Our deportation story

[bubble]

Im reposting this here....I think more people might view it

I need to get this out there in its entirety. I will greatly appreciate any feedback.

My Fiance (at the time, we are married now) entered the US on a visa waiver in 2000. He is a British national and holds a British passport. He returned to England within the 3-month visa period. He did this once again. He was about 20 years old at the time, out of the house and thought, "how cool, I can just buy a ticket and go to America!". The third time he did this, he just stayed. Which leads us to the predicament we're in right now.

In March 2007, he was on a truck accompanying a friend, returning from an expo. Because they had "merchandise", they had to stop at a weigh station. At this point everyone's credentials were checked. His showed up as being in the country illegally by overstaying. He was detained, hancuffed, put in to the local jail for 3 nights and consequently transferred to a transtional center. He was held there for 2 months before being finally sent home. (it took 2 months because his passport had expired and the that's how long it took the British Embassy to get him a new one) He was deported. He didn't have the right to claim a hearing before a judge or ask for voluntary departure. He had "waived" his rights for any of these things when he came in to the country on a visa waiver...thus the name...hmmm

We met in Sep 2004, immediately started dating and fell crazily in love. He was actually going to leave that year, but didnt because of us. Time went by and we were engaged in late 2006.

When he was deported, I had my parmanent residency (green card). I applied for my citizenship and was naturalized in Feb 2008. We got married in March 2008.

Although I am not going to delve in to proving the authenticity of our relationship or the goodness his moral character, I do need to add here that he does not have any convictions, felonies or legal complications of such nature.

So, at this point, I am a USC married to a British man who was deported and received a 10 year ban. We are both 30 years of age and want to start a family soon. Neither of us have been married before or have children. I pretty much grew up in the US. My grandparents, parents, siblings(2) are all USCs.

I do not have any sort of illness, atleast none which I can use as grounds for extreme hardship without him. Basically, I may have a couple of level 3 and a couple of level 4 aguments at best.

I would greatly appreciate any input. However, my main confusion right now is when and where to file the I-130, I-212 and the I-601. (Actually, I do know NOW that the !-212 does not get filed before the I-601)

My apologies for making this unbearably long, but in a sense this is my first time where I have openly been able to tell my story without the fear of bearing the stigma of "deportation".

[Luckysprite]

Breathe -- thanks for sharing your story. I think many of us here feel the relief when we can finally start 'talking' about our cases with people - as really - the main stream population and even our own friends and family members are not the greatest source of comfort or support with these particular issues.

The first step in this all - the I130 .... you can find the forms and instructions at www.uscis.gov

Along with the I130 - you need to send (among other things) the G-325A - and this too can be found on the website above.

A very brief overview -- after that is approved - your case will go to the National Visa Center for more paperwork, forms and fees before finally getting sent to the consulate for his interview. After his denial at the interview (for the overstay, deportation) he can file the I212 and I-601.

[momof1]

Thanks for sharing that. We're all here to support you. Isn't it great to finally be in the company of people who know what you're going through?

[Laura]

Welcome!

Thanks for sharing your story. You definitely want to file the I-130 asap, wait for approval, go through the NVC process, and eventually he will have an interview in London. At the time of the interview he will submit the I-601 and the I-212 along with a packet of evidence that you (or your attorney if you hire one) will put together to prove the extreme hardship you will suffer if he's barred for ten years.

London is a mixed bag for approvals. You will need a strong packet but because it's just overstay and not criminal or misrepresentation they should be a little easier.

Take some time to read the guide in my signature. It's geared toward someone who EWI, but basically now that your spouse has left, the end result is the same (10-year ban) so the way the paperwork goes is essentially the same).

Also take some time to read the sticky posts about the hardship letter/packet and other people's experiences here.

[itznenny]

Bubble, your story is so close to mine I can hardly believe it. My husband and I were 21 when he decided to stay, and because he was stopped on a greyhound bus coming back from a little trip to NY, he is back in Ireland with a 10 yr ban facing him. I have filed the I-130 and am waiting for approval, and all the rest of the paperwork and fees that come after. Good luck to you, it's so great to hear other people with similar stories, if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here, we're pretty much in the same boat! Good luck to you and your husband xoxo

[bubble]

MuaaaHH! :grouphug:
You guys are so great...Thank you! It truly is so inspiring to have so much guidance and support.
My lawyer, or my former lawyer at this point, told me that the I-130 was the last thing to be filed!!
Itznenny...I read your story the first day I had signed on and said the same thing to myself, we really do have pretty much the same story.
Although it feels like I'm starting from square one, I am so determined and confident. I know I don't have just one opinion from a voice on the phone, but several.
I-130....here I come! :plane:

[ukgirl27]

So sorry to hear your story.....I am kind of in the same boat, I am from England and overstayed, and we had our I-130 approved but had to file and I-601 and after waiting 20 months we just got the denial letter 5 days ago. I am actually in the USA right now, in Chicago but will have to leave shortly because they will start deportation proceedings against me and I don't want that to happen:( I am going to try and re-file in London but i don't know how long it will take:( We don't have children either...we wanted to get this sorted out before starting a family!

