[email protected]

On May 27, 8:28 pm, no-spam <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > You may find this link useful:
> >http://www.ssoft.co.kr/Immigration/i...apter_24.htm#H.
> > Waivers of Foreign Home Residency Requiremen
>
> a lot of good advice!
> I'm guessing your lawyer is doing all they can trying to get a State
> Department Advisory Opinion for your wife to say it was a mistake and
> she didn't have the HRR after all. Other than that, you don't have much
> hope. Maybe the lawyer can wrangle just a 3 year ban instead of 10, but
> you'll be lucky.
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://britishexpats.com

No, it's either no ban or 10 years. See my posts about the ban

davdah

I'm commenting on several things I saw here.
Her I 94 was stamped with DS not a specific date. I have not looked at the posting for the past few days and was surprised at the amount of input. Even the negative stuff. I understand why it would be posted. I've known some people that have gotten royally screwed when they got involved with people from other countries. What has happened is she did propose the idea of me going to live in Indonesia for the 10 or 12 years. To be honest that would be impossible. I do have other children here and the business can't be run from thousands of miles away. She got upset at what I wrote about letting her go if it is 10+ years. She said she would wait. I suppose a person can say they will wait but even if they can is it fair to do that. I had to be honest with her, I don't know if I could wait that long. She's 28 now, no kids, no prior marriages. By the time this is all up she could be 40. To ask someone to wait til 40 to start their life, is it too much? Can I or should I even pose such a question? I suppose the idea of putting time limts on things may sound crude and less than honorable but the reality is what it is. Hey, if Im being shallow or short sighted let me know. Has anyone out there waited the 12 years? I would like to hear from you if you have.

At this stage wer'e going to go through the process and see what happens. The lawyer is still in the discovery stage. Im waiting on the first hearing. From that I think we should have a good idea which course this will take.

As far as the "witch hunt" goes, I should look at the I-94 requirements and liabilities. In the end the employer is 100% liable for who they hire. Regardless of this I do have a responsibility to run my other affairs above board. So, now that I know, I need to act accordlingly. One other thing. Someone put a posting about her having it made with the help Im giving. My reply, If you love someone, do you leave them when they need you?

davdah

Thanks for every one's inputs. To answer a few things. One is, she did ask me to move to Indonesia if there is a 10 year ban or so. Honestly I can't do that. I do have kids here and a business that can not be run from another country. I had to lay it on the line and tell her if it goes bad (10 year ban) I will let her go. Obviously she didn't like the answer and I guess it makes me look a little 'less' since I can't wait that long. Although she said she would, who knows what a person will do if actually confronted with a situation. Has anyone out there actually waited the 10 years? I would like to here from you if you exist. Did it turn out ok? Am I being too shallow to say its too long?


Someone incorrectly said 'my wife'. Were not married as of yet. Some of the things mentioned like having her Gov. give a waiver on the two return is something I'll try. There are several things on the table to attempt during this legal journey. For all the negative inputs, I understand. Iv'e seen people get hammered from things like this. For the one who made the comment about her having it made from what I was doing for her. If you love someone do you turn your back on them when they need you? I would hope not. Love is more than just a word, its what you do.

Witch hunting at the office. I liked that one. I do take it seriously since I am the employer and the Gov makes it my problem if I hire someone who isn't legal. I will need to make sure all the people are who they say they are and legal.

Tracym

Obviously you truly love her, but while "love conquers all" is a nice romantic notion, kids and making a living have to figure in there too.

I think ten years is a terribly long time. It also depends upon your age I suppose, what things would be like in ten years. Personally - I think I might agree with you in letting her go if there was a ten year ban. I don't think it makes you less, just older and more practical.

Another romantic notion - there's only one true love for each person - but I do think if one thing just cannot be, while it breaks your heart, eventually hopefully you'd each find another.

And I totally agree with you - no you don't turn your back on someone you love. She made a mistake - true, and was probably afraid to tell you.

