My fiance J-1 overstay w/2 yr hrr - Please help

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frontera

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*NEW* My fiance J-1 overstay w/2 yr hrr - Please help

Could anyone please share some knowledge?

Hi, I was a refugee and will get my US Citizenship in a couple of months.
I want to marry my girfriend.

She came here on J-1 to study at the university. She graduated and just stayed and kept on working. Overstayed for 8 years now, i think.
Her government helped pay for school. I think she actually obtained their no objection letter at some point but never proceeded.

If i marry her, will she be able to 'legalize"? get a work permit?
How can she (we) travel to her home country to visit parents and return back?
 
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After you become a citizen you can petition her, file concurrently I-30, I485 and I-765. But she might get into trouble with USCIS because of the long overstaying, in your case it is better to file your petition with help of a lawyer.My guess is your case will just take longer to process because of 8 years overstaying. Anyways, consult a lawyer, also read all the important information about filing marriage based green card applications on this website, you will find a lot of answers to your questions.
 
You mention that you think she already got her exemption to the two year hrr. You should check on this and if it isn't in the bag you need to start on that first. Otherwise she will be returning for two years whether you are married or not.
 
You will be fine...

Maryana Avagyan said:
After you become a citizen you can petition her, file concurrently I-30, I485 and I-765. But she might get into trouble with USCIS because of the long overstaying, in your case it is better to file your petition with help of a lawyer.My guess is your case will just take longer to process because of 8 years overstaying. Anyways, consult a lawyer, also read all the important information about filing marriage based green card applications on this website, you will find a lot of answers to your questions.[/Q


Maryana, :p

Refrain from offering advise on matters which you aren't sure about. You could be an overstay of any number of years, USCIS will forgive the overstay if you are married to a US citizen. :confused: Moreover, as long as the beneficiary has the I-94, unexpired passport, and was issued a visa, birth certificate, then USCIS will process the benefits due to the petitioner.

So, your advise that an 8 yrs overstay could come under scrutiny is unfounded. :eek: As long as his future-wife has been paying the taxes and never claimed to be a US citizen, then I believe that they should be fine. :( The HRR has been waived, then she is fine. Lastly, their relationship is genuine and legitimate, not evade the immigration laws of the US. He can get a lawyer, if he so desire and doesn't want to deal with completing the forms and writing to USCIS. However, in such situation, as long as the case is simple and straightforward, then they are in good shape... :D
Click to expand...
 
frontera said:
Could anyone please share some knowledge?

Hi, I was a refugee and will get my US Citizenship in a couple of months.
I want to marry my girfriend.

She came here on J-1 to study at the university. She graduated and just stayed and kept on working. Overstayed for 8 years now, i think.
Her government helped pay for school. I think she actually obtained their no objection letter at some point but never proceeded.

If i marry her, will she be able to 'legalize"? get a work permit?
How can she (we) travel to her home country to visit parents and return back?
Click to expand...

Hi:

Her 8-yr overstay is a non-issue once you are a citizen and she is married to you. It will not necessarily slow down the process.

However, it is not clear from your post as to whether you have completed the process for the HRR waiver. Once she has that, it should be a regular AOS case.
 
I think she actually obtained their no objection letter at some point but never proceeded.
Click to expand...

I am assuming she got her no-objection letter, but not the no-objection waiver.

Hmmm, in my case DOS requested that I submit proof of my having been in legal status in the States for the entire period of 10 years, otherwise DOS wouldn't proceed with the waiver.
 
is there no hope?

First of all, thanks for all your help!

------
Yes,

She never finished the process.

She got the letter from her embassy, and stopped.

Then she became out of status...

Her passport expired in 2002

So as i understand - she is not able to get a green card because she has HHR, and she cannot get a waiver because she was out of status. And this closes all the doors for her. Do i get it right?
 
that's really not all for her. It's just the beginning. Since she was on J-1, I am assuming she's got D/S in her I-94. if she never asked INS for anything since she fell out of status, she didn't accumulate any illegal presense. She can leave (keep a copy of her I-94 with D/S in it), spend two years at home, and get an immigrant visa based on marriage to you.

She can also try to get the waiver first, and then, if unsuccessful, follow the steps above.

Did the embassy send the letter to the DOS directly? what followed? why didn't she get the waiver? did she not send all the other required docs to DOS?
 
frontera said:
First of all, thanks for all your help!

------
Yes,

She never finished the process.

She got the letter from her embassy, and stopped.

Then she became out of status...

Her passport expired in 2002

So as i understand - she is not able to get a green card because she has HHR, and she cannot get a waiver because she was out of status. And this closes all the doors for her. Do i get it right?
Click to expand...

