N-400 Process

H

hrh

Registered Users (C)
I am trying to find a out a few questions. I am getting ready to file my N-400 next month in Northern Virginia area. The question is, back in October 2001 i got married to a girl from England, i had hired a lawyer to file our i-130 for my wife. We had also found a job for her so she could stay in the States while her i-130 was pending. When we filed the H-1b through this lawyer he promised us all sorts of things. I am only a greencard holder (LPR), but was told at that time i could file for V-Visa after three years if the H-1b doesn't work out. Well it turned out the H-1b didn't work out, the lawyer had changed the job discription and immigration office didn't believe that the job of a sales/ Marketing needed a Masters digaree and that it could be done by a less qualified person. The lawyer said go ahead and appeal because our case was strong and that it was rejected for wrong reasons. Now at that time my wife was here on Visa-Wavier, since citizens of Britain do not need a visa to travel to the States. He advised us to have her stay in the States while the application is still pending and not to worry as long as the application is pending her status is still valid. Well after a few months we got a notice that her application has again been denied, but by this time she had over stayed her 3 months and also was pregenant (7+ months at this time)and couldn't travel back. The lawyer advised her to stay and apply for V- visa once the three years are up. Anyway when the three year time came her said Oh you can not apply for that visa as you had to have filed back in December of 2000 to qulaify. Anyway, now we have her I-130 approved and her date is almost current, infact same time as i will be getting ready to apply for my citizenship. My question is shall we go ahead and file her I-485 since the approvel notice we got for I-130 said that we should file this form as she is in the States already, or shall i wait for my citizenship to get approved before i do that. Some lawyers i talked to said yes file once the date is current. Some said No wait until you are a citizen, same are saying go ahead and file right now, and then some are saying go ahead and file the 485 once the date is current and by the time her interview and 485 are approved your citizenship will also be approved. I do not know what to do and who to listen to, everyone seems to be giving different adivce. I have a lawyer tell me that i should have filed for my citizenship when my 4 years and 1 day was up, one has told me no i can only file once my 5 years are up, once said 90 days before and other said no the 90 day rule only applies if you are married to a US citizen and fileing based on that not based on employement. I always thought you could file 90 days your 5 year date on the greencard, in my case its October 8th 2005 based on card being issused on 8th January 2001. I would really appriciate any help anyone can give me.

Regards

HRH
 
I can only advice on when you can file Naturalization.

You can apply 5 years minus 90 days based on 5 years LPR. I'm pretty sure, Johnny cash might be able to help you on other issue.
 
I don't what the implications are for your specific case but I know for sure the following. As long as she entered the US legally and has overstayed and other than the overstay is otherwise eligible she will be ok if she files after you get your citizenship. Also keep in mind the fact that it will cost more money and processing time if you file while you are on your GC.
 
Thank you, rudinator1 and enjoylife for your reply. I am just not sure what to do, each lawyer seems to have a different opnion as i mentioned, i would have thought at least they would agree since the immigration law should be the same. My wife came here on a visa waiver as i mentioned but because of the adivice of our lawyer she didn't return and by the time the H1b was denied the second time it was too late to go back. (We know have two children who were born in the States.)Then we were told about the V visa and of course even that story changed once we thought we are able to apply for that. All i can say right now is that she has an approved i-130, her date is almost current as we had filed in Decemember of 2001. I am also eligible to apply for citizenship in Ocotber of this year. Some laywers are telling me i could have applied 4 and 1 after my greencard approval date, some are saying 5 years from the date, some are saying 90 days and some are saying no that law changed now only that 90 day early filing applies to spouse's of US citizens. I am trying to find out as a few lawyers recommended if i go ahead and file i-485 (AOS) for her once her date becomes current while my citizenship application is pending will it be accepted or should i wait and file once am sworn in, in which case it will be over 18 months since the i-130 approval and am being told that its only valid for up to one year from the date of approval. I would really appriciate any advice anyone can give. I am having a hard time on which lawyer to believe.

