World Journal Weekly Q & A - December 6, 2009What Can a Wife Do Whose Husband is Abandoning Her for Someone Else and Is Planning to Sponsor That Person for Permanent Residence and Citizenship?A Broken Hearted reader asks: I used to have a happy family. My husband and I came to U.S. 20 years ago. We work together, have a successful career and have one son and one daughter. Starting 2004, my husband was seduced by a China’s prostitute. She later came to U.S. in 2005 under B2 visa. She has become my husband’s concubine. I heard her current status was “I”. Now my husband is forcing me to have an agreed divorce, so that he could marry that woman and apply green card and citizenship for her. I do not agree, so he abuses me physically and hits our daughter and me. He even used a sharp knife pointed to my throat and forced me to agree. Should I do what he asked? Will the Immigration find out and accuse me as an accomplice? Will the U.S. law allow the prostitute who broke my marriage to become a U.S. citizen? Dear reader: An "I" visa is given for representatives of information media such as overseas newspapers, magazines, journals, or television to work for the overseas media company while in the U.S. If she is indeed a representative of overseas media, she would not appear to be a prostitute. If your husband is abusive, you may ask the state court to grant you an order of protection. It is ultimately your decision as to whether to contest a divorce or not. U.S. immigration law does not allow an alien who has broken a marriage to gain permanent residence through being petitioned by one of the parties in the marriage that was broken. Of course, the question is whether U.S.C.I.S. will ever know that the applicant who is applying for benefits has broken an ongoing marriage. Such may also depend upon the ground upon which the divorce is completed. In My Adjustment of Status Application, Should I List My Political Crime and Arrest and Was my Sneaking Into the U.S. a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude?Nancy reader asks: I passed the political asylum based on China’s one child policy almost 1 year ago and now I am eligible to file for adjustment of status. I plan to file I-485 form myself. However, in the form I was asked if I ever committed any crime of moral turpitude or been arrested in or outside of the United States. Because I violated Chinese one child policy, was pregnant without marriage and was forcefully arrested for abortion, would the above violations of one child policy and pregnant without marriage constitute the crime of moral turpitude and my forcefully arrested for abortion constitute being arrested? In addition, I sneaked into the country, was I again violated the moral turpitude? Dear reader: You can put down that you were arrested for violating the one child policy. That does not constitute a crime involving moral turpitude. Sneaking into the U.S. is also not a crime involving moral turpitude. What Is the Better Choice for Our Daughter in China to Immigrate to the U.S. -- Under Our Petition with 2007 Priority Date or Through Marriage to a U.S. Citizen?Zhao reader asks: My husband, as a green card holder, filed immigrant paper for our unmarried and over 21 years old daughter in China in 6/2007. We recently received CIS’ approval notice and that the case has been sent to NVC. My friend told me, we still need to wait 4 more years, is it true? We are thinking to find her a boy friend, so that she could marry a U.S. citizen or came to U.S. under the fiancée status. But we worry that if the marriage is not successful or later they do not get along, must she return to China? Will this affect my husband’s 2007 application for her? Will that priority date continue to be valid? Will she travel overseas using her conditional green card? She is our only daughter and my husband is already 75 years old. We need our daughter to be here legally to care for us as soon as possible. Should she come to U.S. as a fiancée or should she marry in China first? Do these types of visa require financial sponsor as well? Dear reader: Currently F-2B immigration visas for single sons and daughters of permanent residents are available to those who filed petitions prior to October 1, 2001 (November 2009 visa chart). In terms of chart time, this is eight years as we are already in the month of November 2009. In terms of real time, June 2002 was the date that the quota became available for individuals who filed petitions prior to October 1, 1993, eight years from the current quota availability date of October 1, 2001. From June 2002 to November 2009 is seven + years. In looking at the past performance of the visa chart over the years, that means that it has taken seven plus years of real time to reach eight years of chart time under the F-2B category. I believe that your friend is overly optimistic in estimating that the waiting time will only be another four years. If your husband becomes a U.S. citizen, the waiting time will of course shorten up considerably since the current processing time for the F-11 category of U.S. citizens petitioning for unmarried sons and daughters over the age of 21 is already up to October 15, 2003 (November 2009 visa chart). Given the time involved in pursuing the petition under the F-2B category and your husband's advanced age and assuming that your husband will not become a U.S. citizen, your idea that she find a U.S. boyfriend to marry has merit as long as the relationship will be bonafide. That means that your daughter and her husband will live together as man and wife. Anything less would be seen by U.S. government authorities as a sham marriage. If the marriage is not successful, your daughter may or may not have to return to China depending upon the circumstances of the case. If your daughter decides to go this route, your husband's petition will be automatically revoked as her marriage will have destroyed her entitlement to the category of unmarried daughter of a permanent resident. If your daughter obtains a conditional green card through marriage, she can travel overseas using the conditional green card as it is a green card for all intents and purposes other than the fact that it expires at the end of the two-year period of time at which point, she would have to file an I-751 application to remove the conditional basis of her green card. In terms of speed, a fiancee petition is faster than a petition through marriage. A K-1 fiancee can usually come over from China in approximately six-nine months. An I-130 immigration petition usually takes between one to one-and-a-half years. A K-3 petition (which is also a non-immigrant visa for a U.S. citizen to apply for his or her spouse) is not much faster than an I-130 petition in our experience as we have seen U.S.C.I.S. adjudicate both at the same time. A financial sponsor is required in all circumstances, although the K-1 or K-3 petitioner would sign on a non-immigrant affidavit of support form, the I-134, instead of the I-864 which would be required when your daughter is in the U.S. and attempts to adjust status to permanent residence. As a U.S. Citizen, What Do I Need to Do to Apply for My Parents and My Sister's Family?Li reader asks: I am a U.S. citizen and want to apply for my parents and sister’s family immigrate to the U.S.. Should I file one form for my parents and one form for my sister’s family? What kind of documents do I need to submit and what documents should my parents and sister provide? What is Form FS-240? Where should I get all those forms? Dear reader: To apply for your parents and your sister's family to immigrate to the U.S., you will need to file separate petitions for each of your parents and one petition for your sister. Since your parents are qualifying under a non-quota category which has no dependents, separate petitions must be filed for each of them. You would be filing for your sister under the F-4 category, which allows dependents, and so you would only have to file one petition for her. The qualifying members of her family would immigrate with her. For the parents' cases, you would have to submit Form I-130 with proof of your U.S. citizenship, your proof of birth listing your parents, and your parents' proof of marriage and termination of any prior marriages. For your sister's case, you would have to include with the Form I-130 proof of your U.S. citizenship and proof of birth of both you and your sister listing your parents. If you wish, you can also provide copies of her proof of marriage, termination of any prior unions, and proof of birth of her dependents. FS-240 is probably not applicable to your case as it is a report of a child born on overseas who is a U.S. citizen. Unless the special circumstance applies to you, there is no applicability, and you will be able to prove your U.S. citizenship through naturalization certificate, U.S. passport or U.S. birth certificate.
|
Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
Esq. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|