perfect

I have an acquaintance who, after knowing a Mexican for 6 weeks is engaged to her, even though her English is poor and his Spanish is almost non-existent! For me red flags galore!!

It turns out she is here on a 10 year visitor visa which she has to get stamped every 6 months. They are planning on getting married in Mexico in December, although have no plans to apply for a marriage visa of any kind. I have warned them that if they marry in Mexico they may have difficult with immigration getting back here as a married couple, but this advice has fallen on deaf ears.

Also I was under the impression that if you are here in America on a visitor visa you are not allowed to work and that the only way you are allowed to work is if you come here with a work-based visa or are on a visa such as a K1 whereby you can apply for an employment authorization document. Am I wrong about this or is she working illegally by doing this? If she is working illegally, what are the possible repercussions with regards to being found out by immigration? Would it constitute a 10 year ban?

Have I just misunderstood the whole thing and their plans and her working here are completely legal with no possibility of consequences by immigration?

Any advice or help wold be very much appreciated as I can see this whole thing ending very badly and people being extremely hurt.

crg

She sounds like an illegal alien to me. 10 year visas are almost always for visiting only. Does her visa look like about the size of a credit card? If so, that's a DSP-150 border crossing card and isn't valid for working.

If she gets busted then she could be ordered deported by a judge with a 10 year bar. If she gets caught while seeking admission, she could get a 5 year or longer.

Jonathan McNeil Wong

crg14624 wrote:
    >>I have an acquaintance who, after knowing a Mexican for 6 weeks is
    >>engaged to her, even though her English is poor and his Spanish is
    >>almost non-existent! For me red flags galore!!
    >>It turns out she is here on a 10 year visitor visa which she has to
    >>get stamped every 6 months. They are planning on getting married in
    >>Mexico in December, although have no plans to apply for a marriage
    >>visa of any kind. I have warned them that if they marry in Mexico they
    >>may have difficult with immigration getting back here as a married
    >>couple, but this advice has fallen on deaf ears.
    >>Also I was under the impression that if you are here in America on a
    >>visitor visa you are not allowed to work and that the only way you are
    >>allowed to work is if you come here with a work-based visa or are on a
    >>visa such as a K1 whereby you can apply for an employment
    >>authorization document. Am I wrong about this or is she working
    >>illegally by doing this? If she is working illegally, what are the
    >>possible repercussions with regards to being found out by immigration?
    >>Would it constitute a 10 year ban?
    >>Have I just misunderstood the whole thing and their plans and her
    >>working here are completely legal with no possibility of consequences
    >>by immigration?
    >>Any advice or help wold be very much appreciated as I can see this
    >>whole thing ending very badly and people being extremely hurt.
    >
    >
    > She sounds like an illegal alien to me. 10 year visas are almost
    > always for visiting only. Does her visa look like about the size of a
    > credit card? If so, that's a DSP-150 border crossing card and isn't
    > valid for working.
    >
    > If she gets busted then she could be ordered deported by a judge with a
    > 10 year bar. If she gets caught while seeking admission, she could get
    > a 5 year or longer.
    >

This is a little garbled, but I think what the OP means is that the
alien has a 10-year B-1/B-2 or possibly B-2 visa; she returns to Mexico
for a little while every six months and then comes back again; a BCC
could be the other alternative as you mention. Obviously there could be
nonimmigrant intent issues, and I agree that she can't just work here
without employment authorization.

--
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal
advice. Your mileage may vary.

================================================== =============
Jonathan McNeil Wong Voice: 510-451-0544
Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP Facsimile: 510-832-1486
P.O. Box 12979 URL: http://www.donahue.com
Oakland, CA 94604-2979 E-mail: [email protected]
================================================== =============

Ingo Pakleppa

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

perfect wrote:
    > I have an acquaintance who, after knowing a Mexican for 6 weeks is
    > engaged to her, even though her English is poor and his Spanish is
    > almost non-existent! For me red flags galore!!

Hard to tell. My own brother got married to a woman (from South America)
after knowing her for nine days, and her only speaking Spanish, and him
barely speaking Spanish. They have been happily married for several
years now, and she now speaks three languages fluently (and he is now
fluent in Spanish). So, yes, at first glance it does sound suspicious,
but it's not as uncommon as you may think, and may well be bona fide.

