Published on the World Journal Weekly on July 2, 2017

Q&A 1 2 3 4


What Are My Chances of Obtaining an I-601A Waiver and Going Through the Process Now That Donald Trump is President?

 

I sneaked into the United States in 2009 from China through Canada, have been here ever since, married my U. S. citizen wife in 2015, and our daughter was born in 2016. I have no criminal record, and have never encountered Immigration or asked for any immigration benefits. I know that I cannot adjust status because I sneaked in, but what are my chances of getting an I-601A waiver so that I can be legally here?

Mr. Lee answers:

The I-601A provisional waiver process is approved by regulation in 2012 and became effective in 2013. It relieves the bar of unlawful presence for those who are willing to consular process their case. The procedure in cases like yours is for the spouse to file an I-130 petition for alien relative, have that approved, and file for an I-601A provisional waiver in which the standard for adjudication is whether your spouse would suffer extreme hardship if the waiver was not granted. Assuming approval, you would continue to process your case through the National Visa Center (NVC) which would then establish an interview date for you with the American consulate or embassy in your home country. In the vast majority of cases, the consular interview is normal and the applicant is back to the U. S. within 1– 2 months. Insofar as your chances of having the I-601A provisional waiver application approved are concerned, kindly note that for all cases that U.S.C.I.S. has received since March 2013, the agency has approved 76.5% of them, a very good reason to consider doing this type of case. Although there is no guarantee that the program will not be targeted in the future, the program is consistent with Republican thinking that people should leave the country to obtain legal status, and so may be resistant to abolition on a bipartisan basis.


Q&A 2

Is It Considered Harboring an Undocumented Immigrant If He is a Member of the Carpool to Work?

To save costs and to use the express lane on the highway, 3 of us who work who live within 5 miles of each other decided to carpool since the factory as 25 miles away. One of the people in the carpool is illegal and we joke about his illegal status all the time. But in the present environment against illegal immigration, would I be considered to be harboring an undocumented immigrant and face criminal penalties?

Mr. Lee answers:

Unfortunately in the Trump presidency, there is a possibility of such a result. Atty. Gen. Jeffrey Sessions released a memo on April 11, 2017, that federal prosecutors should consider for prosecution any case involving unlawful transportation or harboring of aliens. In the past, the transportation of someone who was already in the United States and not done for the purpose of shielding him or her from immigration authorities was not considered to be in furtherance of alien smuggling or transportation. However, the urging on of prosecution in a pell-mell manner as exhibited by the Atty. Gen. may serve to sweep aside any distinctions or concerns in the haste to score points politically.

 

Q&A 3

What Kind of Local Newspaper Will Support the Recruitment On My Labor Certification Application?

My company agreed to sponsor me for the green card through labor certification and is doing the recruitment now through a lawyer. I am a finance analyst and the lawyer is giving my boss the choice of extra steps that he can do for advertising the position. My boss wants to make one of the steps an advertisement in the free community paper. Will that be good enough or do we need a bigger newspaper which is sold on the streets?

Mr. Lee answers:

Whether the newspaper is sold or not is not the main criterion. The local newspaper chosen (not the one for the 2 Sunday ads) must be one which is likely to bring responses from available U. S. workers – specifically the newspaper must be known to contain advertisements for similar, if not the same, job opportunities for which the employment is sought.

 

Copyright © 2003-2017 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.

 
   
 


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