Will this affect my citizenship?

K

kudi magan

Registered Users (C)
Hi guys!

The following story happenned before my marrige and I-485 application...

My girl friend came to US in June, 2001 through a software company on H1 visa.
Soon after she reached here, that company told her they can't pay her until they find a client/project for her. They even refused to pay bench salary. At that time, I was waiting for PD for 485 to be current. And it was about to be current in a month (It became in July 2001, I was on EB3). So I contacted her company and said I can pay them the money using which they can pay the salary just to keep her in status. They accepted it (talk about expliotations!!!) and paid her. She got original pay stubs from the company.

As expected 485 became current in 1 month (that's July 2001), and we got married here in US and filed our 485 and got our GC in 6 1/2 month with no issues.

Is this above situation in anyway is going to affect my wife's or my citizenship application.

Thanks in advance,

Kudi Magan.
 
kudi magan said:
Hi guys!

The following story happenned before my marrige and I-485 application...

My girl friend came to US in June, 2001 through a software company on H1 visa.
Soon after she reached here, that company told her they can't pay her until they find a client/project for her. They even refused to pay bench salary. At that time, I was waiting for PD for 485 to be current. And it was about to be current in a month (It became in July 2001, I was on EB3). So I contacted her company and said I can pay them the money using which they can pay the salary just to keep her in status. They accepted it (talk about expliotations!!!) and paid her. She got original pay stubs from the company.

As expected 485 became current in 1 month (that's July 2001), and we got married here in US and filed our 485 and got our GC in 6 1/2 month with no issues.

Is this above situation in anyway is going to affect my wife's or my citizenship application.

Thanks in advance,

Kudi Magan.
Click to expand...
Bringing someone on H1 without a valid job offer is a clear case of fraud. Merely showing paystubs does not put you in a valid H-1 status. Therefore your wife was out of status and her GC is invalid. Will USICS find out? Usually they only look at paystubs so you are OK. However if there is an investigation then both of you are in trouble, not just your wife, because you helped the company in this fraud.
 
Agree and Disagree

hipka said:
Bringing someone on H1 without a valid job offer is a clear case of fraud. Merely showing paystubs does not put you in a valid H-1 status. Therefore your wife was out of status and her GC is invalid. Will USICS find out? Usually they only look at paystubs so you are OK. However if there is an investigation then both of you are in trouble, not just your wife, because you helped the company in this fraud.
Click to expand...

I agree with part of what hipka said and disagree with the other.

By bringing your wife to the US on an H1B and a) not having a job for her and b) not paying her the going wage for the position mentioned in the H1 her company committed visa fraud. This is exactly the kind of company that gives the H1B program a bad name.
By channeling money through her company to make it appear that your wife was appropriately employed when she was not you yourself committed visa fraud (and also abetted the company in fraud as hipka mentioned).

However, the fraud involves her H1B - not your GC which was based on your employment and is therefore valid, nor her GC which was based on her marriage to you and is therefore also valid. So you should both be fine as far as your citizenship is concerned.

Disclaimer: the above statements are based on my understanding of immigration law. I am NOT A LAWYER so please don't take my statements as legal advise.

Sam
 
My mistake

JoeF said:
I disagree here. Because she was out of status, due to the fraudulent H1, she was not eligible to file an I-485. Hence her GC was issued in error, and is invalid.
In any case, the OP needs to see a good immigration lawyer ASAP.
Click to expand...

JoeF - yes, you're right (as usual ;))
I missed that angle.

Sam
 
She came on a valid H1 visa with a job offer. She has the offer letter, labor clearance from that company. It's just that the company refused to pay her as soon as she came here. It's not like I helped her to get H1 just to get her into US. We both had no idea that the company is going to do this to her when she came over to US. Meaning, we had no intention to cheat anybody.

Kudi Magan.
 
JoeF said:
I disagree here. Because she was out of status, due to the fraudulent H1, she was not eligible to file an I-485. Hence her GC was issued in error, and is invalid.
In any case, the OP needs to see a good immigration lawyer ASAP.
Click to expand...

I don't understand. How was she out of status? Please explain.
She has the offer letter, labor certification (or LCA, Is that what it is called?), pay stubs. Is there any rule that a person can't get married soon after he/she come to US on H1?

I would really appreciate if you can explain me how she was out status?

Thanks in advance,
Kudi Magan.
 
I also have the same question as you Kudi Magan. How will she be out of status, when H1 is not revoked by the company. The only question is how the company gets the money to pay her, in this case, which was given by you. Can the company say, she was in bench and we paid her salary.