Hi:

No. Her I94 reads should read D/S. The general rule is that she does not begin to accrue unlawful stay until the clock starts ticking, activated by a notice from USCIS or an order from an immigration judge. D/S designations are "special" in that way.

She can choose to proceed with a waiver and do AOS, or to leave for 2 years and return with an immigrant visa.
 
Thanks all again

Yes,
Her I-94 has D/S written on it.

Her passport is exprired. Do you think it is going to pose problems with the waiver?

As i understood from the forums. AOS can be done with an expired passport. So, if she gets a waiver she is will be all good to go.
 
Refresh

Let me refresh this discussion...

Setting aside her departure to do the 2 years back home as not viable...

I have 1 good course of action. The waiver...

(She started the process... got case number(have letter); got the N Obj letter form Malaysian embassy sent in, a copy of which we have and then stopped)

Looks like the process can be started again... And Im assuming that the NO letter can be obtained again.

Im also assuming that this is less complicated than other waivers since malay govt was the one who paid (the sponsor?), and they have no problem with letting her go.

Then, would we have trouble with her passport being expired during the waiver?

And the most important question to you, Experts - can the waiver be obtained when out of status, given that she is not accruing any unlawful presence? - I do not see any possibility in fiding this answer in the open source, therefore asking all you guys!

Regards


P.S. LusyMO, spasibo za vse chto ty zdes delaesh. pomogi pozhaluysta chetko ocenit' moyu situaciyu.
 
If she goes home, will she be able to come visit on a visitors visa or any other type? Im interested in that 3-10 year bar
 
if she didn't accumulate illegal presence, she might be able to get a visa and she won't be a subject to a bar. If she is married to you, she probably won't be able to get a visa, unless she can prove to the consular officer that she is spending her two year sentence in her home country before she can immigrate and, therefor, is not at risk of staying in the States.

In my personal case, I was asked to provide proof of legal status. Nobody else that I know of was asked for it.

If I were her, I wouldn't start a new waiver process, but I'd try to inquire about the status of the current one, and perhaps, continue with it.
 
Is there any benefit in going back to the home country during the waiver process for the sake of its success?
 
Update:
I've just called the DOS to check on her case that was never completed.

I gave the rep a DOS case number that we have on the letter from DOS.
That number has only one letter in the beginning.
He said that its supposed to begin with 3 letters. And suggested that i call the national visa center.

That waiver was initiated in 2000.

I think he just didnt want do bother with it..
 
Is the letter at the beginning of that number by any chance an "A"? In which case you have her "Alien number". Does the letter from DOS not have any other longer numbers on it?
 
No, it starts with letter N

Im pretty sure this is the correct number because:

The letter is from DOS. It notifies the recepient of the case number and suggests to share it with an attorney. The number is written next to the line "YOUR DOS CASE NUMBER".

The officer said that the letters in the case number are followed by 2 numbers designating a year - and this is what i have N00XXXXX. The letter is from the year 2000.
 
I am afraid you might have called USCIS, not Department of State.

USCIS applications do have a number that starts with three letters and are followed by two digit year.

My waiver number was a 6 digit number in 2003.

you should contact DOS Public Inquiries at (202) 663-1225.
 
FOR THOSE OF YOU JUST JOINING THE DISCUSSION:

I am USC. My fiance is a J-1 visa overstay with 2 year home residency requirement and an expired passport. 7 years ago (right after school) she applied for the waiver. got case number and had the embassy send the NO Letter to DOS. At that point she stopped
___________________________________________________

I did call the correct number. And i did again today. The person was a little more knowlegeable, but it looks like they dont have any better info that than available online. Online, i get nothing for the case number. She told me to fax to the waiver review division.

1. How good of an advice is that?

2. I was also wondering if it would be beneficial for her waiver case if she goes back home at some point of the waiver process?

Scenario: Applied for waiver. She goes back home, renews passport. Gets back on tourist (or...?) visa. Waiver ready. Marriage. AOS.
 
The DOS case number is still only a 6-digit number in early 2007, like Lucy's was in 2003. Must have been different in 2000.
Just for kicks, and if you haven't tried it already, call the DOS again, and when they ask for a case number, just give them the last 5 digits. Without the N00. Pretend you've never heard of N00. Five digits numbers are too old to come up on the web site (it will tell you that there is no information) but see if calling with only the last 5 digits gives you any info. Of course, they may have tried it already but I thought I'd mention it.

As for your scenario, you'd have to figure out if the airline will even let her on the plane with an expired passport. Legally, a passport must be valid for a passenger to fly if a passport is otherwise required. If flying straight to the home country, it may be possible, but you'd have to check for any possible ramifications before you attempt to have her fly out. You could also try to renew it at an embassy in the US to avoid that headache.
 
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