Overstay - Visa Waiver & Marriage

A

AlyR22

New Member
Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help - I am a UK citizen engaged to a US citizen and at the moment I have overstayed my visa waiver by 14 days. Reason being a close elderly family relative of my fiance has been given less than 4 weeks to live and we are both tremendously upset....my question is, what am I likely to be faced with when I do eventually leave the states after overstaying 3 weeks? Could I be arrested?

And, should we marry spontaneously during this overstay, what is the liklihood that I will be eventually granted Permanent Residency and allowed to stay? We are very much in love and I don't think it'll be a problem proving the validity of ou relationship...pls help if u can!! xx :confused:
 
If you have already been overstaying, you might be better get married and apply for AOS in the US without leaving. Traveling into the US after overstaying may get you into trouble.
 
AlyR22 said:
Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help - I am a UK citizen engaged to a US citizen and at the moment I have overstayed my visa waiver by 14 days. Reason being a close elderly family relative of my fiance has been given less than 4 weeks to live and we are both tremendously upset....my question is, what am I likely to be faced with when I do eventually leave the states after overstaying 3 weeks? Could I be arrested?

And, should we marry spontaneously during this overstay, what is the liklihood that I will be eventually granted Permanent Residency and allowed to stay? We are very much in love and I don't think it'll be a problem proving the validity of ou relationship...pls help if u can!! xx :confused:
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Hi From a fellow Brit

You should never marry for that reason only for love and when the time is right

It is no excuse to overstay, but understand why you did it. No one is above the law which is why our site is aiming to petition for a compassionate visa www.expatsvoice.org

That being said, should you marry you will not be allowed to work until you get work autho. You will be landlocked, so if a relative in the UK is terminal and you leave the USA you could have bigger problems. Does your wife have a good salary? and will she be able to support you and sign afidavid of support?

If you leave the USA you will face a re entry ban, the longer you stay the longer the ban

Not sure where in the states you are, but you could go cap in hand to a USCIS sub office to see and expalin whats happened, take documentary eveidence and see if they will extend your I 94

You do run a serious risk of denial amd taken to the airport. You should seek advise from attorney
 
"If you leave the USA you will face a re entry ban, the longer you stay the longer the ban"

Overstaying the VWP by 14 days will not trigger a ban but the individual will lose the privilige of it forever. (not read a time limit on this)
You could get married and apply for AOS and stay put, you could get married travel home and apply for a K-3, you could go home and apply for a K-1 then return and get married, you could travel back and apply for a B-2 visa (could be denied because of the overstay)
I am not sure if K-1/K-3 could be denied because of the overstay, you may need to file a waiver of some kind to overcome that.
 
'Technically' you could stay and get married in the States and adjust status- However, whilst overstays used to be forgiven for spouses of US citizens, it appears that this is now no longer the case. Here is a thread from British Expats where a UK citizen attempted adjustment of status based on marriage after her 90 day VWP had expired.....the result....she was denied adjustment, deported and now has a 10 year ban- the conclusion appeared to be that she applied whilst she was out of status:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=557059

Here is also a thread from the same web forum where a Brit was trying to adjust and their VWP was about to expire.....you can tell from the experienced veterans on that how adamant they were that they filed BEFORE the VWP expired. They did and their case is now in the system....what the outcome will be no one knows......we just have to wait and see:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=557230

Bear in mind that the Folinskyinla is a very experienced immigration attorney, so his comments on these 2 threads should be taken seriously.

So if you do choose to adjust status, you need to be aware that your case could be denied and therefore you could be deported and subject to a lengthy ban.

Should you choose to return home, then as you have overstayed then you will no longer be eligible to use the VWP. However, as you have not overstayed by more than 180 then you are not subject to any ban (180+ days overstay = 3 year ban, 360 days = 10 year ban). An overstay such as yours will unlikely have any effect on either a k1 or k3 visa so you should be free to file.
 
employment and extension

Hi everyone,

I came to New York to be with my boyfriend whom I have been with for about 2 years now under the Visitor Visa. I am from New Zealand and now living with my boyfriend since June 2008, My I-94 will expire on late December and my return ticket is set for the second week of December.

I really want to be here with him and live with him for good so I started looking for jobs and companies who will sponsor me to work in US. Out of the thousand jobs I applied, the only company who was willing to petition me was a telecommunication company called GAIA (Global Alliance for International Advancements). They hired me as a contact agent for their clients and have signed my petition papers under an H-3 trainee visa. I only have an international certificate on Travel and Tourism and can only meet the standards of the H-3 Visa. Sure enough, on early October GAIA signed my petition and was sent to USCIS. I paid the application fee of $320 as the company did not want to spend money on me yet. Right now, my petition is still currently pending and due to be processed at least 2 months after submission.

Since my petition is still pending, my I-94 is still due to expire on late December, so have decided to apply for the extension of stay for the mean time using the I-539 form. Now this is tricky, USCIS rules out to send this extension application at least 45 days prior to the expiration of the current I-94 authorized date of stay. But when we look at the time frame for this application on the USCIS website, it is not finalized and processed until February. By then my current I-94 will expire long before I will know if my extension was approved or denied. I have been reading some blogs and information on staying after the expiration of the I-94 for the sake of waiting for the extension to be approved, but the only good it will bring is if the extension is actually approved in the end, if it's denied then I am due to be deported and all my US visa that ties with in my passport will then be voided for good. Then that means the next time I want to visit my boyfriend, I would have to reapply for a visitor visa which will be a little complicated in the eyes of US embassy with a background of illegal overstay or deportation. I may never be granted any US visa at all for as long as 10 years.

On the other hand we still have the work petition pending, the Premium Process service speeds up the process up to 15 calendar days for the price of $1000, which is the money that we do not have right now. They say that they will also tie in the application for the I-539 wit this Premium process service but they do not guaranteed that it will be processed faster than a regularly filed I-539.

We initially planned to get married, but since we are a Gay couple, we are not recognized under the immigration law which is the same as the Federal law. This means even if we get married, our paper will only be as good as a paper, it will not grant us the same immigration rights and benefits that straight couple gets.

I already applied for the Lottery Greencard for the year 2010 and will be expecting for the results mid 2009.

We have used all the legal advices and assistance that we could get from family and friends. We have been professional and lawful about the immigration law but it seems like everything is floating up in the air and do not know when everything will finally settle.

I really want to stay with my lover but from our knowledge, I legally have no choice but to use my return plane ticket on December before my I-94 expires.

Do you know or can anyone suggest anything else that we could possibly do for me to stay here longer without having to go back on December?
 
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