jhuxley

Found myself in a tricky situation.

I've been living in the US for a little over 3 years, but have been 'out of status' for approx. the last 4 months.

I have an E-2 application with the US embassy in London, but it seems that these are now taking a long time to process--like 4 months. I have invested 300,000 bucks in a start-up that I own 75 per cent of. Having 2 start-ups behind me (the latter being a plc), my attorney is very confident that I have a strong case for approval, not withstanding the several boxes of supporting evidence that has been sent to the embassy. However, as I understand it if I am out of status for more than 6 months I get a 3-year ban from the US should I leave. Here's the problem: if I leave the US for many months (prior to the 6-month out-of-status deadline) whilst I wait on the Embassy to process my E-2 application, I am putting 300 grand at considerable risk. Not to mention pending jobs for US Citizens.

Just to further complicate things, I am planning on getting married soon to a Canadian national who qualifies to US Citizenship. I am wondering if I should stay and remain out of status for an additional 7 months while she goes through the nationalization process, and then sponsors me for permanent residency. Which I think is immediate, but then I might have a travel ban for a year for being out of status for an extended period. Which is inconvenient as I need to travel and have business interests in other countries.

Would much appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Ingo Pakleppa - See Web Site For Email

First off, don't expect immigration law to make sense. The US government
pretty much does not care about the 300 grand at risk, or even about the
jobs for US citizens. As far as the consulate is concerned, only your visa
matters, everything else is your personal business.

That said, you may want to contact your local Congressperson for
assistance. It's probably too late now - it would have been better to do
that before you fell out of status - but if you play your cards right and
let him get some PR mileage out of it, he may still be able to help you
quite a bit and get the consulate to work faster.

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 00:43:49 +0000, jhuxley wrote:


    > Found myself in a tricky situation.
    >
    >
    >
    > I've been living in the US for a little over 3 years, but have been 'out
    > of status' for approx. the last 4 months.
    >
    >
    >
    > I have an E-2 application with the US embassy in London, but it seems
    > that these are now taking a long time to process--like 4 months. I have
    > invested 300,000 bucks in a start-up that I own 75 per cent of. Having
    > 2 start-ups behind me (the latter being a plc), my attorney is very
    > confident that I have a strong case for approval, not withstanding the
    > several boxes of supporting evidence that has been sent to the embassy.
    > However, as I understand it if I am out of status for more than 6 months
    > I get a 3-year ban from the US should I leave. Here's the problem: if I
    > leave the US for many months (prior to the 6-month out-of-status
    > deadline) whilst I wait on the Embassy to process my E-2 application, I
    > am putting 300 grand at considerable risk. Not to mention pending jobs
    > for US Citizens.
    >
    >
    >
    > Just to further complicate things, I am planning on getting married soon
    > to a Canadian national who qualifies to US Citizenship. I am wondering
    > if I should stay and remain out of status for an additional 7 months
    > while she goes through the nationalization process, and then sponsors me
    > for permanent residency. Which I think is immediate, but then I might
    > have a travel ban for a year for being out of status for an extended
    > period. Which is inconvenient as I need to travel and have business
    > interests in other countries.
    >
    >
    >
    > Would much appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar
    > situation.

--
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