Where are you located? I would try and get a lawyer near you so you can have a sit down meeting or a good one on the referral of this board but it can get expensive so just be warned. We didn't do our I-601 with a lawyer because we don't have any major hardships either...My husband is healthy and so are his family....

The thing i love most about this board is that you are with people that understand and sometimes that within itself is a relief!

[SCruzinSC]

Thanks for sharing that. We're all here to support you. Isn't it great to finally be in the company of people who know what you're going through?

Yes! I am so grateful for finding this website this week. I have felt so alone in our immigration situation and often afraid to talk to anyone about it for fear of the stigma. My husband is wonderful, but I found that many people haven't been willing to give him a chance. It's like he wears a big scarlet EWI on his chest. I have one other friend in the same situation and I plan on telling her about this site as soon as she gets back from visiting her deported husband in Mexico!

[momof1]

Yes! I am so grateful for finding this website this week. I have felt so alone in our immigration situation and often afraid to talk to anyone about it for fear of the stigma. My husband is wonderful, but I found that many people haven't been willing to give him a chance. It's like he wears a big scarlet EWI on his chest. I have one other friend in the same situation and I plan on telling her about this site as soon as she gets back from visiting her deported husband in Mexico!

my problem with people is that they just dont understand the process. They still think that if you marry a citizen you become a citizen the same day. I've had to get really tough with people and their snide comments. Most people have been extremely supportive and sympathetic. My parents once told me that it wasn't their fault that he used a fake passport. I reminded them of what happened to him in Algeria and that eh came to the US for his life and that if he stayed in algeria he may have been killed. I let them know if they ever said anything like that again I would NEVER EVER speak to them. I hung up the phone and didnt speak to them for two weeks. I received an apology and they have never said it again. Their relationship has actually become closer during this ordeal.

[bubble]

UKgirl, I am sorry to hear about the denied waiver. Can you file an appeal? The VWP is probably making things complicated. You've been here about as long long as my husband was, and that's a long time to live somewhere. You have family and friends here, you drive on the other side of the road, the language...so many things.
Is your husband planning to move to the UK with you?
Also, I completely agree, my mental sanity has improved greatly since I found this website. Just knowing that there is this network of people out there who totally understand what you are going through is tremendous support in itself.

On a lighter note, I like the way you did your timeline....I must create one soon. Its so easy for someone to figure out where you are by just glancing at it.

Good luck

[Blackrain76]

Hi Bubble and all of you who are in the same situation.

I have finally found people who have the same problem as mine.
No Hardships,No sickness no nothing. Just a simple overstay.

I am from the U.K. Been in the U.S.A. since 1994 i was an LPR right until march of this year 2008. Now i have finally become a U.S.C.

I am 32 the wife is 28 and we have three beautiful children 6,5,3.
Two out of the three are American born and the other one is British.

Got married to my wife in 1999 whilst she was on vacation here in Orlando, we have been married since then so u can obviously see the strength of the marital bond we share.

She overstayed her Visa for 4 years.

We were having financial problems and the wife was always getting sick so we decided to leave for a while.

We went back to the U.K and found out that it was almost impossible for me to live there after having made Florida my home for a good portion of my life.

To cut long storys short, she had her interview in London and was denied her Visa and we had to file an I601.

I did it myself because i had no money at the time.

Her waiver got denied, COULD YOU BELIEVE,
They actually wrote back to me telling me that i did not have to suffer without my family and if i went back to the U.K it would save me a lot of aggravation and stress and i would be able to save money and give my family a good life instead of spending all the money going back and forth to see them. !!!!!!!!!!!!! They bluntly wrote that i had a British passport and i did not have to suffer like this without my family in the U.S. LOL (I am laughing now but back then i was pissed)

I was shocked because i did not expect to hear those statements from them.

Anyway, it has been over a year since she was denied she is still in England, i am in Florida,my marriage is going downhill,kids are traumatized, education is messed up etc,etc.

I have not filed cause LAURELL SCOTT has offered to do it for no less than $10,000 and the lawyer here in Miami does not know what the hell is going on.! (she charges $2.000)

I don't know what the hell to do anymore. Maybe go back save my marriage and live to fight another day the only problem is that the other day will only come after the 6 remaining years left on her damn penalty...!

lol take care and please advise..if you can.

