whitebottle
Registered Users (C)
Hi there,
Pasted below is my story. There has been a huge progress to my situation since I last posted my story. Due to my illegal status, I was unable to obtain a current state ID in CA so I did my research and found out that Washington (State) is the only state in the US where I as an illegal immigrant can still obtain a valid, current state ID. I needed to have a valid state ID in order to get married to my US citizen fiance. So, I traveled to WA and got my WA state ID and came back to CA (where I live). Just two weeks ago, my fiance and I got married here in CA. We still are living together, August 2011 will be four years since we started living together. We were hoping to seek some advice on what is the next step I need to take to fix my illegal immigrant status. We just want to live our lives together without having my immigration status hanging over our heads. We are not wealthy but we are both smart and can follow instructions, so we intend to do the paperwork process without an attorney. Btw, I did read some of the postings on GC/Citizenship for legal immigrants (especially the one by nkumar7) and found it to be extremely helpful but my situation is a bit different since I am an illegal immigrant.
My Story - How I Went From Being A Minor To An Illegal Immigrant:
I came to the US when I was 16yrs old in Dec, 2000 from India. I left home when I was 19 and lived my own life, went to college etc. I didn't talk to my parents till I was 22, when we spoke I asked my mom for my documents...passport and such. At this time my mom told me that our visas expired 3yrs after coming to the US and refused to give me my documents because they (my parents) feared that if I did anything then our entire family could get deported. Dad was on a H1B visa and I along with my brothers were on a H4 visa, don't know what visa mom was on...I believe an H4 as well. I didn't know what to think of all this at the time because I didn't know squat about immigration. In fact, I didn't even know what type of visa we were on up until last month.
I was busy with college so I just let this whole deal sit on the back burner. Now that I've graduated from college (June 2010), I want to take care of my paperwork and get married to my boyfriend (who turned into fiance in July 2010) who I've been living with for the last 3yrs. So I met with an attorney, who advised that I obtain my passport and I94 from my parents. Earlier this month I contacted my mom and told her I'm getting married so I need my documents...so she mailed me my birth certificate and my passport. The problem is that my passport expired in Dec of 2009! According to the attorney's advise, I tried to renew my expired passport online but it is not as easy as the attorney made it out to be. I need proof of legal residency and various other documents to renew my passport which I don't have. The attorney suggested that I could take care of my paperwork after I get married to my boyfriend so I did the research and found out that to obtain a marriage license, I need a valid government issued ID which I do not have...and have no means of obtaining. I used to have a CA ID which expired in 2007, which I went to go renew but they needed a passport which I didn't have at the time...now I realize after doing thorough research that even if had had my passport at that time I would've still needed proof of legal residency in order for them to have renewed my ID.
I've been trying to reach the Indian consulate in SF but they don't answer the phone at all. I even left them a message but no word from them yet. The more and more I read about it and hear about it I just get so uncertain of my future...I want to continue my education so I can go to vet school and follow my dreams...please does anyone have any words of advice? This was my previous posting back in Oct, 2010 I believe.
Pasted below is my story. There has been a huge progress to my situation since I last posted my story. Due to my illegal status, I was unable to obtain a current state ID in CA so I did my research and found out that Washington (State) is the only state in the US where I as an illegal immigrant can still obtain a valid, current state ID. I needed to have a valid state ID in order to get married to my US citizen fiance. So, I traveled to WA and got my WA state ID and came back to CA (where I live). Just two weeks ago, my fiance and I got married here in CA. We still are living together, August 2011 will be four years since we started living together. We were hoping to seek some advice on what is the next step I need to take to fix my illegal immigrant status. We just want to live our lives together without having my immigration status hanging over our heads. We are not wealthy but we are both smart and can follow instructions, so we intend to do the paperwork process without an attorney. Btw, I did read some of the postings on GC/Citizenship for legal immigrants (especially the one by nkumar7) and found it to be extremely helpful but my situation is a bit different since I am an illegal immigrant.
My Story - How I Went From Being A Minor To An Illegal Immigrant:
I came to the US when I was 16yrs old in Dec, 2000 from India. I left home when I was 19 and lived my own life, went to college etc. I didn't talk to my parents till I was 22, when we spoke I asked my mom for my documents...passport and such. At this time my mom told me that our visas expired 3yrs after coming to the US and refused to give me my documents because they (my parents) feared that if I did anything then our entire family could get deported. Dad was on a H1B visa and I along with my brothers were on a H4 visa, don't know what visa mom was on...I believe an H4 as well. I didn't know what to think of all this at the time because I didn't know squat about immigration. In fact, I didn't even know what type of visa we were on up until last month.
I was busy with college so I just let this whole deal sit on the back burner. Now that I've graduated from college (June 2010), I want to take care of my paperwork and get married to my boyfriend (who turned into fiance in July 2010) who I've been living with for the last 3yrs. So I met with an attorney, who advised that I obtain my passport and I94 from my parents. Earlier this month I contacted my mom and told her I'm getting married so I need my documents...so she mailed me my birth certificate and my passport. The problem is that my passport expired in Dec of 2009! According to the attorney's advise, I tried to renew my expired passport online but it is not as easy as the attorney made it out to be. I need proof of legal residency and various other documents to renew my passport which I don't have. The attorney suggested that I could take care of my paperwork after I get married to my boyfriend so I did the research and found out that to obtain a marriage license, I need a valid government issued ID which I do not have...and have no means of obtaining. I used to have a CA ID which expired in 2007, which I went to go renew but they needed a passport which I didn't have at the time...now I realize after doing thorough research that even if had had my passport at that time I would've still needed proof of legal residency in order for them to have renewed my ID.
I've been trying to reach the Indian consulate in SF but they don't answer the phone at all. I even left them a message but no word from them yet. The more and more I read about it and hear about it I just get so uncertain of my future...I want to continue my education so I can go to vet school and follow my dreams...please does anyone have any words of advice? This was my previous posting back in Oct, 2010 I believe.
Last edited by a moderator: