I'm not sure how to do this..?

[guerita]

well i just need some information and didn't know where to put it. My boyfriend is illegal and he's been in the US for 3 years. His whole family is but they all work and we live in a nice house everything is going good. But I would love to marry him because mainly and most importantly i love him but we want a better life too, so we would like his papers fixed. yes i have read many things about because he did come here illegally it causes more problems. and he has court records that he's been here too because of traffic violations. we really just need someones help and all the other forums on different sites tell us to come here. so can someone just please help..and im new here so i don't even know how to check it or anything..thank you

[angela256z]

Well to help we need to know more about the situation.

Where is he from? Has he been to this country more than this one time and when? Ever case is different and so it is hard to determine what you need to do. Number one is that you need to get married you can not do anything for him to fix his papers if you are not married, but depending on his situation he may be able to do it himself, but that is very un-likly. Let us know more about the situation and we can try to help. Most cases are...

Fill out the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative....Once that is approved he will then get an appointment in his home country. He would have to return home for the appointment in which he will be denied his visa due to more than 1 year in the US. You will then submit a I-601 (or I-212 if there has been a deportation) and you must prove extreme hardship. They will review your case and if approved he can return to the US with a Visa, Green card and get a social.

Now that process above is very standard, but may not work for you depending on your whole situation. You may want to consult a lawyer about the situation. That is your best bet, but if you give us more info we may be able to direct you on where to start.

[Azul y Vampy]

angela256z: "Number one is that you need to get married you can not do anything for him to fix his papers if you are not married, but depending on his situation he may be able to do it himself, but that is very un-likly."

Not completely true. You can petition for your fiancee, without having to get married first. You can do this by filing I-129F, but after he gets his fiancee visa (I think it's a K-3 visa), they give you a certain timeframe to get married, If you do not get married within that time, his visa will be removed.
-Azul

[Laura]

Just so you know guerita you can actually file before getting married, it would just be a different petition. It's debatable whether it's easier to get approved when it's a spouse or a fiance.

Basically he will be ineligible for a visa, but hopefully eligible for the I-601 waiver of his inadmissibility. The major complications with the waiver are if he has any sort of criminal history (traffic violations shouldn't matter, but a DUI would) or has entered the U.S. more than once. The number of times he entered, when those entries were, and how long he stayed all matter.

If he has only entered the U.S. one time and has no criminal record he should be eligible for the waiver and the pilot program (if he's filing through CDJ - is he from Mexico?). The pilot program allows many people to get an approval in about a week, where many of us have been separated from our spouses for a year or more while they wait in Mexico for a decision on the waiver.

Please provide a little more info. Good luck!

[angela256z]

Not completely true. You can petition for your fiancee, without having to get married first. You can do this by filing I-129F, but after he gets his fiancee visa (I think it's a K-3 visa), they give you a certain timeframe to get married, If you do not get married within that time, his visa will be removed.
-Azul

Azul and Laurafern are right about that. I forgot about that one since I am not taking that step. You can do the Fiance petition, but you might as well get married since you love him and want to do this and then you can submit both the I-130 and the I-129F and work with which ever gets approved first. That is another way you can go.

[Adriane]

It might actually be faster to apply as a fiancee- if you apply as a spouse, you must first file the I-130, wait for a NOA1, then file the I-129f, wait for an approval and then wait for your scheduled interview. As a fiancee, you just send in the I-129f and as soon as it's approved, you can go for an interview- you don't have to wait for an appointment date.

I know this is confusing now- but it will all start to make sense.

Laurafern is right- this is all assuming he'll be eligible for the I-601 waiver.

If he entered the US more than once after 1997, he is NOT eligible. If he used fake papers that said he was a US citizen or lied and said he was a US citizen when he entered (not for work), he is NOT eligible. If he has a conviction for posession of drugs or weapons, he is NOT eligible.


I should back up. If none of the above 3 things are true, he is banned from entering the US for 10 years for his illegal presence of over 1 year. The ban is waiveable with an I-601 waiver that establishes hardship to his US citizen spouse or fiance. Marriage to you does not immediately fix his legal status.

You'll have to apply for him, either as a spouse or a fiance. If you are married, you will file the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. If you are engaged, you will need to file the I-129f Petition for Alien Fiance(e). If you are married, you can also file the I-129f for your Spouse, after your I-130 has been recieved- many of us are doing that to result in a faster interview date.

Once your I-129f or I-130 has been approved, you will go to the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for your interview. if you are married, you will have to wait for an appointment date. If you are engaged, you can go any time after the approval.

The interview is for his visa- and he will be denied based on his illegal entry and presence. But if he doesn't have any of the above exculsions, he'll be eligible to file the I-601 waiver, which will waive his ban period.

The waiver is based on the extreme hardship that you, his spouse or future spouse, will face if his visa is denied and you are forced to live in his country. In addition to the I-601 form, you will need to write a Hardship Letter, in which you explain the extreme hardship. Your letter (we call them HSLs) must explain and include evidence of your hardship- there are numerous examples int he I-601 section. It's important to note that your hardship must be more than financial and it must be to you- not your Alien spouse/ fiance.

There is a new program, called the Pilot Program, which was started in march that allows you to file your waiver the day after your interview and in many cases they will make a decision and issue you your visa the same day. The rest of us who filed before March when the program started are in the backlog- that's why it shows that we've been waiting so long for approvals on our I-601. The wait times for waivers filed before the Pilot program are about 12 months.

If your case is strong enough, you can get approved same-day. If not, you will be added to the back-log with us. It's not a denial outright- but your spouse/ fiance MUST wait outside the US until his visa is issued- if he tries to come back, that will void his chances at a visa or a waiver for 10 years.

Does this make sense?

[Laura]

Excellent explanation Adriane.

[guerita]

well his family has had their papers in since 2000 but nothing has happened yet..but him and his family have been here for 3 years...he has never left then came back he came and stayed in the US. but his family and him did come here illegally, they don't have a vica or anything. they walked here. im just scared with this whole process, which i don't really understand, will end up going wrong and he'll have to stay in mexico. now also i really don't have any hardships that i couldnt live there. i don't know if this is enough information for you to help me a little more. thank you!!!