rushnovski

My wife was granted voluntary departure and she has since left for her native country to process her visa.
She entered the country illegally and we have an approved 1-130 based on my U S citizenship.
At the moment we are waiting for the visa center to transfer the case to the consulate. How long does this take? What are our chances of getting a visa so that my wife can come here and we can be happy again raising our kids.
Neither of us has a criminal record and as honest individuals, my wife left the US before the date that the immgration judge asked her to leave.
Please advice on any thing that may help.

Rush

crg

She may also need a waiver if she had unlawful presence.

It's nice that she left on time because if she didn't, she would have a 10 year bar because of the judge's alternate order.

You stated that she entered illegally? How is that honest? How did she enter?

rushnovski

She entered through Canada by getting help in crossing. The waiver you are talking about, is it always granted? We have two kids that are US citizen including me. Do we file the waiver when she goes for the interview? Does she get a determination on the waiver right there?
Please thanks again for the quick response

crg

She may not need a waiver if she didn't overstay a lawful period of admission and left on time ofter the V/D.

Maybe someone can chime in to say if the time from when someone is setup for removal and actually leaves can lead to a bar from reentry under 9B. I don't think it counts. She most likely doesn't need a waiver.

If she does need a waiver, they aren't terribly hard to get when the alien is in a bonafide marriage to a US citizen. I'm not sure how long it will take. The government rarely makes a waiver determination right away.

She can go to the interview and have a list of questions to ask. It's hard to get a face to face meeting with anyone, so she should make the most of the opportunity.

rushnovski

Thanks again for your wonderful reply. Howver, I am still confused with the bar of 3, 5 or 10 years. Do you think that she will be subjected to any bar? The only offence she may have committed is that she entered the country illegally. To us, by leaving here to her home country to process her papers shows that she is respectful of the law.
Please advice if you have any comments. What must we do so that she is not refused a visa at the consulate. By having an approved I-130, does that means she has a visa available?
Rush

Westcoast

It shouldn't. But take the time, and call a competent immigration attorney.
It is well worth the money. This is a serious matter of family unity and you
don't want your future to be ruined by incorrect advice of amateurs.

"rushnovski" <member30958@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
    >> She may not need a waiver if she didn't overstay a lawful period of
    >> admission and left on time ofter the V/D.
    >> Maybe someone can chime in to say if the time from when someone is
    >> setup for removal and actually leaves can lead to a bar from
    >> reentry under 9B. I don't think it counts. She most likely
    >> doesn't need a waiver.
    >> If she does need a waiver, they aren't terribly hard to get when the
    >> alien is in a bonafide marriage to a US citizen. I'm not sure how
    >> long it will take. The government rarely makes a waiver determination
    >> right away.
    >> She can go to the interview and have a list of questions to ask. It's
    >> hard to get a face to face meeting with anyone, so she should make the
    >> most of the opportunity.
    > Thanks again for your wonderful reply. Howver, I am still confused with
    > the bar of 3, 5 or 10 years. Do you think that she will be subjected to
    > any bar? The only offence she may have committed is that she entered the
    > country illegally. To us, by leaving here to her home country to process
    > her papers shows that she is respectful of the law.
    > Please advice if you have any comments. What must we do so that she is
    > not refused a visa at the consulate. By having an approved I-130, does
    > that means she has a visa available?
    > Rush
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Ingo Pakleppa - see web site for email

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 12:48:22 +0000, rushnovski wrote:

    >
    >> She may not need a waiver if she didn't overstay a lawful period of
    >> admission and left on time ofter the V/D.
    >> Maybe someone can chime in to say if the time from when someone is
    >> setup for removal and actually leaves can lead to a bar from
    >> reentry under 9B. I don't think it counts. She most likely
    >> doesn't need a waiver.
    >> If she does need a waiver, they aren't terribly hard to get when the
    >> alien is in a bonafide marriage to a US citizen. I'm not sure how
    >> long it will take. The government rarely makes a waiver determination
    >> right away.
    >> She can go to the interview and have a list of questions to ask. It's
    >> hard to get a face to face meeting with anyone, so she should make the
    >> most of the opportunity.
    >
    > Thanks again for your wonderful reply. Howver, I am still confused with
    > the bar of 3, 5 or 10 years. Do you think that she will be subjected to
    > any bar? The only offence she may have committed is that she entered the
    > country illegally.

Unfortunately, that is a fairly serious offense. It's called "entering
without inspection". Because of the political climate around the Mexican
border, US immigration law is pretty strict about it.

As to whether or not any of the bans apply, I can't answer that for sure.
She almost certainly avoided the five-year ban that a deportation would
have carried.

The three and ten year bans depend on a number of factors, and not all of
them are clearly defined. First: how long was she unlawfully present in
the USA? That is, how long from the date she crossed the border until the
date she departed? If it was less than 180 days, no ban should apply. If
it was more than 180 days but less than one year, the three year ban would
apply. If it was more than one year, the ten year ban would apply.

HOWEVER: there are some legal scholars that argue that voluntary
departure, *if granted during deportation proceedings* may cancel these
bans. Although I'm not a legal scholar, I do subscribe to this view, but
the consulate may not. As far as I know, this is not a settled question,
so you may have a bit of a fight there.

    > To us, by leaving here to her home country to process
    > her papers shows that she is respectful of the law.

I hate to say it so harshly, but that's like saying that Martha Steward
was respectful of the law because she reported to prison on time, or that
George Bush was respectful of the law because he actually showed up for
duty once.

    > Please advice if you have any comments. What must we do so that she is
    > not refused a visa at the consulate. By having an approved I-130, does
    > that means she has a visa available?

You absolutely need a competent immigration attorney to advise you. The
good news is that with the situation as bad as it was, I think you took
the best possible course of action to at least avoid further damage to her
case.

--
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rushnovski

I am still waiting for INS to update their record. My wife is in her country now but INS is saying that it takes them up to 45 days to update their record. So long!
My question now is after they have upodated thire record and send it to the visa center, what next? Any information is HIGHLY WELCOME