Green Card

[Flowers]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
I am asking for a neighbor.

A couple, both from Colombia married here about 7 years ago. They have a 6 year old daughter born in the USA.

The husband has a green card but she is here illegally, overstayed. Is there any way that he can help her get a green card. They are afraid that she will be made to go back to Colombia and then what will happen with the child with her father working.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[evcalyptos]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
I am asking for a neighbor.

A couple, both from Colombia married here about 7 years ago. They have a 6 year old daughter born in the USA.

The husband has a green card but she is here illegally, overstayed. Is there any way that he can help her get a green card. They are afraid that she will be made to go back to Colombia and then what will happen with the child with her father working.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

They should be afraid; she could be picked up anywhere, anytime and she should be careful. Policies are changing.

The husband is a Permanent Resident. As such, he is eligible to sponsor his spouse for a green card also. However, there is a long wait currently for a 'visa number' (green card number if you will) to be available.

There are several options. The first question is why did the wife not get a green card when her husband did? If they were married when he got it, she should have. If they married after he got it, she would not.

There is no wait for a visa number for the spouse of a US citizen. The normal strategy in your neighbor's situation is to naturalize to US citizenship. His wife's green card application can then be submitted and her overstay will be forgiven.
He would normally be eligible to naturalize after 5 years as a PR, so if you want to help them, they need some more dates etc.

This may be way more than you want to get involved with. There certainly could be more to the story than what you have so far. People have a natural embarrassment at discussing immigration status and it's very complicated. Language barriers compound the problem.
You may help the the most by locating a group like Catholic Charities, which help immigrants navigate the system in a safe and extremely low cost way.

 

[Flowers]

Green card

Thank you evcalyptos for your reply. Yes, it is true that I do not know the complete story I am sure.

I will let them know what you have told me. The people I wrote about are actually my neighbor's daughter and son in law. I also wonder why she did not get her green card at the same time and there is probably more to this than I want to get involved with. It can get very complicated.

Again, thank you.

Flowers

 

[evcalyptos]

Thank you evcalyptos for your reply. Yes, it is true that I do not know the complete story I am sure.

I will let them know what you have told me. The people I wrote about are actually my neighbor's daughter and son in law. I also wonder why she did not get her green card at the same time and there is probably more to this than I want to get involved with. It can get very complicated.

Again, thank you.

Flowers

You're welcome; it's very kind of you to try to help them.

There is no shortage of immigrant assistance groups in NY; post back if you're having trouble finding one, but that is probably the best thing for them. It is entirely possible that there is no solution to their situation and they already know that, or that they just need some help getting the details sorted out.
Fingers crossed for a happy ending for everyone.

 

[Flowers]

Thank you again. I will tell them what you have said and let them take it from there.
You are also very kind.

Flowers