Published on Lawyers.com and the Epoch Times on October 31, 2014
Q & A 1. 2. 3. 4.
Q&A 1.
Will Applying for SNAP Benefits Affect My Sponsorship Application?
I am 19 years old, US national. I live in New York State. I was willing to apply for food stamps. I also want to sponsor my mom. My question is if applying for food stamps would affect my sponsorship case?
Mr. Lee answers:
The question is no longer asked on the I-864 form as to whether the financial supporter is taking means tested benefits. I note, however, that some consular officers still ask the same question and are influenced by the answer. Their logic appears to be that they could not trust the joint I-864 affidavit of support of someone who promises to support your mother if that person would not even support you. By and large, however, the question is not asked, and most consular officers would only ask that the joint sponsor have sufficient income and means to satisfy the support obligation.
Q&A 2.
Someone I Know Is An Illegal Alien Who Immigrated from Mexico
His dad is a U.S Citizen. Can he become a U.S citizen? how long would the process take?
Mr. Lee answers:
In assessing whether the person that you know can gain legal status and ultimately citizenship through his U. S. citizen father, certain factors must be considered:
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Does the father wish to sponsor him, and if he does, was the son conceived in wedlock or if not did the father take a parental interest in him before the age of 18? The petitioner must be both able and willing to undertake the sponsorship.
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Is the son under the age of 18? If so, his father could sponsor him and he could consular process his immigration in Mexico without being barred for 10 years for illegally staying in the country if he sneaked into the country as long as he is able to prove that he left the U. S before he turned the age of 18.
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If over the age of 18, he would likely only be able to adjust status to permanent residence in the U. S. if he came in legally and was still under the age of 21, or he has the benefit of §245(i) under which most illegal individuals can adjust status upon payment of a fine amount of $1000 if they had an immigrant visa petition or labor certification application filed on their behalf by April 30, 2001 and were physically present in the U. S. on December 21, 2000.
If the son is able to immigrate and under the age of 21 at the time that his father files for his immigration, the case would take between 6 months to a year and a half; if over the age of 21 at the time of filing, approximately 20 years. That is because the age of 21 is the cutoff line between immediate relative sponsoring and sponsorship under the F – 11 category for sons and daughters of U. S. citizens who are single and over the age of 21 – which line is only available to those from Mexico who filed their petitions before July 8, 1994.
Q&A 3.
Can I Change My Job on a J1 Waiver H-1B Visa?
My employer is changing the terms of the originally signed contract by forcing me to accept less salary or cut down my vacation time.
Mr. Lee answers:
In order for U.S.C.I.S. to consider a change of status from J-1 to H-1B from someone who is subject to a two-year residence requirement, you would have to show proof that the Department of State has given you a recommendation that your J residence requirement be waived. In addition, you would only be able to change status to H-1B at this time if you are working for a cap exempt employer such as an institute of higher education, a nonprofit organization affiliated with an institute of higher education, a nonprofit research organization or a government research organization.
Q&A 4.
On M1 Visa- Old School Closed, Application to Transfer Was Done Too Late Because of Inaccurate Information From the DSO- Request Denied
I am currently studying at a school for Massage on a M1 Visa. After completing the first year, I applied for an extension, which was granted. Pretty much immediately after that, my school announced, basically over night, that it had to close down (running out of business) and the DSO failed to do a SEVIS transfer for me and another classmate to the new school (another massage school in the area said they would take on all students and teachers and let us continue there, so no one would lose any credit/hours. It’s a bigger school and also SEVIS approved). I asked several times my old and also new DSO if there was anything that needed to be done to inform SEVIS, but they told me it would be transferred automatically. After a few weeks though, my new DSO realized that this was not the case, and she told me she would try her best to apply for a transfer of my SEVIS records to the new school. SEVIS said they would try, even though the time period for which to apply when transferring had.
Mr. Lee answers:
Under the facts of your situation, SEVIS should certainly attempt to have your transfer go through as it appears that you did everything correctly and the fault was with the DSO of your old school. If it cannot be handled internally, you are entitled to file for reinstatement explaining the situation of how it was the fault of the DSO - Immigration’s person on campus.
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