[irishmo89]

Good luck bubble but know that you are in the right place with this site. My husband has an overstay and we went through London. He was approved in June and arrived back in the states last week (yea!!!). As for your waiver - start pulling everything together...we don't have children (yet) and have no serious medcial hardships. It takes some serious thinking but don't leave any stone unturned. File the I-130 now as that took the longest for us....
Edit:
My lawyer received a letter before my huband did that our I601 was approved.. There is a visa cust svc line that either you or he can call and they might give you more information...however the call must be placed from within the UK. We received the writtin notifcation in about 10 days after the post on their website with instructions on mailing the passport to get the visa. Good luck...
__________________
Married in N. Ireland June 22, 2006
Filed I-130 July 12, 2006
I-130 Approved May 7, 2007
DS-230 - Oct 2007
Interview in London - Feb 27. 2008
Waiver filed - March 4, 2008
Waiver approved - June 23rd
Husband coming home - Aug 6th

[Blackrain76]

Hi
Just wanted to ask
how do i refile the i601 it has been a year since we have been denied for a simple overstay.?

[ukgirl27]

Hi Bubble and all of you who are in the same situation.

I have finally found people who have the same problem as mine.
No Hardships,No sickness no nothing. Just a simple overstay.

I am from the U.K. Been in the U.S.A. since 1994 i was an LPR right until march of this year 2008. Now i have finally become a U.S.C.

I am 32 the wife is 28 and we have three beautiful children 6,5,3.
Two out of the three are American born and the other one is British.

Got married to my wife in 1999 whilst she was on vacation here in Orlando, we have been married since then so u can obviously see the strength of the marital bond we share.

She overstayed her Visa for 4 years.

We were having financial problems and the wife was always getting sick so we decided to leave for a while.

We went back to the U.K and found out that it was almost impossible for me to live there after having made Florida my home for a good portion of my life.

To cut long storys short, she had her interview in London and was denied her Visa and we had to file an I601.

I did it myself because i had no money at the time.

Her waiver got denied, COULD YOU BELIEVE,
They actually wrote back to me telling me that i did not have to suffer without my family and if i went back to the U.K it would save me a lot of aggravation and stress and i would be able to save money and give my family a good life instead of spending all the money going back and forth to see them. !!!!!!!!!!!!! They bluntly wrote that i had a British passport and i did not have to suffer like this without my family in the U.S. LOL (I am laughing now but back then i was pissed)

I was shocked because i did not expect to hear those statements from them.

Anyway, it has been over a year since she was denied she is still in England, i am in Florida,my marriage is going downhill,kids are traumatized, education is messed up etc,etc.

I have not filed cause LAURELL SCOTT has offered to do it for no less than $10,000 and the lawyer here in Miami does not know what the hell is going on.! (she charges $2.000)

I don't know what the hell to do anymore. Maybe go back save my marriage and live to fight another day the only problem is that the other day will only come after the 6 remaining years left on her damn penalty...!

lol take care and please advise..if you can.

OMG, it is unbelieveable what Immigration says. They basically put on my denial letter that because my husband is a USC he wis not being deported but if he chooses to leave the USA to be with me then that is his choice!! I couldn't believe it when i read that. Lawyer fees are ridiculous too. I mean, if i were rich then it wouldn't be a problem but we are far from rich and now i have to go back to England in a couple of months and try and figure out what we are going to do.

We don't have children, you do and she still got denied, this is what i don't understand....the system is so messed up...then you have people who have had DUI's, drug convictions that get approved because somebody in their family is sick, it doesn't make any sense. It seems that unless somebody is dying that you can't get approved!! Especially being a UK citizen, i think that is held against us because in my denial letter it stated that the USA and UK are very similar so my USC husband would not have a problem moving there!!!

Let me know how you are going to go about re-filing the I-601 because when i go back to England, I am going to try and do the same because i cannot afford a $10,000 lawyer fee either with no guarantee that it would get me what i want, which is LPR of the USA.
Edit:
UKgirl, I am sorry to hear about the denied waiver. Can you file an appeal? The VWP is probably making things complicated. You've been here about as long long as my husband was, and that's a long time to live somewhere. You have family and friends here, you drive on the other side of the road, the language...so many things.
Is your husband planning to move to the UK with you?
Also, I completely agree, my mental sanity has improved greatly since I found this website. Just knowing that there is this network of people out there who totally understand what you are going through is tremendous support in itself.

On a lighter note, I like the way you did your timeline....I must create one soon. Its so easy for someone to figure out where you are by just glancing at it.

