AW1973

Hi all... I'm hoping for some non-judgemental advice and information from you. Please bear with me, as I am new to this process and have NO idea where to turn for advice or direction. Further, I'm scared that the options may not be as easy as I'd like. Here's my situation:

My boyfriend came here to the states (from the UK) on a student visa in 1989, and earned a PhD in Computer Science. After completing some work in the field, he left the field from boredom and distaste for the stodginess of corporate life. Since then, he has been employed as a "silent partner" in several NYC-area pubs. He loves the business and makes a solid living.... PROBLEM: The reason he is a "silent" partner is because he is out of status with the INS.

We are very much in love and would like to eventually be married; however, we are trying to find out our options for sorting out his status in the meantime. Neither one of us wants to jump into marriage to bail us out of this problem, and I'm not sure that -- since he is currently out of status -- it can be done anyway. Ideally, we'd like to find a way for him to be legal here, and then get engaged and married properly when we both feel the timing is right. This, of course, may be too much to ask, and I realize that! We will do what we need to do... but right now both of us are scared and don't know where to turn.

PLEASE give me some solid advice here and help me understand our options. He deeply regrets staying here illegally, and feel as if his immaturity and short-sightedness may now endanger our future together. I don't know if it will or not, since I've never dealt with the INS before.

I look forward to your comments, and would appreciate your holding your fire and judgement ... we both realize this situation was created by his own decisions (poor ones), but at this point we just want to fix it if we can, move on and start fresh.

Thoughts??

Thanks in advance!

Konstantin Loguinov

More experienced experts may correct me, but it seems to me that the only
way out of this situation is marriage. He's been out of status way too long
and is probably looking at a 10 year ban.

Hope I'm wrong for your sake.

K

"AW1973" wrote in message
news:444415.1034702927@britishexpats-
.com...
    > Hi all... I'm hoping for some non-judgemental advice and information
    > from you. Please bear with me, as I am new to this process and have NO
    > idea where to turn for advice or direction. Further, I'm scared that
    > the options may not be as easy as I'd like. Here's my situation:
    > My boyfriend came here to the states (from the UK) on a student visa in
    > 1989, and earned a PhD in Computer Science. After completing some work
    > in the field, he left the field from boredom and distaste for the
    > stodginess of corporate life. Since then, he has been employed as a
    > "silent partner" in several NYC-area pubs. He loves the business and
    > makes a solid living.... PROBLEM: The reason he is a "silent" partner is
    > because he is out of status with the INS.
    > We are very much in love and would like to eventually be married;
    > however, we are trying to find out our options for sorting out his
    > status in the meantime. Neither one of us wants to jump into marriage
    > to bail us out of this problem, and I'm not sure that -- since he is
    > currently out of status -- it can be done anyway. Ideally, we'd like to
    > find a way for him to be legal here, and then get engaged and married
    > properly when we both feel the timing is right. This, of course, may be
    > too much to ask, and I realize that! We will do what we need to do...
    > but right now both of us are scared and don't know where to turn.
    > PLEASE give me some solid advice here and help me understand our
    > options. He deeply regrets staying here illegally, and feel as if
    > his immaturity and short-sightedness may now endanger our future
    > together. I don't know if it will or not, since I've never dealt
    > with the INS before.
    > I look forward to your comments, and would appreciate your holding your
    > fire and judgement ... we both realize this situation was created by his
    > own decisions (poor ones), but at this point we just want to fix it if
    > we can, move on and start fresh.
    > Thoughts??
    > Thanks in advance!
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Sylvia Ottemoeller

"AW1973" wrote in message
news:444415.1034702927@britishexpats-
.com...

    > Hi all... I'm hoping for some non-judgemental advice and information
    > from you. Please bear with me, as I am new to this process and have NO
    > idea where to turn for advice or direction. Further, I'm scared that
    > the options may not be as easy as I'd like. Here's my situation:
    > My boyfriend came here to the states (from the UK) on a student visa in
    > 1989, and earned a PhD in Computer Science. After completing some work
    > in the field, he left the field from boredom and distaste for the
    > stodginess of corporate life.

Did his status change from F-1 to H-1B? It may make a difference, because
F-1 status holders generally do not have a date certain on their I-94, and
H-1B status holders do. When a person overstays a date certain, he or she
becomes subject to the 3 and 10 year bars. See
http://www.shusterman.com/up-eos.h-
tml.

If he did not overstay a date certain, then he is theoretically not subject
to the 10 year bar. An employer could now get an H-1B petition approved on
his behalf based on a job offer in the field of his degree (he would have to
join that dreaded corporate life again), and he could leave the U.S., obtain
an H-1B visa stamp in his passport, and re-enter the U.S. in H-1B status.
Then you and he would have up to 6 years to avoid "jumping into marriage."
(He would only be able to work for the H-1B employer.)

However, since various employees of the INS and the State Department may not
understand the subtleties of the 3 and 10 year bar with respect to I-94s
endorsed "D/S" he may be taking some risk anyway, in leaving the U.S.

Since then, he has been employed as a
    > "silent partner" in several NYC-area pubs. He loves the business and
    > makes a solid living.... PROBLEM: The reason he is a "silent" partner is
    > because he is out of status with the INS.
    > We are very much in love and would like to eventually be married;
    > however, we are trying to find out our options for sorting out his
    > status in the meantime. Neither one of us wants to jump into marriage
    > to bail us out of this problem, and I'm not sure that -- since he is
    > currently out of status -- it can be done anyway.

Assuming you are a U.S. citizen, it may be the only thing that *can* be
done.

Ideally, we'd like to
    > find a way for him to be legal here, and then get engaged and married
    > properly when we both feel the timing is right. This, of course, may be
    > too much to ask, and I realize that! We will do what we need to do...
    > but right now both of us are scared and don't know where to turn.

I would suggest that you two select a good immigration attorney, and sit
down and have a thorough discussion of the situation, right away.

    > PLEASE give me some solid advice here and help me understand our
    > options. He deeply regrets staying here illegally, and feel as if
    > his immaturity and short-sightedness may now endanger our future
    > together. I don't know if it will or not, since I've never dealt
    > with the INS before.
    > I look forward to your comments, and would appreciate your holding your
    > fire and judgement ... we both realize this situation was created by his
    > own decisions (poor ones), but at this point we just want to fix it if
    > we can, move on and start fresh.
    > Thoughts??

Assuming you are a U.S. citizen, you and he may get married, and then
together you may file Forms I-130/I-485/I-765 at the INS district office for
your residence. Because he is married to a U.S. citizen, the requirement
(with respect to filing Form I-485) that he have maintained continuous
lawful status, and never have worked unauthorized, is waived. The day that
INS accepts these forms for filing, his status becomes lawful. The same
day, or up to a few weeks later, he may obtain work authorization.

You can read up on this at the docsteen site, and post your questions to the
alt.visa.us.marriage-based newsgroup.