Corina

Hi all,
I know 245i happened a while ago, but I have a question.
I friend of mine entered US in 2000 and has been on an F1 visa since.
She was extremely careful not to expire, so she made sure her visa was
up to date this whole time. Her sister filed I130 for her back in 2001
under 245i. Can she qualify for that? I thought 245i was only for
persons that were illegal here. She is now having a lawyer do a
follow-up and is costing her big bucks. I am wondering if she could
even qualify for this given she never went out of status. Her lawyer
is saying she will get her work permit soon based on this petition. Is
he refering to 245i or family reunification?Can someone clarify this,
please? Is she being lied to?
Thanks!
Corina

EB Immigrant

If your friend is "in status" all the time as you told, her sister can
file I130 directly without 245i, why does she need to use 245i?

Should you friend "out of status" at a later time, she can file I485
(after I130 is approved) with supplemental form and pay the fine
(i.e., 245i coverage is automatic). Given that current visa processing
date for FB4 is around 1992, your friend needs to wait LONG LONG
time before her/his I130 can be approved.

I do not understand why she/he needs a lawyer to do "foolow-up".
Ask the lawyer to give your money back!

I suggest that you consult a good immigration lawyer.

"Corina" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hi all,
    > I know 245i happened a while ago, but I have a question.
    > I friend of mine entered US in 2000 and has been on an F1 visa since.
    > She was extremely careful not to expire, so she made sure her visa was
    > up to date this whole time. Her sister filed I130 for her back in 2001
    > under 245i. Can she qualify for that? I thought 245i was only for
    > persons that were illegal here. She is now having a lawyer do a
    > follow-up and is costing her big bucks. I am wondering if she could
    > even qualify for this given she never went out of status. Her lawyer
    > is saying she will get her work permit soon based on this petition. Is
    > he refering to 245i or family reunification?Can someone clarify this,
    > please? Is she being lied to?
    > Thanks!
    > Corina

Sylvia Ottemoeller

"Corina" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

    > I know 245i happened a while ago, but I have a question.
    > I friend of mine entered US in 2000 and has been on an F1 visa since.
    > She was extremely careful not to expire, so she made sure her visa was
    > up to date this whole time. Her sister filed I130 for her back in 2001
    > under 245i. Can she qualify for that? I thought 245i was only for
    > persons that were illegal here.

EB Immigrant gave a good answer to this -- you are right.

She is now having a lawyer do a
    > follow-up and is costing her big bucks. I am wondering if she could
    > even qualify for this given she never went out of status. Her lawyer
    > is saying she will get her work permit soon based on this petition. Is
    > he refering to 245i or family reunification?

Assuming you have given us all the facts, this is nonsense. She won't be
eligible for a work permit based on the I-130 in the category F4 (sibling of
U.S. citizen) until she is eligible to file Form I-485. That will not occur
for many many years.

Can someone clarify this,
    > please? Is she being lied to?

Sounds like it to me.

    > Thanks!
    > Corina

Corina

Thank you for your answers Sylvia and EB Immigrant.

    >
    > Assuming you have given us all the facts, this is nonsense. She won't be
    > eligible for a work permit based on the I-130 in the category F4 (sibling of
    > U.S. citizen) until she is eligible to file Form I-485. That will not occur
    > for many many years.

Yes, I agree. The only reason I got involved into this is because she
is claiming she paid the lawyer some ridiculous amount of money
(almost 4000$), andI could not figure out if they realy found a
loophole into the system or they are taking advantage of her.

Thank you again.
Corina

Ingo Pakleppa - see web site for email

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 04:38:12 -0800, Corina wrote:

    > Thank you for your answers Sylvia and EB Immigrant.
    >
    >>
    >> Assuming you have given us all the facts, this is nonsense. She won't be
    >> eligible for a work permit based on the I-130 in the category F4 (sibling of
    >> U.S. citizen) until she is eligible to file Form I-485. That will not occur
    >> for many many years.
    >
    > Yes, I agree. The only reason I got involved into this is because she
    > is claiming she paid the lawyer some ridiculous amount of money
    > (almost 4000$), andI could not figure out if they realy found a
    > loophole into the system or they are taking advantage of her.

This almost sounds as if she may have talked to an "immigration
consultant" rather than a lawyer. Immigration consultants are people who -
illegally - help with immigration paperwork, and often have no legal
qualification whatsoever (note: I believe there are also some law-abiding
immigration consultants, but don't know the details).

These "immigration consultants" often take huge fees for bad advice, and
are breaking the law in the process (practicing law without a license, for
instance, often also fraud, theft by deception and other things).

If this is the case, she should contact a real immigration attorney for
her own case, and ask him how to file a complaint. With a lot of luck, she
*may* be able to recover the fee she paid, but I wouldn't count on it.

If this was in the State of California, the state government may also be
interested. I'm not sure, but I believe it's the Secretary of State who is
in charge of handling such complaints. California is just in the process
of considering new laws to further crack down on such organizations.

--
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 support H.R. 539, H.R. 832 and S. 1510. More information at
http://www.kkeane.com/lobbyspousal-faq.shtml

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.

Corina

Hi Ingo,


    > These "immigration consultants" often take huge fees for bad advice, and
    > are breaking the law in the process (practicing law without a license, for
    > instance, often also fraud, theft by deception and other things).

Yes, I agree with you.

    >
    > If this is the case, she should contact a real immigration attorney for
    > her own case, and ask him how to file a complaint. With a lot of luck, she
    > *may* be able to recover the fee she paid, but I wouldn't count on it.

