Florida Immigration Legal Questions

Whether your cousin can wait for her residence here when her stepfather files for her depends upon a few things. First, is he a US citizen or permanent resident? Being a US citizen has a couple of advantages in a shorter waiting period and the ability to sponsor immediate relatives (spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21 and unmarried) and have them adjust status in the US if they entered legally and are not otherwise barred from immigrating to this country. Second, is  when the stepchild relationship was created. The immigration laws recognize the stepparent – stepchild relationship for immigration purposes only if the marriage creating the step relationship occurred prior to the child turning the age of 18. Third is the age and visa status of your cousin – if the above conditions are fulfilled and your cousin under the age of 21 at the time that the I-485 adjustment of status papers are filed, your cousin would be allowed to stay during the time of the adjudication. If 21 or older at the time of contemplated filing, her stepfather would only be able to file an I-130 petition for alien relative, and she would only be able to stay legally if she had a valid nonimmigrant status during the period of waiting which would be approximately 7-8 years. On the question of travel, there are two answers – if she is eligible for adjustment of status through form I-485 and such is filed, she would only be able to leave the country and reenter under advance parole or a nonimmigrant visa in the H or L categories. If not eligible to adjust but the step relationship is established before the age of 18 and the stepfather files an I-130 petition for alien relative, she could be allowed to travel to the US for short and infrequent visits during the pendency of her case under a B visiting visa. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read More

Generally I believe that there are no outstanding consequences for people who never registered for selective service, especially if done unwittingly. We have many applicants for naturalization who never registered – some who did not know of the need to register and others who did but failed to do so. The period of good moral character is five years, and the time to register expires at the age of 26. Therefore any person who is 31 will generally be naturalized as having had good moral character for five years if he or she has not had an incident involving bad moral character within the five years.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read More

You should hire a lawyer that can work on your case and try to prevent the removal and most likely a ban. When you say coming up with the money is a challenge, is that for attorney fees or government fees? If its attorney fees you are stressed about than my office does offer low-cost affordable payment plans. If its the government fee than there is nothing we can do about that. However, please do feel free to contact us to discuss your case. Please keep in mind that not all lawyers are the same, therefore be very cautious as to which attorney or law firm you chose to work with. We are based in New York but my network of SMS ATTORNEYS does travel out of state for clients. If you would like to retain our services while on a limited budget, do let us know and we will try to do our best to offer payment plans option. Feel free to give us a call for a free consultation. Ahsan Syed answer and comments to questions are for general purposes only and do not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship with SMS ATTORNEYS without a signed retainer. Thank You. Toll-Free 1-877-866-8665 // Immigration Lawyer in FL.... Read More

The general rule is that one can’t adjust status from a crewman visa to get a green card through marriage. Had you married your ex and then applied for a visa at the consulate in South Africa that may have resulted in success or had u applied for a fiancé visa and then entered the states and got married. Without knowing all the facts and issues of the case, that is my guess. You need to retain counsel to review all the documents and look at all the evidence to form a proper opinion and strategy. ... Read More

Honesty is the best policy here. There is no guarantee that you will be given a tourist visa since such is given in the discretion of a US consular officer, but you appear to have changed your life and have more reasons to return to the home country. Ties and bonds with the home country are usually determinative factors in B1/B2 visa determinations. Good luck! Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read More

If u overstayed your visa u may be subject to the ten year bar. If your child wants to petition u for a green card that is possible, but u would have to file a waiver of inadmissibility to overcome the immigration bar. You should hire counsel to review your case and plot out the best strategy for a successful application.... Read More

Generally speaking, someone in the US on an expired visa can purchase a ticket and return to the home country without too much trouble if no other factors are involved. He or she may have to fill out some information at the airport, but DHS will generally not stop anybody wanting to depart the US who has overstayed the visa.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  ... Read More