If it is the question of if she worked for that period or no, no body can show that. Because most company will make you attend interview/update your skills during the time between the projects.

I dont understand how they will get caught, even if there is an investigation. Some one please clarify.
 
baski555 said:
I also have the same question as you Kudi Magan. How will she be out of status, when H1 is not revoked by the company. The only question is how the company gets the money to pay her, in this case, which was given by you. Can the company say, she was in bench and we paid her salary.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Like I said, I have the pay stubs for the period she got bench pay. The company can definitely say they paid this bench salary to her. But I am not sure if the company is still there. It's been 5 years since this happened. And while paying the money to the company I didn't pay them directly. I had to do this (with lot of regret) because I didn't have any other choice to keep her in status. And all these things happened between the month of June and September. Because in September she got EAD and she formally sent a resignation letter.

I am not sure how she was out of status.

Kudi Magan.
 
JoeF said:
Huh? Companies have accounting. Of course there is a papertrail.

All it needs is somebody who complains to IRS and/or CIS. With such fraudulent activity, the OP and his wife opened themselves up to lifelong blackmail.
Click to expand...

She got W-2 (Tax statement) from the company at the end of the year. And we also filed tax return based on it.
 
JoeF said:
So what. It is still a fraudulent activity.
And what did you get for your payment to the company? Essentially, you bribed the company to pay the salary for your wife. People get into prison for stuff like that.
Click to expand...

JoeF,

I am not arguing that it is not a fraudulent activity. We were forced to do that in order to keep her in status. Still, I am not justifying what I did was right. But, is there a way trace this and prove legally that we did this "fraudulent" activity? That's all.

Anyway, thank you all for your inputs.

I have 9 more months apply for citizenship. Do you suggest me to consult and apply through a lawyer?

Thanks again,
Kudi Magan.
 
You are worrying too much

you guys are just making this poor fella worry for nothing.

No one is going to care about it -- you both will get you citizenship. during the interview process she will only be asked about the 5 years of employment since she received her green card if asked at all. Most likely they'll only ask her about the last employer. Who cares about some h1 or job she had 5-6 years ago.

And yes, if she commits mass murder in the future and they'll try to revoke her citizenship someone might dig into it and it may or may not turn out to be fraudulent.

In any case be happy and try not go commit big crimes in the future.
 
my 2 cents

Well, from my point of view, company is the one who is in the most trouble… By accepting his money to pay her, they signed their “life” away, not sure, who can blackmail whom… It is in best companies’ interest not to disclose this (please note) fraudulent activity to any governmental agency, just so simply they can protect themselves.

It is a fraud and you should see a good lawyer, please note - good lawyer just in case. Not saying that you will be caught, but do you want to take even a remote chance?
 
Read the law!

kudi magan said:
JoeF,

I am not arguing that it is not a fraudulent activity. We were forced to do that in order to keep her in status. Still, I am not justifying what I did was right. But, is there a way trace this and prove legally that we did this "fraudulent" activity? That's all.

Anyway, thank you all for your inputs.

I have 9 more months apply for citizenship. Do you suggest me to consult and apply through a lawyer?

Thanks again,
Kudi Magan.
Click to expand...

Kudi Magan and baski555 - I am sorry but I don't think you (and probably many others out there) understand visa laws. You are under the mistaken assumption that as long as your wife showed a salary - through pay stubs and W2s she was in status. The H1B program clearly requires that the sponsored visa-holder is performing the services for which the visa was obtained and is receiving the prevailing wage for that position from the sponsoring employer. Read the law here:
http://uscis.gov/lpBin/lpext.dll/in...plates&fn=document-frame.htm#slb-act101a15hib

As you stated, your wife was not paid by the company and did not perform any service (since there was no client/project) and therefore she was out of status. Look at it this way: you knew that if she did not receive a salary she would be out of status on her H1. Therefore you paid the company to make it look like she was employed and on their payroll when she was not only to provide the apperance of her being in status. That's visa fraud!

Other are pointing out that this violation will not be detected by USCIS. Yes, that may well be the case (for your sake) but that does not change the fact that your wife was out of status and visa fraud was committed. We are not trying to scare you or make you worry for nothing. We are simply stating facts and it is up to you to decide if you want to use the services of an attorney when filing.

