Zolfo Springs, FL Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The soonest you can apply for citizenship will be January 15, 2015--five years after returning from your long trip (and this assumes you don't exeed 180 days outside the US between now and then).  If any trip between now and then exceeds 90 days, you'll also have to start counting the five years over again.  Finally, remember that any long trips outside the US risk loss of your permanent resident status.

Question 23 on part 12, page 14 of theN-400 naturalization application asks whether you have ever been arrested, cited, or detained by any law enforcement officer (including any immigration official or any official of the US Armed Forces) for any reason? That would seemingly include your traffic accident with alcohol. Although the naturalization officer may look at the offense again – if your immigrant file shows the fact that you received the immigrant visa despite your disclosure of the offense previously, that likely means that he or she will not look at it that closely in terms of inadmissibility as a crime or other ground of inadmissibility. More of a concern may be whether you have made a misrepresentation in your naturalization application which could lead to a finding of ineligibility for not having good moral character. Such may depend upon the officer’s perception of your forthrightness at the interview and whether the officer gave you a chance to correct your account, and whether you were forthright in doing so. If you continually denied that you had any incident with the law and the officer had to in effect drag it out of you, the officer may consider whether a misrepresentation was made. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (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.

I would recommend you consult with a lawyer before you venture into filing a petition for your husband. You want to make sure that he does qualify before you file any paperwork with immigration. If you file a petition for him and he does not qualify, he will be put in deportation proceedings and it may be very difficult to keep him here after that. First you must make sure he entered with inspection, if he did not, he will not be able to have residency unless he leaves the country. It is usually very difficult to be allowed to return. If your husband does qualify, then you must make sure that you send all the appropriate applications and more importantly, all the supporting documents. You could do the process without an attorney, but it is not recommended. I have come across cases where I have decided to not send to immigration certain photos or other evidence because even though it is legitimate, it does look good or may be questioned. An experienced attorney in this area of law will be very helpful to you and your husband.