Thanks again

Regards

HRH
 
Thank you JoeF, i really appriciate your help. One more question i had was shall i apply for my wifes I-485 soon as her date becomes current or shall i wait until i have become a citizen? I am being advised to go ahead and file soon as her date becomes current and that falls around or a month after i can apply for my citizenship. The lawyer had mentioned that it takes about a year for i-485 to be approved and by that time i should be sworn in as a citizen. Her i-130 approval says to file i-485 since she is in the States already. I have also heard that she can't do that since she overstayed the visa waiver and have to wait until i have become a citizen. The lawyer says i should go ahead and file and this will give her legal status soon as i-485 is filed and since it takes a while for it to be approved i would have become a citizen at that time. Not sure which route to follow, any adivce or experience that you might have come across that might be of help would be greatly appriciated.


Regards

HRH
 
Thanks C.R.S. I carefully read the regulation and if am not mistaken we fall under 201 (b). I think that says you are allowed to adjust within the States if you are married to a US citizen. I am filing for my citizenship papers and i think a month later will file for I-485 when her date becomes current (i am assuming a month because of the Visa bulletin pattern for the past few months) By the time her case is ready to be adjusted i would have become a citizen. This is what the lawyers are telling me. Also by doing this she would be able to legalize her status. I think he was saying also we have to file some kind of waiver also along with the application. Do you think this is the right route to take? Its getting more and more confusing.

Thanks again for your help

Regards

HRH
 
Hrh

In my opinion, it would be better for your wife to file I-485 ONCE you become a US citizen regardless if approval of I-130 expires in the future. Why? Because if somehow you won't become a US citizen by the time her I-485 will be adjudicated, then not only her I-485 will be denied, but also she would be barred for 10 yrs in coming to US. Why it would deny? Because, a person who had admitted into the US under 'Visa Waiver Program' is not allowed to adjust status over here if s/he is not an Immediate Relative to a US citizen. And why she would be barred for 10 yrs to enter into the US? Because she overstayed. Though waiver is available to overcome this bar, but it is very hard to obtain even though applicant might have US citizen-spouse/children. Besides granting a waiver is a discretional. Further, she would also loose her privilege of having 'Visa Waiver'. She cannot file any waiver along with her I-485. Waiver is filed ONLY when an application gets denied first. But again, obtaining a waiver is VERY hard. Do not rely that much on attorneys, especially when you already have experience with them previously.

By the way, once you become a US citizen, then you can file whole paper work all together for her. If approval of her I-130 would still be valid by then, then you need to just submit copy of approval notice of it. But if not, then file the I-130 all over again for her along with her I-485.

Just filing an application for Naturalization, doesn't mean that you will become a US citizen on time, or so to say that you would surely become a US citizen. Each case is different and unique. It might be possible that your naturalization application may get misplaced as it happens often, or you might get stuck in 'name check clearance' for years or something like that. I mean-you can never guarantee that everything will be okay/smooth by the time your wife's I-485 will be adjudicated. Can you guarantee? If not, then think about the potential risk to her. If her I-485 is denied then she will be asked to depart the United States immediately; otherwise she would be detained and be presented in front of Immigration Judge after placing her on Removal Proceeding.

All I say that when you guys have already waited for that long then why not wait a little more to avoid all the nightmares. But if you still think that you cannot wait anymore then go ahead and let her apply now. But then, be prepared yourself for worse if something goes wrong. If I were you, I would not take that risk.

Good Luck.
 
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... I carefully read the regulation and if am not mistaken we fall under 201 (b)...
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Yes but don't you have to be a citizen when your wife files form I-485 and not just when her case is adjudicated? Also, JohnnyCash brings up some good reasons why she might want to wait anyway.
 
Thank you johnnycash and C.R.S, i agree with you, you did make it very clear easy to understand. I appriciate your help in this very much. I will talk to the lawyer and bring up the points what happens if god forbidding it does get denied or my case longer as you mentioned then he think, then what? I have already been screwed by a couple of lawyers already so need to be cautious in the future. This is the reason i am trying to be preapered this time around and not just relay on what these lawyers are saying anymore. Once again thank you all for your adivce and help. I will keep you posted on what the lawyer recommeded.

