Bilby

Hi

I am an Australian and married to a US Citizen living in Australia.
About 2 years ago my wife put in an application for immigration visa to
the US which was denied due to substance abuse 10 years ago. While my
police reports showed nothing I stupidly put the incidence in the
immigration application (thinking it a trivial matter and not knowing
what information the US had access to) I shoot myself in the foot
(badly). Honesty does not pay! Anyway we got the "no go" from
immigration and sought advice from an attorney in LA.

We paid this Attorney $2000US to submit a petition on grounds of
excludability (because the offence was >10years old and I received no
jail time as it was 3 grams of grass). This Attorney did the petition
and told us he submitted it. 1.5 years has passed, the attorney refuses
to communicate with us at all, we have rung, emailed and written to him
and he has never replied, not once. So we got another Attorney whom
sent him requests for the documentation which he never responded to
either! So after months of trying I took matters into my own hands and
started calling people. The petition was supposedly sent directly to
Bangkok so I rang them and they have told me that they know nothing of
my case - the file number on the form means nothing, spoke to the
Australian Consulate - nothing! This guy has not submitted the form!

I'm not sure but I think you only have 60 days to submit the petition
which is now long gone, what can I do about my Visa application? Can I
re-apply? Any advice would be much appreciated as I'm not sure where
to go from here.

aviezer

1. She can come in on the VWP and then adujust status (I tik this is one of the only exceptions for extending the stay on the VWP)
2. If she has a B.A. try to get her a job offer and come on an E-3 visa. Once she is in the U.S. adjust her status.

Ray

You are kidding ...I hope ...

pianoplayer

This is ridiculous! How can he enter on the VWP with the substance abuse issue and the fact that he has been denied a visa before. The same issues will be a problem when applying for any other type of visa. I am not saying it is impossible, but your advice is oversimplistic and quite simply dangerous! Be careful when offering advice - make sure you know the facts, issues and applications thereof.

aviezer

MY MISTAKE, I THOUGHT SHE WAS THE AUSTRALIAN.
YOUR RIGHT.

Noorah101

It doesn't matter if it is the wife or the husband who is Australian. It's just plain bad advice for the Australian citizen.

Rene

Bilby

What would happen If I just submit the petition explaining the Attorney
screwed up or just re-applied ?

Any thoughts Folinsky?


Noorah101 wrote:

    > > MY MISTAKE, I THOUGHT SHE WAS THE AUSTRALIAN.
    > > YOUR RIGHT.
    > It doesn't matter if it is the wife or the husband who is Australian.
    > It's just plain bad advice for the Australian citizen.
    >
    > Rene
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

pianoplayer

I am not sure if you would still be able to submit the waiver petition. I guess you could try the consulate. If you were in the US, you could try Infopass to go in to an office, but since you are abroad, the consulate is the best bet. Even if you could reach the 1800 number, I sincerely doubt whether you would get any meaningful info from those operators. You could write a letter somewhere I guess?

The other option would be to refile the entire petition with the waiver petition included, but of course it entails all the fees and effort again.

Incidentally, have you thought long and carefully about why you want to move to the US? I always hesitate when I see Australians wanting to move to the US. Do not get me wrong, I love living in the US and it can present wonderful opportunities, but if I were in Australia, I would think twice about moving to the US. In my opinion, Australia offers a better overall deal/package in terms of many life factors, and if I were to choose over again, I would probably have headed there.

But it is only my personal opinion and everyone's situation is different, depending on your needs, career etc.

Bilby

I have thought about this, in fact every American I know has said the
same thing. My thoughts were to go over there to check it out,
stay/work for a while. Truth is there are about 50 other countries I`d
rather "check out" than the US but my wife is American with family and
so on. I`m really doing this for her. As for Australia ! Howard is well
on his way to destroying the Australian lifestyle, it`s very expensive
to live here now. I am starting to think a holiday visa will be the
better option.



pianoplayer wrote:
    > > What would happen If I just submit the petition explaining the
    > > Attorney
    > > screwed up or just re-applied ?
    > >
    > > Any thoughts Folinsky?
    > >
    > >
    > > Noorah101 wrote:
    > >
    > > > > MY MISTAKE, I THOUGHT SHE WAS THE AUSTRALIAN.
    > > > > YOUR RIGHT.
    > > > It doesn't matter if it is the wife or the husband who is
    > > > Australian.
    > > > It's just plain bad advice for the Australian citizen.
    > > >
    > > > Rene
    > > >
    > > > --
    > > > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
    > I am not sure if you would still be able to submit the waiver petition.
    > I guess you could try the consulate. If you were in the US, you could
    > try Infopass to go in to an office, but since you are abroad, the
    > consulate is the best bet. Even if you could reach the 1800 number, I
    > sincerely doubt whether you would get any meaningful info from those
    > operators. You could write a letter somewhere I guess?
    > The other option would be to refile the entire petition with the
    > waiver petition included, but of course it entails all the fees and
    > effort again.
    > Incidentally, have you thought long and carefully about why you want to
    > move to the US? I always hesitate when I see Australians wanting to move
    > to the US. Do not get me wrong, I love living in the US and it can
    > present wonderful opportunities, but if I were in Australia, I would
    > think twice about moving to the US. In my opinion, Australia offers a
    > better overall deal/package in terms of many life factors, and if I were
    > to choose over again, I would probably have headed there.
    > But it is only my personal opinion and everyone's situation is
    > different, depending on your needs, career etc.
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Noorah101

That would be good for checking out the USA, but you won't be able to work.

Rene