job sponsorship question

[eddiecarter]

I fell out of status awhile back, and am currently 21 yrs old, every lawyer i have talked to says to get a fixed marriage, in which I would not want to do, but as a last resort I would, since it is really expensive.

Being an undocumented student, I can't get federal aid, for college, but I still plan on going to college for nursing and somehow pay for all of it. my question is, can i get a job sponsorship here in the U.S. once i get my degree and would they be able to change my status?

[MendozaQH]

No. I also wouldn't recommend the fixed marriage. Immigration is cracking down on that not to mention it is immoral....

[Laura]

I don't know if you can get job sponsorship. The problem is that you have more than a year of unlawful presence already (it starts accumulating when you turn 18) and as soon as you leave the U.S. you are subject to a 10-year bar. I'm not at all certain what happens if a company tries to sponsor you for a green card. Theoretically, if you never leave the U.S. it would work, but I don't think that's possible, since you are not eligible to adjust your status in any way since you did not enter legally. A lawyer like Norma Ayoub (who Laurel recommends, and who I've spoken to, you can google her name and find her site) might be able to help with this question.

If you proceed with a fake marriage, please know what you are getting into. You will have to leave the U.S. and go to CDJ (you are from Mexico originally, right?) for a visa interview. At that time they will look through all the evidence that you have a real marriage, meaning you will have to show photos, shared bills, ideally taxes filed together, etc.

Then, you will be denied your visa and told you are eligible to file a waiver. Your fake USC wife will have to provide documentation of the extreme hardship she will suffer were you barred from the U.S. for ten years. Even if you wrote this letter, you will have to get her medical records and all sorts of personal documents that I imagine people who enter into these sorts of relationships are not really willing to do.

Frankly, I can't imagine what I would do were I you. Two wrongs don't make a right, but it's no more immoral that you marry a USC to get legal status than it is for Congress to delay and ignore the Dream Act.

Good luck Ed.

[MendozaQH]

Frankly, I can't imagine what I would do were I you. Two wrongs don't make a right, but it's no more immoral that you marry a USC to get legal status than it is for Congress to delay and ignore the Dream Act.



Most things congress does seems immoral Laura! :wink: However the laws congress puts forward are excatly that, the laws. A fruadulant marriage is against the law and frankly I believe that is why people who are in valid marriages have to go through so much trouble, because of those in the past who tried to adjust status through an invalid marriage.....


BTW Ed, what type of visa did you enter on? I don't think you have mentioned this before.....

[Laura]

And I wasn't in any way suggesting he should pursue a fake marriage, only laying out, as you stated, how difficult it would be to go that route anyway. However, I can understand how desperate people do desperate things. It's not all that different than the way many of our spouses entered the U.S. in the first place.

[MendozaQH]

So true! The thing is my husband would have done it again if they had for some reason denied him.......I ma not sure what we would have done in that case....Thank God we don't have to worry about it anymore!

[MARIPLAY]

Shame On Those Lawyers That Adviced You On The Fake Marriage Thing ..

[Glühbirne]

I wouldn't recommend a fake marriage either for all the reasons stated above. There's nothing wrong with a real one, though. ;-) Start dating and some dashing young person is bound to fall head over heals in love with you and want to get married.

[tasksgirl]

Hey guys - Eddie entered on a Visa.. he came legally.. does that change things?

[Laura]

Are you kidding????!!!!

Yes it changes things!!! You can AOS!

No waiver, no leaving the U.S., just a bunch of paperwork!

[MendozaQH]

Are you kidding????!!!!

Yes it changes things!!! You can AOS!

No waiver, no leaving the U.S., just a bunch of paperwork!

Laura, since he is now out of status, I am not sure he can adjust unless he has a qualifying relative..... meaning he would have to marry a US citizen to adjust in the US. He overstayed on his visa, so he is now out of status. Not to mention it was a tourist visa......

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/c2_english.pdf

[Laura]

Hey guys - Eddie entered on a Visa.. he came legally.. does that change things?

Oh goodness.... I SO misunderstood this post. I thought member Tasksgirl was saying that her husband entered on a visa. I linked into this post from e-mail and didn't realize I was in the thread started by EddieCarter and was thinking "Eddie" was married to Tasksgirl....

Sorry about that.

However, Eddie, if you did eventually marry a USC, as long as you never leave the U.S., you will be able to adjust your status without leaving the U.S. and filing a waiver. But yeah, you need a USC spouse for that to be possible. Sorry again! I just read that right before I went to bed and was so excited for Tasksgirl!

[eddiecarter]

thanks guys for the replies, taskgirl thank you especially, for pointing that i came here legally. i think that myself marrying a u.s. citizen, would be probably be my only hope, thanks for clearing that out for me, i just wanted to know if there was another option. hopefully lawyers dont charge much, i here it gets up to $20k, but ive heard, of some going at $15k. here in nevada, the price ranges.

*I came here on a tourist visa back in Oct. 1990 and have never left the country, since then (to support that evidence, i can obtain school records from grades k-12, and my HS diploma), although, I lost my passport, therefore no record of an I-94, i went to the Philippine Embassy (in L.A.), on june 2006, told them my situation, that i lost my passport a while back, and they re-issued me a passport, and it does not expire until 2011. i dont kno if me having an active passport helps..what do you guys think?

[Laura]

Eddie - do not pay any lawyer $20,000 or even $15,000 for adjustment of status (if you get to that point)!

It's a simple process involving forms and fees and if you are reasonably intelligent and detail-oriented (which I am sure you are!) you could easily do it yourself (for free!!).

Just make sure you never leave the U.S., because now hearing that you are from the Philipines, well, they have like a 10% approval rate for I-601 waivers, so you'll never get back to the U.S. if you leave (which will trigger the 10-year ban) and have to re-apply with the waiver.

Also, I'm not sure about losing the I-94... so you have no record that you entered on a tourist visa? I guess for that you might have to consult with an attorney... but do not shell out that much money for this process.

[MendozaQH]

For the I-94, can someone out of status fill out an I-102: Application for Replacement/InitialNonimmigrant Arrival - Departure Document
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-102.pdf

to get a copy of their I-94?