World Journal Weekly Q & A - October 18, 2009
Q & A 1. 2. 3.
Q&A 1.
Friend who Sneaked into the U.S. This Year Wants to Marry U.S.
Citizen or Apply for Political Asylum and Wants to Know Smooth Way
to Receive Legal Status.
Ivy reader asks:
My friend entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico border in January
2009, and was not arrested. Later she met a White American and lived
together. Now they plan to get married. I want to know, how could
my friend apply for status? Should she apply for political asylum
before she gets married or get married first and then apply for
political asylum? If they want to get married at this time, what
kind of documents should she use to register for marriage? Should
she use her Chinese passport or any other alternatives? What are
the ways for my friend under this situation smoothly receive a legal
status?
Dear reader:
Unless your friend is the beneficiary of Section 245(i) which allows
most individuals who entered the U.S. illegally to interview in
the U.S. for permanent residence, she would not be eligible to obtain
her permanent residence for marriage unless she left the U.S. for
consular processing. Any individual who has been illegal in the
U.S. is barred from re-entering the country for three years and
if in the U.S. for over one year is barred from re-entering for
ten. Section 245(i) is available to individuals who have had a labor
certification application or immigrant visa petition filed on their
behalf by April 30, 2001 and were physically present in the U.S.
on December 21, 2000. It is also available to individuals who applied
by January 15, 1998 (which eligibility does not include the physical
residence requirement). Individuals who are barred under the three
and ten year rules are eligible for a waiver of such upon proving
extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse
or parent.
Your friend can apply for political asylum within one year of entry
into the U.S.. The burden will be upon her to prove that her entry
was within one year of filing the I-589 application for political
asylum. She will also have the burden of proving that she has either
been persecuted or has a well-founded fear of persecution in her
homeland based upon political opinion, religion, nationality, membership
in the social group, or race.
I cannot tell you that your friend will receive a legal status
smoothly, or even be able to qualify for one. If she is married
and not eligible for adjustment of status, she and her husband could
submit an I-130 relative petition to the U.S.C.I.S. lockbox in Chicago
with biographic data sheets (G-325A), marriage certificate and proof
of termination of prior unions. Two passport style photos of both
your friend and her husband should be appended to the application.
If she is eligible for status adjustment under Section 245(i), she
would also submit an I-485 adjustment of status application to permanent
residence along with the I-130 petition to the Chicago lockbox with
the I-485 Supplement A, proof of birth, medical examination, I-864
affidavit of support, and passport if available. If she wishes to
apply for political asylum, she should gather up all of her evidence
of past or well-founded fear of future persecution and submit the
application to the U.S.C.I.S. Service Center with jurisdiction over
her place of residence.
Q&A 2.
U.S. Citizen Holding Taiwan Passport Wants to Know How to Protect
his U.S. Citizenship if Going Back to Taiwan for Over Year in 2010.
Chuang reader asks:
I am a U.S. citizen but planning to use Taiwan passport entering
Taiwan and stay there for over one year. What should I do to ensure
I could come back to the U.S.?
In 2007, I went back Taiwan for over 7 months. When I applied my
Taiwan passport at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston,
I was told that U.S. citizens using Taiwan passport entering Taiwan
over 6 months must have a Taiwan visa on the U.S. passport, otherwise
when coming back at the entry of U.S. port, my U.S. passport might
be confiscated or destroyed by the U.S. custom because there was
no record of entering Taiwan on my U.S. passport and that I might
have two passports, therefore, my U.S. passport would be confiscate.
Therefore, at that time I spent one hundred dollars to have the
Taiwan visa stamp on the U.S. passport, so that I could return to
the U.S. smoothly after 7 months in Taiwan.
I need to go back to Taiwan in 2010 for over a year, what steps
do I take to protect me?
Dear reader:
In this age of enhanced security, the Department of Homeland Security
inspectors may be zealous in trying to determine where U.S. citizens
have been in their travel. Otherwise it would not appear to make
much difference whether you traveled to Taiwan using a Taiwan passport
or U.S. passport. A U.S. citizen can travel outside the United States
for as long as he or she desires so long as he/she does not commit
acts of expatriation. Traveling on the passport of a country not
at war with the U.S. or hostile to the U.S. is not an act of expatriation.
You can only be denaturalized if it can be proven by the government
that you concealed or misrepresented a fact; that your misrepresentation
or concealment was willful; that the fact was material; and that
you procured your citizenship as the result of the misrepresentation
or concealment. If you made no misrepresentations or concealments
in your application for citizenship, your citizenship is safe from
revocation.
Q&A 3.
Applicant with Two Crimes, Drunk Driving Reckless Endangerment
and Falsified Document, May Still be Able to Immigrate to the States.
Anonymous reader asks:
I dated my white U.S. citizen boyfriend for a year and we plan
to get married, but have the following questions:
I am in Taiwan. In 2006, I was arrested and sent to police station
for drunk driving, at that time, I did not have memory of it but
used my god sister’s ID, and signed her name on the papers.
After I was sober the next day, I went to the police surrender myself.
The police originally told me I would be on probation, but I was
sentenced for 3 months. It was reduced in 2007 and I exchanged the
term by paying 1.5 months worth of fine. I now have records of reckless
endangerment and falsifying document. I did not appeal.
If I am married in Taiwan and apply for CR1 at AIT, do I need the
police report? Will my criminal record affect my visa application?
Will I be denied of visa? Will I be separated with my husband in
two continents forever? During the CR1 application pending period,
will my visiting visa become invalid? Can I travel to the U.S? Is
there exception to my criminal record, especially I was drunk and
semi-unconscious? How hard do I need to work on to go through this
problem? Are there any exceptional cases where the applicants had
criminal record but received green card? Do I have any chance?
Dear reader:
You are required to obtain a police clearance certificate from
every country in which you were resident for six months after the
age of 16 except the United States. Your situation of drunk driving
is normally not a crime involving moral turpitude and would generally
not serve to bar you from the States unless there were aggravating
circumstances such as driving on a suspended license. Your falsifying
a document to the police, however, could be seen as a crime involving
moral turpitude. If that is your only brush with the law, however,
you would appear to qualify for the petty offense exception for
an individual who has committed only one criminal act for which
the top possible sentence could not have been over one year or you
were sentenced to less than six months of imprisonment. That is
unfortunately not the end of the inquiry into your behavior. I note
that as per Department of State 2007 instructions, a drunk driving
conviction while not a statutory visa ineligibility may indicate
that further investigation is needed to determine whether an applicant
may in fact be ineligible under the exclusion statute for persons
who have a physical or mental disorder and demonstrate behavior
associated with the disorder that may pose, or has posed, a threat
to the property, safety, or welfare of the applicant or others.
Therefore, consular officers refer an applicant back to the panel
physician for additional evaluation, even if the panel physician
is physically located in another city. This applies where an applicant
has had the single drunk driving arrest or conviction within the
last three calendar years or two or more drunk driving arrests or
two convictions in any time. Consular officers must also refer the
applicant to panel physicians if there is any other evidence to
suggest an alcohol problem.
In the event that you are seen as having committed two offenses
involving moral turpitude, you may still be able to qualify for
a waiver of the ground of excludability if you are able to show
that your being barred from the States would cause extreme hardship
to your U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, son or
daughter.
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