The issue is that no one knows who to trust anymore. I am lucky with
this newsgroup and wonderful people like you, Sylvia, EB Imigrant and
others to get my questions answered. But there are so many new
imigrants out there, not internet savy, who have no clue what to do
and are being taken advantage of..
    >
    > If this was in the State of California, the state government may also be
    > interested. I'm not sure, but I believe it's the Secretary of State who is
    > in charge of handling such complaints. California is just in the process
    > of considering new laws to further crack down on such organizations.

This is in Florida, I am not sure if these regulations will be in
place here..I will tell her just in case she wants to explore this
avenue.

Thank you again.
Corina

Amanda

[email protected] (Corina) wrote in message news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Thank you for your answers Sylvia and EB Immigrant.
    >
    > >
    > > Assuming you have given us all the facts, this is nonsense. She won't be
    > > eligible for a work permit based on the I-130 in the category F4 (sibling of
    > > U.S. citizen) until she is eligible to file Form I-485. That will not occur
    > > for many many years.
    >
    > Yes, I agree. The only reason I got involved into this is because she
    > is claiming she paid the lawyer some ridiculous amount of money
    > (almost 4000$), andI could not figure out if they realy found a
    > loophole into the system or they are taking advantage of her.
    >
    > Thank you again.
    > Corina


Your friend on F-1 should have gone to Int'l Student office and asked
for some reliable names of immigration lawyers.

Also got to http://www.uscis.gov and find the link "Greencard" (on
right side of screen) and read for oetition for family members.
Filing petition using I-130, does not even need an immigration lawyer.

Your frieng has wasted her money hoping to get work permit which will
be illegally obtained ones, if she gets it.

245(i) is a type of waiver that applies to those who are out of status
(e.g F-1) *at the time* of filing I-485 (it is adjustment of status
from non-immigrant to immigrant status). Go to Visa bulletin borad to
see which priority dates (of approved Petition) are being processed.
Currently, for the category of your friend, priority dates of May 1992
are being processed. So your friend has another 10 years waiting
time ..to file I-485 and apply for work permit (EAD). Then depending
ont he city she is in, it can tale 6 monts to 2 years to receive
greencard but getting EAD (work permit) would be quick.

Ingo Pakleppa - see web site for email

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 07:23:51 -0800, Corina wrote:

    > Hi Ingo,
    >
    >
    >> These "immigration consultants" often take huge fees for bad advice,
    >> and are breaking the law in the process (practicing law without a
    >> license, for instance, often also fraud, theft by deception and other
    >> things).
    >
    > Yes, I agree with you.
    >
    >
    >> If this is the case, she should contact a real immigration attorney for
    >> her own case, and ask him how to file a complaint. With a lot of luck,
    >> she *may* be able to recover the fee she paid, but I wouldn't count on
    >> it.
    >
    > The issue is that no one knows who to trust anymore. I am lucky with
    > this newsgroup and wonderful people like you, Sylvia, EB Imigrant and
    > others to get my questions answered. But there are so many new imigrants
    > out there, not internet savy, who have no clue what to do and are being
    > taken advantage of..

Unfortunately, those are the ones immigration consultants prey on.
Fortunately, the California government recognized this, and cracks down on
these types of people.

    >> If this was in the State of California, the state government may also
    >> be interested. I'm not sure, but I believe it's the Secretary of State
    >> who is in charge of handling such complaints. California is just in the
    >> process of considering new laws to further crack down on such
    >> organizations.
    >
    > This is in Florida, I am not sure if these regulations will be in place
    > here..I will tell her just in case she wants to explore this avenue.

My guess is that Florida may have something similar, as it, too, is a
high-immigration state.

--
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 support H.R. 539, H.R. 832 and S. 1510. More information at
http://www.kkeane.com/lobbyspousal-faq.shtml

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.

Sylvia Ottemoeller

"Ingo Pakleppa - see web site for email" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...

    > On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 04:38:12 -0800, Corina wrote:

    > > Thank you for your answers Sylvia and EB Immigrant.

    > >> Assuming you have given us all the facts, this is nonsense. She won't
be
    > >> eligible for a work permit based on the I-130 in the category F4
(sibling of
    > >> U.S. citizen) until she is eligible to file Form I-485. That will not
occur
    > >> for many many years.
    > >
    > > Yes, I agree. The only reason I got involved into this is because she
    > > is claiming she paid the lawyer some ridiculous amount of money
    > > (almost 4000$), andI could not figure out if they realy found a
    > > loophole into the system or they are taking advantage of her.
    > This almost sounds as if she may have talked to an "immigration
    > consultant" rather than a lawyer. Immigration consultants are people who -
    > illegally - help with immigration paperwork, and often have no legal
    > qualification whatsoever (note: I believe there are also some law-abiding
    > immigration consultants, but don't know the details).
    > These "immigration consultants" often take huge fees for bad advice, and
    > are breaking the law in the process (practicing law without a license, for
    > instance, often also fraud, theft by deception and other things).
    > If this is the case, she should contact a real immigration attorney for
    > her own case, and ask him how to file a complaint. With a lot of luck, she
    > *may* be able to recover the fee she paid, but I wouldn't count on it.
    > If this was in the State of California, the state government may also be
    > interested. I'm not sure, but I believe it's the Secretary of State who is
    > in charge of handling such complaints. California is just in the process
    > of considering new laws to further crack down on such organizations.

Another remedy that your friend should consider is to sue the "lawyer" in
small claims court. If she can show that she paid the $4000 and received no
benefit, and in fact could not have received any benefit under the law, then
the judge may award her the $4000. It is certainly worth a try.

This assumes the state's small claims court limit is high enough. The limit
in California is $5000.