World Journal Weekly Q & A - October 18, 2009Friend 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.
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.
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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Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
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