First question: is your acquaintance a US citizen? Second: was money
involved?

    > It turns out she is here on a 10 year visitor visa which she has to get
    > stamped every 6 months.

As Jonathan pointed out, it most likely is a visitor's visa that allows
her to stay in the US for *visits* of six months. The ten years only
says that she can visit the US time and again without applying for
another visa.

Visiting means two important things: she cannot work in the USA, and she
must have a permanent home outside the USA. As a general rule of thumb,
you should not use the six months more than once in a twelve month
period, or she may get denied admission when trying to return to the US.

    > They are planning on getting married in Mexico
    > in December, although have no plans to apply for a marriage visa of any
    > kind.

That possibly suggests that the marriage may be bona fide. At least, it
is obvioulsy not intended to gain her a marriage-based immigrant visa!

    > I have warned them that if they marry in Mexico they may have
    > difficult with immigration getting back here as a married couple, but
    > this advice has fallen on deaf ears.

Technically, they are actually right. It *is* permissible for a foreign
spouse to travel to the US as a tourist, just like anybody else. But
being married to a US citizen (or a non-citizen US resident, for that
matter) is further evidence that she may not actually live in Mexico any
more.

So in the end, you are likely right. When they show up at the border,
she will very likely be denied admission. At this point, she has two
choices: immediately return to Mexico (without any black mark on her
history - it's called "withdrawing the application for admission"), or
try and fight it. If she tries and fight it, she will be put into what's
called expediated removal. It's basically the same as deportation,
except that she won't have the right to see a judge or anybody else. But
she will be banned from the US for five years.

It is also possible that she will be accused of immigration fraud, for
having traveled like this before so many times - that could carry a
lifetime ban.

If her husband is not a US citizen, he might also find himself in
trouble for assisting, although that is less likely.

    > Also I was under the impression that if you are here in America on a
    > visitor visa you are not allowed to work and that the only way you are
    > allowed to work is if you come here with a work-based visa or are on a
    > visa such as a K1 whereby you can apply for an employment authorization
    > document. Am I wrong about this or is she working illegally by doing
    > this? If she is working illegally, what are the possible repercussions
    > with regards to being found out by immigration? Would it constitute a
    > 10 year ban?

You are absolutely right, working as a tourist is illegal. The main
repercussion would be deportation if she was found out - but if she was
trying to return to the US from Mexico, that would obviously not be the
case - she would simply be denied admission, and only deported if she
was found out.

There are other possible legal repercussions, but they are more
esoteric, and my guess is that they wouldn't be pursued. When she worked
illegally, her tourist status ended. That in turn, I believe, canceled
her B-1/B-2 visa under 222(g). The next time she traveled to Mexico and
returned, she was therefore using an invalid visa. Failing to tell the
officer could be construed as immigration fraud - although I think it is
a stretch.

    > Have I just misunderstood the whole thing and their plans and her
    > working here are completely legal with no possibility of consequences by
    > immigration?
    >
    > Any advice or help wold be very much appreciated as I can see this whole
    > thing ending very badly and people being extremely hurt.

I agree with your assessment. They should immediately contact an
immigration attorney. Right now, while they are still in the US, the
situation is probably salvageable. Assuming that he is a US citizen: the
best course of action would be for both of them to get married
immediately in the US, then filing the paperwork for a marriage-based
Green Card. Once the paperwork is filed, she must *not* leave the US in
this case! That is critically important.

Getting married in Mexico is also probably a possibility. The main risks
are that she may have a ban applied to her that I didn't think of, and
that processing the marriage-based paperwork simply takes several years
to process.

Again, advice from a competent immigration attorney is very critical for
them; I would not recommend they do it on their own.

- --
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I encourage
everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than relying on usenet
newsgroups.

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for spam protection. See
my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my Web site
http://www.ingopakleppa.com ! Comments are welcome.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFDAaBLyUlVTFdHXskRAqDkAJ0Z2YCgZ0qYmM6/qMRbvG3+vGh9bwCfS5hi
oU0hbFjNRA/TbSDMb+uC9Dc=
=Osyp
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----