QUESTION
If I falsely declared that I was an american when I was 15 years old in the boarder will this affect the process of taking out residence?
Asked on Jun 30th, 2014 on Immigration - Texas
More details to this question:
Good day, I have an important question. I am mexican, i have my american visa and I married an american (veteran) in december 2014. I will apply for the residence but my question is that when i was 15 years old i crossed the U.S. border with my sister and her friends who were 18 years old and all of them said that they were american citizens which they included me because they didn't want to open the back part of the car to take out the visas from the purse. As the officers checked the car then my sister said that her visa was on the back. So the officers took all of the visas away and all of them got 3 years without Being able to enter U.S.A. and I got 1 year since I was 15 years old. When the year passed my parents took out my visa without any problem and supposedly nothing was registered because I was 15 years old. Will i have a problem to take out my residence because of this? I will wait for your answer. Thanks
1 ANSWER
Immigration and Nationality Law Attorney serving New York, NY
Partner at
Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Attorneys at Law
3 Awards
Your story is strange indeed as the penalty for misrepresenting oneself as a US citizen is a lifetime bar. It is more likely that the border officers decided to scare three girls by unilaterally stating penalties of three and one year. I suspect that none of this was officially put on anybody's record. So I doubt that you would ever have a problem with this encounter when you are interviewed for permanent residence based on your marriage to a US citizen. 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.
Answered on Jul 26th, 2014 at 11:50 AM