Do You Know Anything 'bout This??

[hrndz6]

HI!:wave: Has anyone of you on this site ever been or do you know anyone who's ever been sponsored by his/her employer? What are the steps in the process and how long does it usually take? My main question is "DO you think that an illegal from Mexico who has been living here in the US for almost 10 years would qualify for a greencard or Visa(don't know which is which really). My husband EWI almost 10yrs. ago, no criminal record, no deportations, catch and release...has never been back to MEXICO since he first came to this Country. We have four kids between us. Two are mine from a previous marriage and he had one from a previous marriage(first wife passed away when my stepson was 2:bluesad: then we had our own little girl together :thumbup:hubby is the sole provider for our family and his employer has said that he's started the paperwork and that i think we are in the Labor Cert. as of this moment:dunno:. I hope someone can tell me something about this whole process...I know that he's not eligible for the 245i and i know that he will probally be punished for EWI...but that's about all know. IF hubby has to return home....will it be for long....and what are the reasons he WOULD have to return to MEXICO? SO sorry this was so long....just don't have a clue about all this....

[aleful]

hrndz,
Unfortunatly no. Like any other sponsorship the person has to have legal status. I've read many cases were they have their labor cert. approved but cannot move on from there. They were hoping the reform would be approved. People with or without attorneys, just waiting and hoping something comes up soon.

[gaby]

Are you a USC. You should start your paper work. Now with the pilot program in Ciudad Juarez, if you have a good HSL you do not have to wait for months to be approved. So everything is quickly as long as you have enough hardships on the USC ( which is you).
Of course it will take you a while to ge an appointment at CDJ.
he will be denied at the interview, and then as you said ( he does not have criminal record, only one EWI, ) so he will be able to file the waiver ( hsl).
So keep reading about hsl , here there are useful info about.
Have a good day

[hrndz6]

hrndz,
Unfortunatly no. Like any other sponsorship the person has to have legal status. I've read many cases were they have their labor cert. approved but cannot move on from there. They were hoping the reform would be approved. People with or without attorneys, just waiting and hoping something comes up soon.
OKAY ALEFUL......thanks so much....hopefully in hubby's case......the wait won't be long....(biting nails)...lol

[hrndz6]

Are you a USC. You should start your paper work. Now with the pilot program in Ciudad Juarez, if you have a good HSL you do not have to wait for months to be approved. So everything is quickly as long as you have enough hardships on the USC ( which is you).
Of course it will take you a while to ge an appointment at CDJ.
he will be denied at the interview, and then as you said ( he does not have criminal record, only one EWI, ) so he will be able to file the waiver ( hsl).
So keep reading about hsl , here there are useful info about.
Have a good day
thanks to you also GABY.....does it matter that i don't have any income myself...cuz i stay home with our 3 yr. old as of this moment....

[gaby]

If you do not have income you need to get a close realative who have income. But they will required that till you file the the papers for the interview. right now is ok if you file the petition you do not need to prove it now. File the i 130 is easy.

[hrndz6]

If you do not have income you need to get a close realative who have income. But they will required that till you file the the papers for the interview. right now is ok if you file the petition you do not need to prove it now. File the i 130 is easy.
HI GABY.......i think right now i'm just gonna let the employer handle this and see what happens....If my hubby has to return to Mexico for any amount of time....we are all going as a family to wait it out with him since i don't work....I'm sure that won't be easy to do seeing as how i've never left the country before but luckily his mom has a HUGE house in MEXICO CITY...so there would be plenty of room for the six of us. thanks again..:)

[Laura]

Hrndz - there are hundreds of people on this site who have been in the same spot with an unlawfully present spouse and successfully completed the petition, visa interview and waiver process for our spouses.

Start reading in the I-601 Mexico area. If he doesn't have 245i eligibility he can't get a work visa. The employer cannot file a waiver for your husband, and once your husband leaves the U.S. he has a 10-year bar, so you are likely going to waste precious time with this employment petition. Anyway, that is uncharted waters and complicated - and there are tons of family-based success stories.

Check out the I-601 Mexico area and file the I-130. Even if you leave the employment petition going, you should file the I-130 asap just in case you need it (and you are going to need it)!

Lots of luck!

[hrndz6]

:D:D:wave:OKay ......i understand some of how this all works now......i appreciate you taking the time out to reply. I'm thinking that the lawyer is working on possibly me filing for my husband because when he gathered all of our info. ....he took all of my info and our kids....HE needed my divorce papers from my previous marriage....kids b-days, socials....ages....names.....etc....so i guess that's why the atty. needed all that information....:dunno:Have a nice day!!!!!

