I am a green card holder and my husband came to the US illegally from Honduras. We have been married for almost five years. We have two children boy and girl. I got my permanent residency through employment sponsorship and this march will be the fifth anniversary of my residency. I am planning to get my citizenship so I can help to sponsor my husband. After I look at the application forms I realized that I have to fill up my husband status as well. Will he be okay while my application in process? I plan to file it by myself since right now with two kids its kind of hard for us to have a lawyer do it.
Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
Will my husband illegal status be okay if I file citizenship
- Thread starter triana
- Start date
As far as I know, your husband cannot do anything because there are certian documentations required to file for a green card such as documentation that shows when and where you entered the US and since he entered the country illegally he most likely does not have that and I am not sure how good or bad his details on your N400 application will look (some people did not enter illegally but are currently here illegally because their visa expired and can file for green card since they have documentation that shows where and when they entered the US). Are you both actually married or not? After you acquire citizenship, he may have to go to his country while you apply for him to get a visa into the country then when he arrives here you can then petition for him to get a green card. Otherwise you would have to do the green card petition while he is in his country, it may take longer this way but should only take a few months.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
Your husband is not eligible for a green card if he entered illegally*. He will have to stay outside the US for 10 years to regain eligibility ... unless he can get a hardship waiver (I-601). But the waiver requires showing extreme hardship to you or another one of his close family members if he leaves the US; not hardship to him. And those waivers are very hard to get.
However if he entered legally with a visa and then overstayed, he can obtain a green card after you become a citizen.
*unless the relevant paperwork was filed before the cutoff in April 2001 to qualify him for 245(i), which would allow him to adjust status despite the illegal entry.
However if he entered legally with a visa and then overstayed, he can obtain a green card after you become a citizen.
*unless the relevant paperwork was filed before the cutoff in April 2001 to qualify him for 245(i), which would allow him to adjust status despite the illegal entry.
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If he has been under the radar ever since he has been here, this means if he has never had any law enforcement contact that documents that he has ever been in the US then he can get away with sneaking back out to his country the same way he got in and then you guys can work out how you will visit him regularly to create memories and documentations of your relationship in his home country and petition for him. But this is highly unlikely since you both have kids here and you probably have his name at your employer's, the hospital you had your kids (which goes to department of vital records/USCIS, etc) and many other places.
The only other option I can suggest to you is for him to somehow get into Canada (people do this everytime) and file for Asylum to acquire their residency but he has to tell them he has never been in the US because there is a joint US-Canada law that says asylees have to file at the country where they first arrive. In other words, he has to tell them he came directly from his country, attorneys there know the drill and help file the papers to be successful. I personally know a few people who have done this to leave the US for one reason or the other.
The only other option I can suggest to you is for him to somehow get into Canada (people do this everytime) and file for Asylum to acquire their residency but he has to tell them he has never been in the US because there is a joint US-Canada law that says asylees have to file at the country where they first arrive. In other words, he has to tell them he came directly from his country, attorneys there know the drill and help file the papers to be successful. I personally know a few people who have done this to leave the US for one reason or the other.
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I am a green card holder and my husband came to the US illegally from Honduras. We have been married for almost five years. We have two children boy and girl. I got my permanent residency through employment sponsorship and this march will be the fifth anniversary of my residency. I am planning to get my citizenship so I can help to sponsor my husband. After I look at the application forms I realized that I have to fill up my husband status as well. Will he be okay while my application in process? I plan to file it by myself since right now with two kids its kind of hard for us to have a lawyer do it.
Indeed, if you file N-400, in your N-400 application you will have to provide information about your husband, including giving your husband's home address and the fact that he does not have legal status in the U.S. I take your question "Will he be okay while my application in process?" to mean that you are worried if the information you provide in your N-400 can lead to your husband being deported. While in theory that is possible, the practice shows that in such cases USCIS usually does not forward this kind of information to ICE and does not initiate the removal proceedings against the spouse of an N-400 applicant.
However, as Jackolantern says, once you do become a U.S. citizen, you will still have the problem of what to do regarding legalizing your husband's status. If he entered the U.S. illegally, you'd have to file a hardship waiver, which would have to be approved before he can adjust status to that of an LPR. If he came to the U.S. legally and overstayed, you'll be able to file I-130 and I-485 concurrently for him.
You may want to consult an immigration lawyer before you file N-400, both about the possible consequences of your filing N-400 and about what happens after your N-400 is approved. Regarding application for a hardship waiver, I-601, you can look up at the more detailed info about what kind of arguments do/do not work at: http://www.ilw.com/articles/2007,0717-scott.shtm
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Since you'll have to declare your spouse and his immigration status on application, it will depend on the IO at interview and on USCIS whether they will want to pursue the issue further. For example, if you declare his status as "n/a" on application the IO may still ask further questions on how your spouse came to US and try to determine if he is illegal.Will he be okay while my application in process?
In any case, naturalization aside, you will both eventually have to deal with his immigration status for the sake of your kids and family unit.