Regards

HRH
 
hrh said:
I will talk to the lawyer and bring up the points what happens if god forbidding it does get denied or my case longer as you mentioned I will keep you posted on what the lawyer recommeded.
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I'm very much amazed to know that you still have a need to talk to an attorney. Just you to know that I'm one of them, and I don't play people's life. That means-I try my best to give accurate and full information to people so that they would know what is best for them.

Further, don't forget that MOSTLY attorneys don't put all their attention and caring on a particular case, at least before getting retained. That's why they always tell people what people expected to hear out, or they just insist people to retain them by scaring them so that they could get business from them. I believe you already experienced this before, isn't it? But then, you are being talking about still getting their recommendation on this, amazes me.

No offense, but if an attorney's recommendation is all matter to you to make your final decision on this, then I believe it should have been better for you to seek out answers on your issues only from them than asking for help over here as it otherwise wastes other people's time and energy for nothing. Some people like me do provide more and accurate information than any attorney would ever dare to provide. I am not interested to know what your attorney would suggest you, but I just hope that your attorney would listen to your situation carefully and would provide you right information by carefully analyzing your wife's case based upon laws and facts.

Seems to ME as if all this discussion was just for naught.

Good Luck.
 
Johnnycash, No its not that, i greatly appriciate your advise and help. The fact is i already paid this attorny and in order to tell him that he is misleading me i need to tell him what you advised. I think you have been more honest and upfront about what to expect then any lawyer i have talked to and paid. I will follow your adivse but inorder to get out of the retainer i signed i need to tell him all the other things that can happen and what he will do to fix them if God forbid they do happen. Like you mentioned there is no gurrentee that everything will be done in a timely manner, and being a muslim and coming from muslim country i am sure i will be subject to more stringent guidlines. Lets face it thats a fact, so what if i get stuck in a name check problem or something else? They other thing is i am so disheartened by these lawyers i really need to ask them the downside which there is always a possibilty. Johnnycash you are right, in genrel they will tell you what they think you want to hear. I greatly appriciate your adivise and its like a breath of freash air to be advised by someone who is upfront about everything.

Thanks again for everything.

Regards

HRH
 
hrh said:
i already paid this attorny and in order to tell him that he is misleading me i need to tell him what you advised. inorder to get out of the retainer i signed i need to tell him all the other things that can happen and what he will do to fix them if God forbid they do happen.
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Do you honestly believe that your attorney (or as to say any attorney) would admit about misleading or about giving wrong information? Just you to know that no attorney ever admits about misleading as it makes them look so bad, and it also questions their knowledge about laws. Even though they might know inside their mind and heart that they are misleading others, but they never openly admits it, except one person out of million.

Also, do you honestly believe that they would be upfront and honest to you about how they would fix a problem if something goes wrong? As a matter of fact- they all promise about everything (pretty much-fairy tales), but when time comes to act, they change their tones and bring something else to stop you asking them in doing anything further for you unless you pay more money to them.

If you are smart, then play some diplomacy with them, especially if you want your money back, rather than annoying them more. By telling your attorney that he is misleading you, you would surely annoy him. If you want a promise from your attorney about what he would do to your wife's case if something goes wrong then ask him to give you everything in writing. But I'm sure he would never give anything in writing. You made a big mistake by hiring him without consulting 5-6 attorneys first. Now, you are stuck, unless you can still get portion of your money given to him. Otherwise, it is better not to annoy him; otherwise your attorney may deliberately mess up your case and you won't even know.

Good Luck.
 
Thanks Johnnycash, i do understand what you are saying and appriciate the fact you have spent so much and gone into detail to help me understand. I did go to 6 attorneys in person and emailed about a dozen about the same issue. The reason being because of our perivious experince with the attorneys. I do tend to believe people a little easly so i took his adivise and signed the retainer because i thought he was being honest. My wife didn't even know that i had signed the retainer until i came home from meeting him. He sounded like a nice person and said he would also file the naturlization as a package for the I-485 and N-400, at the time he made sense but after listening to you and reading some of the articles i am wondering where my sense was at the tim?. Anyway, all i can do is try to get some money back, if not i guess i will file my N-400 and wait and file I-485 for my wife. Thank you again for all your help.

Regards

Haroon
 
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