[Adriane]

An employer can not file a waiver to overcome his illegal entry & presence- only a spouse or parent can. If he entered illegally, you are the only one that can successfully petition for him.

[djones9714]

Please make sure that your husband has them working on the I-130 and not a labor petition. They might have been asking for the information on you and your kids to put on the labor certification papers because it will ask this information.

Please DO NOT under any circumstances go this route. This is the wrong route to take. You should be taking the I-130 route as this is your only hope of getting anywhere close to an approval.

Believe me, if we could have done a labor certification for my son-in-law, we would have done it 5 years ago.

[hrndz6]

Can anyone tell me why the lawyer needs all of my info to start the labor cert. process? Just curious....and i do hope this lawyer is doing the I-130...i'm calling today to find out....and what is the difference in the labor petition and the I-130? thanks again!!:)

[Laura]

Hrndz - these are two COMPLETELY different routes to immigration.

One (the I-130 route) is a petition based on his marriage to you, a USC. There is, in some ways, a guarantee that he is at least eligible for this visa. Because he has illegal presence he'll need a waiver, but he is eligible for a visa based on being married to you.

The labor certification is an insane thing to pursue if a person is married to a USC and EWI. You are essentially pursuing employment-based residency, for which there are limits and no guarantee, totally unlike petitioning through a USC relative. Besides that, he can't adjust status here in the U.S., and if he leaves the U.S. to try and get a visa through this employment-based route, he's not going to be eligible because he'll have a 10-year ban. I'm not sure if at that point you can still file a waiver as his spouse, but that's unchartered territory.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you are trusting this lawyer waaaay too much. How can you not want to know what sort of immigration you are pursuing? You need to get involved in this process. Many of us have read dozens of cases where lawyers unintentionally misled people. Maybe you are on the right track, but you have no idea. Find out what sort of petition it is. Family or employment? Ask the attorney how he is planning to overcome your husband's EWI/unlawful presence? You are going to kick yourself in the end if this gets messed up and you allowed it to happen.

[hrndz6]

WOW!! That was BLUNT....but i guess your right...I told my husband i was gonna get in touch with his employer and see how he's going about this...cuz We could go live in MEXICO if he was banned for 10yrs. but why if it can all be prevented by me filing for him right?:o Anyways...i have no way of contacting the attorney myself since i don't know his name...only know that he's an immigration atty. in FLORIDA but i will be contacting his employer tomorrow to speak with him and get him to tell me more cuz after all this is my husband future at stake. This is too serious to just "LET" something happen. HUbby really don't wanna live in MEXICO for 10+yrs. and truthfully......neither do I. thanks again...melissa

[Laura]

Sorry, I'm kind of blunt. I mean well, really. :shy:

I read through this thread and a few times you said something that implied you "hoped" the lawyer was doing something right and I mean, there are just too many BAD immigration lawyer stories on this site to not challenge people to at least not blindly trust their lawyer. That said, your lawyer may very well have you on the right track, but your questions are very unusual considering the circumstance, which I guess has me (and probably a few others) sort of alarmed.

I guess from what I understand you didn't hire the lawyer, the employer did, so that sort of explains the distance you have from the situation. In any case, I don't see any reason why you can't file the I-130 regardless of what that attorney is doing. By no means do you HAVE to move to Mexico for 10 years!!!

[Adriane]

If my hubby has to return to Mexico for any amount of time....we are all going as a family to wait it out with him since i don't work....I'm sure that won't be easy to do seeing as how i've never left the country before but luckily his mom has a HUGE house in MEXICO CITY...so there would be plenty of room for the six of us. thanks again..:)

Melissa, please be careful. What Laura is advising you is right, you can not possibly adjust through an employer if you have EWIed. It simply isn't possible.

Also, as lovely a country as Mexico is in some ways, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise if you wind up forced to live here for 10 years without other options. I've been here for 2 years now with my husband, fortunately without kids, and it has been rough. Not impossible, but difficult in ways that I could never have predicted.

You'll be much happier visiting your in-laws when this is all over and you have a visa for your husband and can return rather than showing up with no other options. You'd be in for a nasty surprise otherwise.

[hrndz6]

Sorry, I'm kind of blunt. I mean well, really. :shy:

I read through this thread and a few times you said something that implied you "hoped" the lawyer was doing something right and I mean, there are just too many BAD immigration lawyer stories on this site to not challenge people to at least not blindly trust their lawyer. That said, your lawyer may very well have you on the right track, but your questions are very unusual considering the circumstance, which I guess has me (and probably a few others) sort of alarmed.

