Hillburn, NY Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers | Page 6 Results

F2B waiting time now is 6.5 years (unless you are from Mexico or Philippines, in which case it is 21 or 11 years, respectively). Your presence in the U.S. does not give your case any preference. Moreover, you have to be very careful with your status. First, remember that waiting for an immigrant visa does not give you the right to be in the U.S. or to accept employment. You need to maintain a non-immigrant visa and leave the U.S. promptly if your status ends. Overstaying or working without authorization will cause problems at your interview for an immigrant visa (or for adjustment of status - if your priority date becomes current while you are in the U.S.). If you overstay for 6 months, you will have to live outside the U.S. for 3 years before becoming eligible to enter on any visa or as an immigrant. An overstay for 1 year will bar you from the U.S. for 10 years. So, be careful! Second, filing of an immigrant petition can undermine your ability to obtain or renew a non-immigrant visa. By law, an applicant for admission to the U.S. as a non-immigrant must prove that he/she has no "immigrant intent", i.e., has no intention to become a permanent resident of the U.S. This requirement is very hard to satisfy after the government receives papers asking it to give you exactly that status. Even if a U.S. consul in your country gives you a visa, an immigration inspector at the airport can deny you admission and send you back home. For this reason, you should consider staying in the U.S. while your status permits and change status, if necessary, without leaving the U.S. If you must cross the border, be prepared to demonstrate that your ties to your home country are so strong that you truly intend to return there at the end of your non-immigrant status - despite your parents' residence in the U.S. and your own plans to immigrate to the U.S. when your time comes.

A person who previously was married in Mexico certainly can become married in the U.S. to a U.S. Citizen. It is necessary, however, for the first marriage to become formally terminated, such as through a valid divorce, or through death of the first spouse. Appropriate documentary evidence of the termination of the first marriage, before the date of the second marriage, would be among the required papers required in an Adjustment of Status application process.