I really hope it works out for you, keep us posted.

davdah

A few things have happened. One is about the j1 waiver. Looks like it will be painless. We looked at the no objection as the most likely option. I had her call her consular in D.C. to inquire. They said no problem. There was a catch. There always is one isn't there. They said we would have to be married first to even be considered.

The other is I called the 350 an hour lawyer to ask for an update. she seems to be telephonically challenged. We have been waiting for the notice on when the first court date is. I called and she said the case has not even been moved to the immigration court yet to be put on calendar. She said that was good news, taking forever. I explained what we did as far as the J1 waiver goes. She said that was a good move. I asked her about the 3/10 ban issue. She asked what ban? I said, based on her being out of status for over a year. She said I should not be trying to investigate this that much. The internet is only useful for e-bay and not much else was her response.
What she did advise is to get married and start building a life together. Now there are two people saying that. I think the idea is to show the court that us being together is not a matter of convenience and its real, etc.. I can buy that since the judge can't read our minds.

On another site someone mentioned that if her I-94 was stamped D/S that the 3/10 rule may not apply at all. Sounds too good to be true. Any truth to that?

One thing I would like to do before I blindly follow any one's advice is to wait for the first hearing. I hope I can get a feel for what we may be in store for based on that. I don't want to get married and in a few months have to separate for 10 years or more. On the average, how many hearings are there for a process like this, deportation and or adjustment of status? Has anyone here actually gone through this? On another site it seemed the 3/10 ban wasn't that difficult to get around, or so they said. If no one has then I guess I'll be the first to report back what actually happens.

CaliforniaBride

Thinking outside the box!

davdah

Ok, what do you mean thinking outside the box? I saw what you referenced but I don't see any correlation? Please explain. I think I know but I want to hear from you first so I don't go down the wrong road.

hcj1440

AFAIK, if you can obtain a no objection statement, you're good to go. No HRR and free to adjust status. Since hotel housekeeper doesn't sound like a government sponsored program, from my layman's perspective it looks like you should be correct, that it would not be a problem to get that no objection letter. But, I don't know squat about the specific terms of her program so that's my caveat.

I agree. If her I-94 says D/S and no one (judge, USCIS) has actually said, your status is terminated, then she is still in status (despite visa expiring, getting fired from J-1 program, etc). If still in status, then no accrual of unlawful presence, hence no 3/10 year bar if she leaves the US prior to adjusting status.

Depends on the consulate. If you're from Mexico the hardship waiver approval rate seems to be quite high (over 90% from what I hear). I have no idea about the Indonesian consulate. You would have to prove "extreme hardship" to the USC/LPR relative(s). The following link will give you an idea of the types of things that will be used to judge whether your hardship is extreme enough. (Credit to Mr F here for posting link originally, IIRC.) Please note the link is one attorney's take on hardship, not fact, and not what the consulate staff will go by.
http://www.hake.com/pc/scale.htm

Overall I guess I would say, I don't think your lawyer is necessarily ripping you off, it doesn't sound hopeless to me according to what you have presented here. But, to give you some peace of mind, I think you should ask your lawyer to explain what path she is pursuing and how, ideally, things will work out for you. Best of luck and congratulations on your upcoming marriage.

davdah

The indonesian consulate said it would be no problem for a waiver on the 2yr HRR as long as we were married when applying. The other 3/10 was what I was worried about. There was mention of her having to be found out of status since it was stamped D/S by an Immigration judge. That might be the reason the lawyer said get married now too. She may be trying to set the stage for the judge to rule in our favour when that comes around. I wish she would explain in more detail what the plan is. I have no clue. Perhaps its too early on since we haven't had the first hearing yet. Its not even on calendar at this point.

snowbunny

Step back for a minute and think of it this way.

The only real chance your fiancee has of remaining in the US -- or indeed EVER living in the US -- is if you hastily marry. If she weren't facing immigration issues, would you marry now? From her point-of-view, even if it meant a ten-year-ban, marrying and living in Indonesia mean that in ten years she could possibly return here so long as the marriage was still intact.