I guess from what I understand you didn't hire the lawyer, the employer did, so that sort of explains the distance you have from the situation. In any case, I don't see any reason why you can't file the I-130 regardless of what that attorney is doing. By no means do you HAVE to move to Mexico for 10 years!!!
OKAY THEN LAURAFERN11....I WILL FIND OUT SOON WHAT THE STATUS OF MY HUSBAN'S SITUATION IS...I DON'T HOW FAR THE LAWYER IS INTO THIS ALL...WILL CHECK INTO IT THOUGH..THANKS AGAIN..

[hrndz6]

Melissa, please be careful. What Laura is advising you is right, you can not possibly adjust through an employer if you have EWIed. It simply isn't possible.

Also, as lovely a country as Mexico is in some ways, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise if you wind up forced to live here for 10 years without other options. I've been here for 2 years now with my husband, fortunately without kids, and it has been rough. Not impossible, but difficult in ways that I could never have predicted.

You'll be much happier visiting your in-laws when this is all over and you have a visa for your husband and can return rather than showing up with no other options. You'd be in for a nasty surprise otherwise.
HI ADRIANE...I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING AS WELL...GUESS NOW I JUST NEED TO SPEAK WITH HUBBY'S EMPLOYER..THANKS AGAIN :)

[dreamdiffered]

I hope someone can help me answer this. I recently found out that I qualify under 245i. I spoke to a lawyer and he said that I may be able to adjust my status by getting labor certification from a potential employer and then "proceeding from there". He didn't explain further. Can you please explain the process and is it very unlikely that I will be able to get this labor certification? Thanks so much.

[Laura]

Dream, I don't know how many people here are familiar with adjusting under a labor certification with 245i. I think it's definitely theoretically possible (only because you have 245i though...). I don't think Laurel is an expert on this either, but maybe you could ask her in the chat (it's free, at 11:00 am central time Wednesdays, at her site, visacentral.net) or you could do an e-mail consult for $100. Again, she's probably not the one to take your case, but I would trust her to direct you to someone who is and give you the basics. There is another attorney on this site actually, Daniel Green, not sure if he is any better versed in this process, but if you look him up I'm sure his web information is available in his signature.

Good luck! It's awesome that you are eligible under 245i!

[Laura]

Maybe you've already read this, but here's some info I found from USCIS (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=5baa6138f898d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D&vgnextchannel=4f719c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD):

LABOR CERTIFICATION (for employment-based permanent residence)
Labor certification is a statement from the US Department of Labor (USDOL) that a particular position at a particular company is "open" because no US workers who satisfy the minimum requirements for the job are available. An alien seeking to immigrate to the US on the basis of employment must obtain an offer of permanent full-time employment from an employer in the US. Such alien cannot be admitted as a permanent resident unless, among other things, the employer obtains a labor certification from USDOL that qualified US workers are not available for the employment offered to the alien, and that the wages and working conditions offered will not adversely affect those of similarly employed US workers.

The labor certification process requires the employer to recruit US workers at prevailing wages and working conditions through the State Employment Service, by advertising, posting notice of the job opportunity, and other appropriate means. A USDOL regional certifying officer makes a decision to grant or deny the labor certification based on the results of the employer's recruitment efforts and compliance with USDOL regulations. Most employers of unskilled workers, skilled workers, and professional workers need to obtain labor certification before petitioning INS for permanent residence for those workers based on employment. Exceptions exist for aliens in shortage occupations (registered nurses, physical therapists, sheep herders and those demonstrating "exceptional ability" in business, science, or arts), aliens demonstrating to INS that they possess extraordinary ability, aliens who are multinational executives or managers, aliens whose work is deemed in the "national interest," and aliens who are outstanding university level teachers and researchers in tenure-track jobs. Petitions naming beneficiaries who hold such positions, which are considered unique and do not displace American workers, do not require labor certification.

To obtain labor certification, an employer and alien employee together submit application Form ETA-750 (This form is available from state departments of employment services or downloadable from USDOL's Website.) together with documentary evidence to the state DOL. The state DOL confirms that the wage offered for the position is the "prevailing wage" and reports whether the salary must be increased to satisfy prevailing wage requirements. The state DOL then approves an advertising strategy and sends the application to the local DOL. At the local DOL office, the job is listed as "open" in the state computerized job bank and the employer is instructed to place an ad in a specified journal or newspaper. The ad will ask applicants for the position to apply directly to the local DOL. The local DOL screens applicants and refers seemingly qualified applicants to the employer. The employer must promptly interview all seemingly qualified applicants. The employer must also consider and interview if necessary any other applicants who, through the job bank listing or pure chance, apply for the position. The employer then files a recruitment report with the local DOL explaining why the ad placement was appropriate, the names of persons who applied for the job (if any), and why such applicants were not qualified.

