What do I need to do? US citizen marrying an illegal immigrant

[mbsweene]

What is the name of your state? Arkansas

I am a citizen but my girlfriend is here illegally... her parents brought her here about 7 years ago. I need to know for sure what to do after we get married in December of 2005. Her dad filed an I-130 petition in 2002 but I was told that is useless because it won't work once she gets married.

From what I've heard so far, I'll have to file the I-130 and it should take around 5 months to process from what they(some lawyers) say.

Next they'll forward the petition to the Consulate in Juarez and once we pay, they'll process their "stuff" in about 4 months. For those 4 months(or 3 to 6 months) she'll have to stay In Mexico while they process it, and once she gets approval she'll be able to come back here and work legally.

Now I need to know.... Is that all that we will have to do(and in the right order) or have a missed something? And does anyone know off the top of their head how much each petition will cost to file?

I am still trying to decide if we need a lawyer for this. From what I "Think" I understand, it should be fairly straight forward to fill out the applications... Or at least be able to get enough help from this website to avoid the huge attorney fees??
Has anyone else gone through this process and how hard was it to get approved???

Thanks everyone! Very much!

Mike

 

[dreamstar101]

us citizen marrying illegal

GA
as far as I know you get married here, and file all paperwork in US. I would get an attorney for filing.

 

[indiana_jones]

The most important issue before you can do anything is to find out how she entered the country in the first place (legally or illegally). If she entered illegally (even if she was brought here by her parents), then she can't do anything to change her status to a lawful permanent resident. If she came on a tourist visa and overstayed, or something similar, then you just need to fill out the proper paperwork after you get married.

I'm not an attorney, but just someone that's read a lot of these messages and in the middle of adjusting status. I'll say from experience that the forms are NOT always straightforward and it's a good idea to at least get an attorney to look over your forms after you fill them out to check for mistakes.

As far as the fees go, you should also consider the other expenses involved besides just the application fees. Filing all the forms will probably be somewhere between $700-800. However, she will also need to get a medical exam and probably some immunizations (between $100-200), and then there are several passport photos for both of you ($50). Obviously, if you consult an attorney, they will chage you for their services as well.

Like I said, I'm not an attorney, so someone please correct me if anything I've said is wrong. You should check out the Immigration website at www.uscis.gov as it will answer most of your questions. Good luck.

 

[waivering]

It sounds as if she entered the country illegally (without a visa). If that is the case then she does in fact need to return to Mexico in order to get a visa. She will have an interview in Mexico and will be turned down for the visa and asked to file the I-601 waiver at the interview. This needs to be turned in with a hardship letter. There is more information at this sight as of exactly what you need to do. www.immigrate2us.net

 

[lizzcannon]

Do Not Go To Mexico!!!

Be very careful! I work for an immigration attorney and we have clients that have been in the same situation as your wife and they were permanently barred from re-entering the country. While many embassies in many countries do I-601 processing w/o incidence, Juarez is an exception. Contact a good, experienced attorney, now! Make sure they are aware of Ciudad Juarez as a problem! They may have done other I-601's for clients in other countries, but the issue with Juarez is they won't process the 601's for an immigrant who was EWI, then returned to do the waiver in MX.

 

[mbsweene]

Why not go to Mexico?

If we can't go to Mexico, what other choices do we have? and by the way, she came illegally... without inspection.

Why will they turn down the I-130 and ask us to file the I-601? And if they won't process it in Juarez... from what I understand, they are the only ones who handle that sort of application. I am Royally confused now...

 

[waivering]

As long as she only entered without inspection ONCE she is okay. If you EWI more than once that is when you are not qualified to file for a waiver. Everything should be okay considering she only EWI once and on the plus side Mexico approves approximately 95% of waivers.

 

[lizzcannon]

waivering is right

Waivering is right, but the people who are being denied includes anyone who has already incurred a ban on entrance to the US and then came back EWI. If they were apprehended at the border, if they were EWI before, or if they overstayed a visa and then entered EWI they cannot return to mexico and file a waiver, not until the time of their ban has passed. (Incidently, this is not true of all embassies, so far we have only seen this as an issue with Mexico.)
Now, if she has only come in once as EWI she should be fine.

 

[Shay-Pari'e]

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=273200

 

[AHA]

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=273200

Yeah, I just noticed this one was from the same OP. Wow, there are no words......

 

[Shay-Pari'e]

Yeah, I just noticed this one was from the same OP. Wow, there are no words......

IAAL would have a good time with this if he noticed.

 

[mbsweene]

Yep... you and IAAL would love to throw a few more remarks out there, huh?

But guess what? Notice that All the people that replied to THIS post were actually helpful unlike IAAL and the rest of you who made such rude remarks recently, thank you very much. Go find a better use of your time.....