Bryan County, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

Congratulations upon being approved for your "Green Card." Immigration authorities do not reveal to the public (or to immigration lawyers) the exact databases they access for various purposes, including screening Permanent Residents when they enter the U.S., but those databases and resources are very extensive and do reveal criminal matters despite "nolle prosequi" dispositions and even expungements and court orders to seal files. Generally, Permanent Residents become eligible to petition to become naturalized U.S. citizens after 5 years of Permanent Resident status (3 years for most people married to U.S. Citizens), and of course those petitions may be filed 90 days before the end of the 5-year or 3-year period. Once becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, details about the 2009 arrest will become irrelevant and you should not be questioned about it upon entering the country.

Generally, if a foreign national entered the U.S. unlawfully and without inspection, he/she is ineligible to apply for adjustment of status in the U.S., and instead must go outside the U.S. and "consular process." If the foreign has remained unlawfully presenting in the U.S. for more than a year, however, he/she may be subject to a very harsh 10-year bar to re-entering. A statute known as "Section 245(i)" provides an exception for certain foreign nationals who entered the U.S. unlawfully (or otherwise violated certain immigration rules). Among the requirements for 245(i) eligibility are that the foreign national must have been physically present in the U.S. on December 21, 2000 (or, in some circumstances, on January 14, 1998), and must have had an immigration filed for him/her on or before April 30, 2001. There really is no substitute for you and your U.S. Citizen 23-year-old child to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information, could advise about eligibilities, options and strategies to attain your goals, and who then could offer legal representation in the often complex application process.

In connection with your first question about proving the relationship between you and your father, the USCIS will require a certified copy of your birth certificate with identification of your parents. Beyond that, evidence of your father's role in your life may include photographs, affidavits, school records, residential leases, etc. In connection with your second question, an adult U.S. citizen may petition for a biological father and the biological father's wife (the step-mother of the U.S. citizen), where both the father and step-mother reside abroad, through consular processing, including an application for the father as the primary beneficiary and an application for the step-mother as a derivative beneficiary. Of course, eligibility involves many items beyond proof of relationship, and the application process can be significantly more complex than it may appear from reading the relevant forms and their instructions. It would be wise for you, your father and your step-mother to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant details, could advise about eligibilities, options and strategies, and then could offer legal representation in the application process.