SaigoNoKioku
New Member
Hello,
I just wanted to explain my situation on a forum and seek the opinions of other people who may have more knowledge about this sort of thing.
The situation is a little complicated but I will do my best to explain it.
First off, I don't know if it's important but I am Canadian and I am 19 years old as of May 2011. I have a twin sister who is also 19, and then two younger sisters who are both under the age of 18.
My mother is a Canadian working in the US on TN visa (as a registered nurse).
We've been living in the US this way for the past 9 years or so.
In May of 2010, she applied for a TN visa as normal and we also received TD dependent visas at this time, just like we normally do. The visas were set to expire in May of 2011 (one-year visas).
However, in December of 2010, my mother changed jobs and subsequently went to the border and received a new TN visa for this new job, which is now set to expire in December 2011.
However, at this time, my sisters and I did not go with her to receive new TD dependent visas. Apparently we were valid under her status at least until expiration as long as she had a valid TN.
Then came May of 2011 and due to financials issues, my mother couldn't afford to travel to the border so all of our TD visas have expired as of May 2011, so they've been expired for about a month and one week now.
So now I'm pretty sure my twin sister and I are accruing illegal presence in the US, since our TDs expired already and we are both 19. I think my younger sisters aren't at immediate risk because they're under 18...
But I don't know what to do now. I can't drive, nor have I ever had a job (since I can't work here), I'm pretty much an fully dependent person and I just finished high school this year. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have left the US when my TD expired because first, I wasn't finished with high school and second, I can't drive, have no money, my mother couldn't afford/wouldn't do anything about it.
So I just wanted to get the opinions of others and ask what you think I should do?
My twin sister is leaving to return to Canada in about a month, so she might be okay too. But I don't know what I should do... or what I can do, or what I'm legally capable of, or what I'm legally accountable of...
I don't know if this makes any difference either but my mother recently found out she had a permanent resident card in the US dating back to 1967, and after talking to a lawyer and filing a bunch of forms and such, she may be able to renew that Green Card if she can come up with more money (since it took enough of it to even get to that point with the lawyer and USCIS, they sent her a "Decision" letter saying that she can apply to renew her old green card)
Anyways I would really, really appreciate anyone's input on this situation. It's been stressing me out for the past few months and now I want to get some advice before it's too late. I'm not going to let myself get banned from the US in the future by ignoring the problem before it's too late.
Thank you so much!
I just wanted to explain my situation on a forum and seek the opinions of other people who may have more knowledge about this sort of thing.
The situation is a little complicated but I will do my best to explain it.
First off, I don't know if it's important but I am Canadian and I am 19 years old as of May 2011. I have a twin sister who is also 19, and then two younger sisters who are both under the age of 18.
My mother is a Canadian working in the US on TN visa (as a registered nurse).
We've been living in the US this way for the past 9 years or so.
In May of 2010, she applied for a TN visa as normal and we also received TD dependent visas at this time, just like we normally do. The visas were set to expire in May of 2011 (one-year visas).
However, in December of 2010, my mother changed jobs and subsequently went to the border and received a new TN visa for this new job, which is now set to expire in December 2011.
However, at this time, my sisters and I did not go with her to receive new TD dependent visas. Apparently we were valid under her status at least until expiration as long as she had a valid TN.
Then came May of 2011 and due to financials issues, my mother couldn't afford to travel to the border so all of our TD visas have expired as of May 2011, so they've been expired for about a month and one week now.
So now I'm pretty sure my twin sister and I are accruing illegal presence in the US, since our TDs expired already and we are both 19. I think my younger sisters aren't at immediate risk because they're under 18...
But I don't know what to do now. I can't drive, nor have I ever had a job (since I can't work here), I'm pretty much an fully dependent person and I just finished high school this year. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have left the US when my TD expired because first, I wasn't finished with high school and second, I can't drive, have no money, my mother couldn't afford/wouldn't do anything about it.
So I just wanted to get the opinions of others and ask what you think I should do?
My twin sister is leaving to return to Canada in about a month, so she might be okay too. But I don't know what I should do... or what I can do, or what I'm legally capable of, or what I'm legally accountable of...
I don't know if this makes any difference either but my mother recently found out she had a permanent resident card in the US dating back to 1967, and after talking to a lawyer and filing a bunch of forms and such, she may be able to renew that Green Card if she can come up with more money (since it took enough of it to even get to that point with the lawyer and USCIS, they sent her a "Decision" letter saying that she can apply to renew her old green card)
Anyways I would really, really appreciate anyone's input on this situation. It's been stressing me out for the past few months and now I want to get some advice before it's too late. I'm not going to let myself get banned from the US in the future by ignoring the problem before it's too late.
Thank you so much!
