Spouses Immigration Status-- Problem?

[jalman]

This is my first submission. If I may I would like to ask for all your advise in regards to my Citizenship Application.
Before I run off and ask my question, I believe a little background information is necessary.

I am a Permanent Resident and I am eligible for Citizenship (I have had my Green Card for 5 years).
My wife is an illegal alien-- was here on a F1 Visa; however, it has expired 6 months ago (she is a home-maker, has not worked ever since her visa expired).
We have one child (born in the US; we are her parents).

I am in the process of filling out the Citizenship Application; unfortunately, I have encountered a problem.
Under Part 8; Section E. Marital Status
Question 3 asks for my "Spouses Immigration Status".
Now to my question-- How do I answer to this question? Non-status... F1 Visa?

I do not want to jeopardize my application request. I plan to sponsor her upon receiving my Citizenship Papers.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[TheRealCanadian]

I do not want to jeopardize my application request. I plan to sponsor her upon receiving my Citizenship Papers.

I would leave it blank or write NONE. Being married to an illegal alien should not disqualify you from citizenship. Lying about her status certainly will.

You might want to do a 20 minute consult with an attorney who does naturalization cases to be sure how to proceed, but I don't see this as a huge problem provided you tell the truth.

 

[hm11]

My wife is an illegal alien-- was here on a F1 Visa; however, it has expired 6 months ago (she is a home-maker, has not worked ever since her visa expired).
We have one child (born in the US; we are her parents).

1- Consult an immigration attorney.
2- I know it is hard but may be you should send your spouse to your native country untill you become citizen. I still don't know the implications because of the violation in legal status.
Good luck.

 

[TheRealCanadian]

Not a good idea. It may be that a ban is triggered

Absolutely. The wife should under no circumstances leave the US.

(although unlikely here, F1s usually get an I-94 with D/S instead of an expiration date.)

That typically has been interpreted to mean that illegal presence accumulates automatically on going out of status, but I'm not sure. Either way, with a USC spouse this should be straightforward to fix once the naturalization is done.

 

[GopiBalan]

Get New F-1

Since her original intention was to study here, did you explore the possibility of asking her to apply to a local school again, get F-1 which would then be a legal status?