If you're okay with being married, are you willing to go through months of uncertainty plus some fairly substantial legal costs? Are you okay with supporting her financially in the US more or less indefinitely, even if the marriage ends, even if you live in a no-alimony state because that is what you'll have to agree to even if she receives all the required waivers or had never had a problem to begin with? Are you marrying her because she's the love of your life, or because you have an okay relationship and you would feel badly about her having to return to Indonesia?

Give yourself some time to think this through.

no-spam

Sounds like the lawyer doesn't understand j-1, thinking marriage fixes things in this situation. Regardless, if her country won't provide a no objection statement without marriage,....

No-objection waiver is pretty painless as you said. It just takes months to get through. Don't vacation or have a honeymoon outside of the country with her until she has adjusted status based on marriage. The D/S is her friend, don't lose the card.

davdah

Were repeating history here. I made the most recent post in reference to what the last couple people said after JennyMark. Just to get everyone up to speed since this is kind of a long posting. I already proposed marriage before this mess got started. She got picked up two days later. How un-romantic is that. I hadn't even given her the ring yet. I can't say I didn't know there was some immigration issue, I did know. However I didn't think it was much of anything given the situation that she had her own place, a full time job, and the other trappings of a normal life. Immigration ignorance 'was' bliss. I was wrong. It was a serious problem. It looks fixable though.

I am aware of the I-864. Ive read that several times to make sure I understand it. To be completely honest, yes I am a bit nervous. Not based on anything I see now, only on what I know can happen to people over time. Ive been there done that a few times. All marriages start out the same. They all pretty much end the same when they do end. If you question the second statement, ask a divorce attorney. There are things that can be done to mitigate the potential damage though. Those will be done. As far as waiting 10 years. To be honest I know I can't. She knows it to. I can't live in Indonesia and run my business from there. So the dilemma being if we marry and get hit with the ban, now what. But it seems the marriage is a necessary component for the waivers etc. to possibly go through.

I know she can't leave the country at all until this is all over. When I posted her bond and got all the paper work I made sure I read through everything. I didn't want to get caught up in any gotcha's

The attorney I have is an immigration specialist. She isn't too expensive compared to others Ive hired in the past. Even with that I am reading, making posting in places like this, etc to get as much incite and knowledge about this as I can. Just like any other legal realm what is codified versus what is actually done is sometimes different. That is where judical discretion comes into play.

The uncertainty is why I want to wait for the first hearing before walking down the isle. If it looks as though this will fly then we'll proceed according to plan. If it looks like its going to crash and burn then other arrangements will need to be made. Part of it to is this is her first marriage and I don't want to put her through a fiasco to have a normal life. I have no doubts about her true feelings. Given the type of work I do suspicion of people is the standing first rule. I deal with it on a daily basis.

At the moment we're in a holding pattern until the first appearance. From there I'll be able to make a clearer decision which way to go. At any rate I will keep reporting back to let everyone know what happens. This will be an educating experience for me and hopefully for others.

snowbunny

What does the attorney say regarding waiting for the first appearance before marrying? I have read backwards in the thread and am trying to find what the first appearance/hearing will regard.

davdah

To be honest Im not 100% sure except I believe it has something to do with adjustment of status. The attorney didn't give us a lot of details. The impression she was giving was not to worry about it so much. Sounded very confident in what she said. If anyone has gone through this I would like to hear from you. What has happened so far in the court room has been only the bond hearing. That was a few weeks back. Even that was a bit strange. The first time they had it the Gov attorney asked to have it continued saying they wanted to take a closer look at her case. After seeing the situations of most of the people who do get picked up I can see why. The vast majority had criminal records. If someone looks too clean I would think that would make them suspicious. If it were me I would to so I can't fault them for that.

snowbunny

Whether or not she is eligible to AOS? She may be found to be eligible but also deportable if she has no basis to AOS (eg isn't married). That's why it's important to know exactly what the hearing is about.