Green Card. I would also have to accept to be imprisoned in the US even though my innocence has been proven even by the FBI. The police explained it with the foolish American Patriot Act. I could expect to be in prison for 24 hours or for a few weeks or months. Until now I haven’t worked in the country of my citizenship. I was living from my savings and the money that I got from selling all my stuffs in America. All I have left in America is a bank account. Since I was cleared by FBI, some time has been passed now. I couldn’t make a decision whether I should return to the US or whether I should stay here in the country of my citizenship because of security reasons. Therewith I don’t mean that I am afraid of becoming a victim from an attack by I am afraid of American police. I was also afraid that I could be banned for the rest of my live from entering the US if I enter USA with my Green Card. My Green Card expires in two years. Then I would have to renew it for ten more years. But this would only be under normal circumstances. I am also afraid of visiting the US embassy here in the country of my citizenship because they could confiscate my Green Card.
The whole incident would have destroyed me emotionally if I did not fall in love with a beautiful American woman. She wants me to marry her and to live with her in the US.
My first question now is the following: When I visit the US embassy here in my country of citizenship and tell them my story, would they confiscate my Green Card?
If they do, will there automatically be a ban for a certain amount of time during which I am not allowed to enter the US? How is it when somebody gives back his Green Card or when his Green Card has been revoked?
If my Green Card is not valid any more, am I allowed to apply for a Green Card once I have married my girlfriend? That would mean that I would immigrate into USA for the second time. This, in turn, means that you can leave America and abandon your Green Card and immigrate into USA over and over again, for example, the first time if you get married with an American girl, the second time when your parents are American citizens, the third time when a company invites you etc. etc. etc.
Will I ever be allowed to apply for the American citizenship, especially after such an investigation has been done? I’m sure that something has been stored in their computers for the rest of my life.
Maybe I do not enter the US as soon as I have married my American girlfriend. Can I apply for the Green Card even after one, two years of marriage with an American citizen? Or is there a timeline during which I have to apply for the Green Card beginning at the time when I marry.
If I sign a marriage contract with my girlfriend in order to protect her in case we get divorced one day, would this be regarded as a sign of false marriage just to get a Green Card? Please consider that statistically every second marriage in the US will be divorced and from that perspective it is just logical to sign such a contract. Can you provide me a link where I can download such a marriage contract? I have never been married before, but from friends of mine who got divorced, I know how nasty it can get when you did not sign a marriage contract.
One thing you should know is that during my stay in America I had never committed a crime or got a ticket for driving too fast or anything else. However, I never filed the so-called AR-11 whenever I changed my address. But the address INS had originally is still correct because by this address I was reachable. All letters would have redirected to my new address at all times. I thought AR-11 is just for people who cannot be reached by their old address anymore. Before you hang me, please consider that I got my Green Card in 1996, thus, at a time when Internet was not as advanced as it is today. As I had this information, it never came into my mind to check it because this information made sense. Now I know about the importance of filing for AR-11 and that those who do not do that become a suspect. I hope this will not ban me from entering the US for the rest of my life.
I appreciate the time you have taken to read this and I thank you for your sincere feedback.
Haary