QUESTION!! Can my brother claim me & my mom?

[Rosy00]

First: I was brought to the US in Nov.1984...I was 2 1/2 yrs old and that same month my brother was born(he's a USC)....I am 25 now and he's 22..I did all my school here..Anyways all our immediate family is here..I have a daughter and a 2nd child on the way...My mom has been married to a US citizen for 17 years but she's been given the run around on what she can do to become legal..Besides myself and my brother we have a 15 and 13 yr old brother and a 12 yr old sister..Our 13 yr old brother is autistic and in a wheelchair..My stepfather has been in and out of jail for as long as we can remember..My mother is the backbone of our family..My brother has a good job and I also work to, even though I'm not suppose to..I work to help her and Now of course to support MY family (kids)..I am common-law married to a USC I've been reading other threads to see what I can School myself on..and THE ONE THING THAT NEITHER MY MOM OR ME WANT TO DO IS LEAVE THE USA!!! I know nothing of that country...Only that it's a VERY poor country and so forth..My mom doesn't want to leave either because of my brother's and sister's...We have all our lives here...all of my mom's sister's and brother are here...they are all Citizens now..they came to the US before we did......I COULD CONTINUE BUT I'M NOT:blush:
PLEASE IF ANYONE COULD HELP ME OUT!!!

[Laura]

Rosy - is your family originally from Mexico?

If you are engaged/married to a USC, the fastest process for you is to pursue legalization through your USC husband. Your mom can do the same process with her USC husband.

Both do involve leaving the U.S. Please note: There is simply NO OTHER OPTION than consular processing in your home country, now that you have already accumulated more than a year of unlawful presence.

(Your mom could have avoided this had her husband filed for her before 2001, but now she will have to go through consular processing in Ciudad Juarez as well).

Your brother cannot file for you because 1) it will take forever for a visa number to become available and 2) he is not a qualifying relative for the waiver for unlawful presence, which is required in this situation.

If you are from Mexico, this process may take a while from start to finish, but if you put together a really good hardship packet, you can be approved through a new program there that usually involves just one-two weeks of time outside the U.S.

For starters - read the post under the link that says.. "Need help..." in my signature. It will give you an idea of what you would be getting into.

[Rosy00]

Actually we are from Guatemala..My mother has talked to a few lawyers and they have told her that the government has said that it also depends if the USC has any kind of felonies. Is that true because I dont know about my step-father but my USC Common-law husband does have a felony...And since it will be faster to adjust through him then I hope I can soon But Lauren you said there's no other choice than that we would have to leave but if we put together a good hardship packet we might only have to stay out of the US for a few weeks.. Did I read that correctly!?!?! At the end of this I will have a somewhat good chunk of money so I could seek a lawyer and of course one that has very good experience with hardship letters..So please let me know what else!?!?!?

[Laura]

Okay, well, when I said you would only have to leave the U.S. for a few weeks I was assuming you were from Mexico. Guatemala currently is a bit different.

Did you read the post in my signature? If not, read that to get an idea for the whole process.

As far as felonies, it only matters in this case that you, the immigrant, do not have a significant criminal record, not the U.S. citizen.

Basically, your husband has to petition for you. Either you marry legally and he files an I-130, or you pursue the fiance process and then you have to get married once your waiver is approved and you get your visa.

However, the immediate waiver process, aka the pilot program, is only available in Ciudad Juarez, where all the Mexico cases process. This program could be put in place in Guatemala in the next year, but there is no real way to know.

But if nothing changed, after the petition your husband files for you is approved, you will have to do some other paperwork and then you will eventually get a visa interview in Guatemala. At that interview you will be denied your waiver for the accumulated unlawful presence since your 18th birthday, and be told that you are eligible to file an I-601 waiver. The I-601 waiver requires that your USC husband prove the extreme hardship he would suffer were you barred from the U.S. for 10 years.

Unfortunately, and I'm not sure how long Guatemala waiver waits are, but you will have to remain in Guatemala (or outside the U.S. more generally), until they adjudicate and hopefully approve your waiver. That might be 6-12 months of waiting. Normally I would recommend Laurel Scott, but she's not taking cases until 2008. There is another lawyer who is new to this site but I think has been working with Laurel, so she's probably great too. Her username here is Ana Maria Schwartz.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Your mother is in the same situation as you. She has a USC husband that can petition for her. You don't NEED a lawyer for this process, but if you do hire one, make absolutely sure they are very experienced with waivers.

[Laura]

By the way, you should start posting in the I-601 All other countries forum, and reading there and in the Mexico area for information on the waivers. There is a small Guatemala group over there too that can give lots of helpful advice!

[Rosy00]

thank you I really appreciate all your help!!!