[dreamdiffered]

Thanks Laurafern,
I will try to find some more information about my situation. If I find out some more info I'll post it so someone else can benefit too.

[Laura]

That would be great DD!

[hrndz6]

hI...MYhusban's employer is sponsoring him and i've just heard today that my hubby's job is being listed in the local paper starting on sunday and will run for two weeks..which is part of the Labor Certification process....wonder what happens next.??:waiting:

[jsierra1982]

dude. it is so (relatively) simple to petition him as a spouse!!! look at the many, many, many approvals, a lot of them without lawyers, that we have had on this site!!!! the whole point of the waiver is that he will NOT have to be outside the US for 10 years.

please listen to laurafern and adriane. they are so knowlegeable about this process and they are right. read the links in either of their signatures, and then go fire your lawyer. seriously. this lawyer does NOT know about the process based on the fact that he advised you to have his employer petition him. if you need a lawyer, drop by laurel scott's site www.visacentral.net and set up a consultation. she is the best.

[hrndz6]

dude. it is so (relatively) simple to petition him as a spouse!!! look at the many, many, many approvals, a lot of them without lawyers, that we have had on this site!!!! the whole point of the waiver is that he will NOT have to be outside the US for 10 years.

please listen to laurafern and adriane. they are so knowlegeable about this process and they are right. read the links in either of their signatures, and then go fire your lawyer. seriously. this lawyer does NOT know about the process based on the fact that he advised you to have his employer petition him. if you need a lawyer, drop by laurel scott's site www.visacentral.net and set up a consultation. she is the best.

THANKS FOR your reply JSIERRA but actually the lawyer did not advise me to have my hubby's employer file for him.....the employer voluntarily offered to do this for us. i'm not in a position where i can file for my hubby due to no income on my part and i have not one relative who would or could. The only thing we can do is wait it out and if i have to relocate to MEXICO....then so be it you know....I have to follow my husband and sometimes life is not about "what we WANT to do but what we HAVE to do":wink:

[Laura]

What about asking this employer to be your co-sponsor? I'm completely serious.

If they are willing to spend (read:waste) all this money on an employment petition that is guaranteed to fail because he's here illegally, wouldn't they be willing to help you with the relatively simple process of petitioning him as a spouse by being a co-sponsor?

I think it's good to be willing to move to Mexico but you have the right to petition him as your spouse, and it's foolish to give up on that very viable option because you don't have a relative who will be a co-sponsor.

I'm sure you think we are all being harsh but you are just setting yourselves up for disappointment when you have a perfectly good option right in front of you that you are ignoring.

[djones9714]

Wanted to just let you know about the labor certification. The ad is run in the paper because it is recruiting U.S. citizens first. With the economy the way it is right now, I just cannot possibly see (unless it is an agricultural job) how no one would apply.

I agree with everyone else that filing the I-130 is almost a guarantee that you will be approved and with the labor certification, I would say only a 30-40% chance and it takes forever.

I am saying this because we went through this entire process of trying to make a decision prior to my daughter getting married, spoke to 5 different attorneys, obtained every bit of advice and information we could regarding the process, and ended up just waiting until their marriage to start paperwork. The labor certification without 245(i) is like throwing yourself up for attention. If your husband is denied, then you will have no choice but to start the process with the I-130 because an employer cannot file a waiver on his behalf.

I know we are all concerned about you and certainly know that ultimately in the end, it is your decision. However, we are looking out for you and just don't want you to make a wrong decision without knowing all of the facts.

Good luck.

[hrndz6]

JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONCERN AND I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING AND WILL BE TALKING TO HIS EMPLOYER ABOUT THE CO-sponsor thing....thanks again for all your advice..

[DREAM Act Advocate]

Uhh Labor Certification can happen for an EWI but the process cant move on from there.... what on earth is this person thinking?!

Entering here without inspection renders you inadmissible for ten years if one overstays more than three months....... marriage to a USC with an approved waiver solves this much easier.....

[J3NNI]

:ditto: our lawyer said the same thing to us his employer cant file for him me as a spouse has to.

[Adriane]

... i'm not in a position where i can file for my hubby due to no income on my part and i have not one relative who would or could. The only thing we can do is wait it out and if i have to relocate to MEXICO....then so be it you know....I have to follow my husband and sometimes life is not about "what we WANT to do but what we HAVE to do":wink:

You don't understand- your husband's employer CAN NOT sponsor him with a Labor Certification or anything else because your husband's illegal presence will require him to have a waiver- and only you can file this.

It's not that this route is a bad idea- Employment based visas will not overcome illegal presence.

Please consult with a qualified attorney about this.