Good luck

I can file an appeal but after talking to 2 lawyers in Chicago and an Immigration Officer on the phone they advised me that i should try and do it from England because i don't want them to start a Deportation Order on me. If i stay here and appeal i will still be out-of-status and can still get deported if they want me too. My husband and I are very upset about this and he will come and visit but can probably not move to England as he is so close to his family, he couldn't leave them to be thousand and thousands of miles away.

We are talking about re-filing in London and me going to Canada for a while until the decision has been made so we can see each other more often but that is just a thought right now......

Thanks for the comment about the timeline..it makes it a lot easier for people to know your story that way!!

[bubble]

:sorry2:

Itznenny,

I wanted to apologize because I think I gave you some very wrong info. I now realize what you meant about the "more than one year since deportation". in regards to the I-212.
In the 212 instrctions, page 1, top left hand corner there is a list of "Persons permitted to reapply for admission without filing this application"
1)Persons who were excluded from admission and removed or deported more than one year ago.

My Husband was deported May 2007, which is one year ago...has it been a year for you guys?

Laura,
I wonder if you might be able to shed some light on this?

Also, I just started reading about the I129F, which is K-3 non-immigrant visa. Still very confused about it.

Ok...MUST get some sleep to regain some sanity. :meditate:

[aprilstorm]

:welcome:

[Laura]

I believe you need an I-212 even if it's more than a year since the deportation. I think it actually is required for five or ten years... I don't know the reasoning but I'm like 99% sure that Laurel Scott has stated that and it's common knowledge around the forum. Who knows why that is in the instructions.

As far as the I-129F - that's for fiances. An I-130 followed by and I-129F can result in a K-3 visa, which is like a non-immigrant visa in that once the person enters the U.S. with their K-3 they have to adjust status to permanent resident. You can do waivers with these. There's not much of a benefit anymore because for certain parts of the country, the I-130 immigrant visas are taking less time. The K-3 is supposed to speed up the process, but it doesn't so much anymore because immigrant visas are faster.

[bubble]

Blackrain,
I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about your story...I had to come back and post a few words. :curse:
I am outraged...for them actually put in to words, as an official letter :puke: Its wrong at so many levels.
I cannot even imagine how you guys are doing it. The technical and financial difficulties are, in themselves, too much to bear. But, to have children who are at such a sensitive age, I cannot even fathom the hardship.

I can't offer you much, but can tell you this... my husband and I have ventured out and considered the dreaded option (personal opinion, mostly) of living out our banishment in Canada. :scratch:
Keep posting...I wish you all the best.:hug:
Edit:
PS.
Who is this Laurel Scott? (Pardon my ignorance)
Edit:
PS (2) Where is my Ambien? Must find sleeping pill...must pull self away. Aarggh...there's just so much to read...

[emt103c]

Laurel Scott is a VERY experienced attorney with both I-212/I-601 who posts here and hosts a free chat.

www.visacentral.net

:sorry2:

Itznenny,

I wanted to apologize because I think I gave you some very wrong info. I now realize what you meant about the "more than one year since deportation". in regards to the I-212.
In the 212 instrctions, page 1, top left hand corner there is a list of "Persons permitted to reapply for admission without filing this application"
1)Persons who were excluded from admission and removed or deported more than one year ago.

My Husband was deported May 2007, which is one year ago...has it been a year for you guys?

Laura,
I wonder if you might be able to shed some light on this?

Also, I just started reading about the I129F, which is K-3 non-immigrant visa. Still very confused about it.

Ok...MUST get some sleep to regain some sanity. :meditate:



You have to file the I-212 for however many years you are banned. . .5yrs for an expedited removal, 10 yrs for a simple judge deportation. . .20 for other cases.

[emt103c]

Hi
Just wanted to ask
how do i refile the i601 it has been a year since we have been denied for a simple overstay.?

As I understand it from the chats, you request a new interview for the I-130 and simply refile the same way you filed in the original interview.

[bubble]

I was jsut looking at the I-601 spst managed by PinkPig. Can anyone explain the columns "Adjudicating USCIS" and "Embassy". There are some where I see London and Dublin resp. or London and London. Does this mean that there is a US consulate in Dublin but no USCIS office? Does the I-130, for example, gets sent to Dublin from the US. Once approved, the file gets sent to London, where the interview takes place??
Am I completely off?

[Laura]

Bubble - if the person is from Ireland, their interview would be in Dublin, but their waiver would be transferred to DHS in London because that is the adjudicating office. So like waivers from several European countries go to London, others go to Frankfurt, etc...

[bubble]

Ooh I get it...the waiver is filed at the interview. Based on the country you are in, the waivers get sent to a particular country.
Thanks Laura....you keep saving the day!
:heart: