Chatham County, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

An EAD does not authorize travel and re-entry into the U.S., but instead it authorizes employment. If you simultaneously applied for an EAD and for Advance Parole (sometimes called a "travel document"), you may receive a combination EAD/AP card. Lately the USCIS has been taking about 100 days from date of filing to approve EAD/AP applications. If you travel abroad after applying for AP but before approval, you will be deemed to have abandoned that application. When you suggest that you could re-enter with your Canadian passport, essentially what you are suggesting is re-entering under "Treaty Nafta" or "TN." That is permissible only for someone who intends to stay in the U.S. only temporarily and then depart. Misuse of TN or of a visitor's visa can be deemed to constitute visa fraud and can cause some very harsh immigration-related consequences. It may be wise to plan a honeymoon at a destination inside the U.S. or to postpone plans for a honeymoon until after receipt of Advance Parole.

Generally, someone who entered the U.S. lawfully and with inspection (such as entering with an F-1 visa) may adjust status in the U.S. (without needing to go outside the U.S.) as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, notwithstanding that his visa has expired and he has unlawfully remained in the U.S. This is true regardless of whether the U.S. Citizen spouse is unemployed and has received public assistance for herself and/or her child. In cases where the U.S. Citizen spouse has insufficient documentable income to support the foreign national spouse at the required level, however, it will be necessary to have a "Joint Sponsor" for the adjustment of status application. The Joint Sponsor need not be a relative, but generally may be any U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident with sufficient income who is willing to have the responsibilities specified in the required Affidavit of Support form. There is no legal requirement for a married couple to engage an immigration lawyer to represent them in the adjustment of status process, but especially where the foreign national no longer has a valid nonimmigrant visa it would be wise to engage an immigration attorney. The adjustment of status process, including the various forms that must be filed, may look deceptively straight-forward, but there are many "traps for the unwary," and the consequences for errors may range from substantial delays to denial of applications (for a foreign national who is unlawfully present, a denial is likely to lead to the initiation of removal/deportation proceedings). Beyond errors that the couple may make, it is not uncommon for the USCIS itself to make errors that best can be addressed by an experienced immigration lawyer at the earliest possible time, when that process is least complicated and least expensive.

If you are a U.S. citizen, you may apply for your fiancee to get a K-1 fiance/fiancee visa that would authorize your fiancee to enter the U.S. and then become married to you within the required time; after becoming married you could apply for her to adjust status in the Immediate Relative visa category to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (to get a "Green Card"). It would not be permissible for your fiancee to come to the U.S. on a B1/B2 visitor's visa or through the Visa Waiver Program if it was her intention to become married and remain here permanently. That same analysis would not apply, however, if you and she genuinely have not decided whether to marry or if you and she plan to marry but genuinely have not decided to live together in the U.S. If a couple were to believe that analysis does not apply to them, then there are additional considerations to take into account at the earliest possible time regarding documentation and timing. Whether with a K-1 visa or otherwise, it would be wise to engage an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information about you, your fiancee and your goals, could advise you about immigration eligibilities, options and strategies and could offer legal representation in the application process that often is significantly more complex than it may appear.