Sam
 
sam_c said:
Kudi Magan and baski555 - I am sorry but I don't think you (and probably many others out there) understand visa laws. You are under the mistaken assumption that as long as your wife showed a salary - through pay stubs and W2s she was in status. The H1B program clearly requires that the sponsored visa-holder is performing the services for which the visa was obtained and is receiving the prevailing wage for that position from the sponsoring employer. Read the law here:
http://uscis.gov/lpBin/lpext.dll/in...plates&fn=document-frame.htm#slb-act101a15hib

As you stated, your wife was not paid by the company and did not perform any service (since there was no client/project) and therefore she was out of status. Look at it this way: you knew that if she did not receive a salary she would be out of status on her H1. Therefore you paid the company to make it look like she was employed and on their payroll when she was not only to provide the apperance of her being in status. That's visa fraud!

Other are pointing out that this violation will not be detected by USCIS. Yes, that may well be the case (for your sake) but that does not change the fact that your wife was out of status and visa fraud was committed. We are not trying to scare you or make you worry for nothing. We are simply stating facts and it is up to you to decide if you want to use the services of an attorney when filing.

Sam
Click to expand...

Sam,

Thank you and everyone!!
My worry was (as I stated in my original posting) how far this will affect my N-400. I am well aware that whatever happenned was not correct. But how far this will affect my citizenship application? Do they usually check jobs of an applicant before GC? Those were my questions. Are there anybody who had this kind of experiences?

Following comments are not to justify my acts...

I did whatever I did just to keep her in status (as suggested then by many forum gurus). I had no other choice then. My 485 was about to get current and we never expected that company to go down and not pay her as they promised. I know we should have complained about it. But I didn't want my 485 application process to be delayed because of that. I really hope this will not affect my N-400. I swear I will not involve any such things hereafter without consulting a lawyer. Again, I am not justifying anything here.

Thanks again everybody,
Kudi Magan
 
I think that yes if USCIS finds out exactly what happens you're in trouble. This is visa fraud.

I don't see how you can come clean at this time with USCIS and still not be in trouble.
However, if you don't say anything or if they ask your wife about the H1 visa she can say that she worked in this company for a couple of months and decided to quit after she got married. They won't be asking for pay slips unless they suspect something is wrong. Unless she says something they won't. They don't even ask for employment/travel/residence history past the 5 years since you got your greencard so she doesn't even have to report it on the n-400 that she ever worked there.

It won't be on her n-400 so why would they ask her about it unless someone reported it but who would?

If you decide to come clean obtain a lawyer first b/c you can be in a lot of unnecessary trouble.
 
similar situation

My spouse came on h4, got h1 and the company did the same thing that they did not pay. so he resigned (after waiting ~ 4months) and went back to original country on the same day of resignation and came back on the original h4 stamp. before he went back to the original country, he applied for another h1 through a good company. he came back on h4 and the new h1 got approved and he got paid as he is supposed to. the first company neither paid nor gave any w2's. We got GC through my company. Would this be a problem for Citizenship?
 
kudi magan said:
Sam,


I did whatever I did just to keep her in status (as suggested then by many forum gurus). I had no other choice then.
Thanks again everybody,
Kudi Magan
Click to expand...


Sure you had a choice. You just made the wrong one. My wife and I had to make that choice too. The case was that her temporary stay was expiring and people suggested to us the very same thing that you did. I refused to do any such thing and my wife agreed. We did not want to jeopardize either of our statuses in the future. We have been apart for three and a half years now. We will be able to upgrade her petition when I get my citizenship. I sleep a lot better at night, knowing that we made the right choice.

By the way, take a look at the questions on the N-400. It doesn't matter what people say on this forum. See if you can answer the questions on the N-400. I think you will realize what the situation is.
 
Superho said:
We have been apart for three and a half years now. We will be able to upgrade her petition when I get my citizenship. I sleep a lot better at night, knowing that we made the right choice.
Click to expand...

I bet you're counting the days, maybe the hours.
Waiting is the one most terrible things, the worst waiting type is when you don't know when and how your waiting is goingo to end...like my two years with FBI's Name Check. Your almost 2 moths of waiting are more bearable, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel ;)

I can't wait to congratulate you on May 17th :)
 
JoeF said:
Not a problem in this case. If he wasn't out of status for over 180 days, INA 245(k) applies. So he left, and came back on a valid H4, and that made everything ok again.
Click to expand...
Interesting... Even if my wife was out of status (as you say) at that time, she got her EAD before 180 days. She came to U.S in first week of June. She got her EAD in mid of September. Our 485 receipt date was first week of August.
Also, When I filed for 485, I told my lawyer (actually company's) about this situation. He said, it was not a problem at all. I also consulted with a reputed Immigration Lawyer (who has very good web site and forum like this one).

Still, I strongly accept your suggessions and will consult with good lawyers about my situation.

Thanks,
Kudi Magan
 
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