Living in US without Green Card

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seoulite

Registered Users (C)
I've been posting around this forum trying to sort out some details for my girlfriend's attempt to gain citizenship when a new, interesting fact came to light last night.

I was going over her paperwork when I noticed that she first applied for a green card in December 2001 (she was 17 at the time). The process took a long time and she didn't receive the physical card until August of 2004.

The problem with this is that she has been living in the US (consecutively) since she was about 6 years old. How was she able to live in the US from ages 6-17 without a green card? Do children automatically qualify as permanent residents without needing a card when they are sponsored by a relative (her father in this case)?
 
Let's assume she was living illegally, what happens when she registered at school? What record is created of someone who is living illegally in the US, but is listed on tax forms as a dependent or, like I said, on a school register? She also had her driver's license before her green card. How is any of this possible?

On a side note - we are trying to file for form N-600. Her father naturalized as a citizen in 2000 (when she was 16), but it looks like she didn't have a green card at that time. Does that disqualify her from becoming a U.S. citizen automatically?
 
seoulite said:
Let's assume she was living illegally, what happens when she registered at school? What record is created of someone who is living illegally in the US, but is listed on tax forms as a dependent or, like I said, on a school register? She also had her driver's license before her green card. How is any of this possible?
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Keep in mind that things were a lot different ten years ago. In the 1990s, I was able to open bank accounts without an SSN.

On a side note - we are trying to file for form N-600. Her father naturalized as a citizen in 2000 (when she was 16), but it looks like she didn't have a green card at that time. Does that disqualify her from becoming a U.S. citizen automatically?
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I don't believe the Child Citizenship Act was ever retroactive, and it certainly wouldn't have applied if she wasn't a Permanent Resident. I think she'll need to file an N-400.
 
seoulite said:
I've been posting around this forum trying to sort out some details for my girlfriend's attempt to gain citizenship when a new, interesting fact came to light last night.

I was going over her paperwork when I noticed that she first applied for a green card in December 2001 (she was 17 at the time). The process took a long time and she didn't receive the physical card until August of 2004.

The problem with this is that she has been living in the US (consecutively) since she was about 6 years old. How was she able to live in the US from ages 6-17 without a green card?
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What status(es) did her parents have when she was 6-17? It's not so uncommon for people to spend a combined 10-12 years in F1 and H1B status before getting a green card. In such a situation, a child could have held F2 and H4 status for the same length of time (although a detailed reading of your posts gives me the impression that didn't happen in this particular situation).

Do children automatically qualify as permanent residents without needing a card when they are sponsored by a relative (her father in this case)?
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No, unless they were brought to the US before age 2, with their permanent resident parent's first trip to the US since their birth. Any other scenario for obtaining a green card is not automatic, and requires a formal application process.

On a side note - we are trying to file for form N-600. Her father naturalized as a citizen in 2000 (when she was 16), but it looks like she didn't have a green card at that time. Does that disqualify her from becoming a U.S. citizen automatically?
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She would need to have her green card approved before age 18, and meet other conditions, in order to automatically derive citizenship through a parent. From your description it seems she didn't have a green card until 20 or 21, so that would disqualify her from derivative citizenship, and now if she wants to become a citizen she must file N-400 on her own merit instead of N-600.
 
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Her father first came over in 1990 and I think he was sponsored by his mother or sister. Then, a year or so later, he brought the rest of the family over. I imagine that the parents have always been permanent residents since they came to the US, but I have no idea what status the children were. I've really done as much as I can at this point, so it will be up to my girlfriend to sit down and actually figure out what exactly her parents did to bring her to the US. She just always assumed she was a resident and that her parents simply took care of all the paperwork. Her paperwork has been filed for the N-600, and if it's going to be rejected I'd rather her not have to wait 5 months for them to simply say "you don't qualify". Surely, with one glance at her paperwork they can say right away it will be denied. I guess we'll have to try and get an update and then start the N-400 process.
 
What is the "resident since" date on her green card? If it's a date on or after her 18th birthday*, she automatically will be disqualified from the N-600 and should withdraw the N-600 and submit the N-400 without waiting months for a USCIS decision on the N-600.


*unless it's the occasional case where the card's date is wrong due to a typo. If she thinks the date is wrong, and the correct date was before she turned 18, she can check other papers such as the I-485 approval notice. But the real approval date being before her 18th birthday is extremely unlikely, given that she applied in 2001 (when the I-485 typically took over a year) when she was 17, and received the physical card at 20 or 21.
 
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The date on the card is definitely past her 18th birthday. If we withdraw the N-600, I'm assuming we won't be refunded, right? I really wish she had paid more attention to all of this because that's a good chunk of money down the drain if otherwise.
 
Nevermind. It's not refundable - I figured. Is it normal for USCIS to wait the 5 months and then just simply say "yay" or "nay" to the application. They can take one look at it and deny it on the spot.
 
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