To be brief, I married a US citizen and filed the applicable paperwork (I130, I485)

From the very beginning I was told I'd probably be denied because of previous criminal convictions and I'm at that stage now. I've been denied on the I485 solely because I have 5 convictions that occured between 1987 and 1990 when i was aged 22-25. The convictions themselves range from minor petty theft to stealing a car which would be the most serious. I was fined on every offence and served no prison time.

Consequently Ihave to file I601 and on the letter it states my wife has to prove why she would suffer extreme hardship, so my questions are these:

1) Does anyone know how much emphasis USCIS will put on her hardship as opposed to my being able to prove I'm rehabilitated (which I feel I can prove and have excellent evidence) Whilst I realise I need to be able to prove rehabilitation I was wondering if you automatically then have to prove the spuses hardship issue irrespective of the fact I've been denied on criminal grounds only and it's simply a case of proving i'm rehabilitated.

2) Does anyone have any 1st or 2nd hand experience of anyone in this position? From my own research on the net it seems to be 50-50 - some people pass, some people don't and the ones that don't seem to have been unable to supply the correct info regarding their rehabilitation. (Just my opinion of course)

3)When submitting the paperwork, can anyone point me in the direction of some sample text regarding a 'brief.'? I'm assuming the brief is the legal cover letter that accompanies the application. I have my paperwork and I have a 'table of contents' so that each exhibit is logged and can be made sense of, a site map if you will but I just wondered f anyone had any ideas/experience/advice regarding the brief.

Whilst all advice is gratefully received, we're out of money and will not be using attorneys, so generic 'you really must see an attorney' comments aren't of much use to me, unless of course you know some that work for nothing out of the kindness of their hearts.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance if anyone can be of any help, it's appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Englishguy and welcome,

What hardships to your USC spouse do you have? That's what it boils down to. She needs to prove why she can't live with you in England - which won't be that easy. Since England is not a third world country, speaks the same language, has health care, etc., you guys don't have the same hardships as someone trying to get a waiver approved in Mexico.

You might want to look at some examples of hardship letters at this site: http://www.immigrate2us.com. Good luck.

Also try Catholic Charities. They have good immigration lawyers and deal with this issue quite often. You don't have to be a catholic to use them and it's free.

CatholicCharitiesusa.org

I agree with PUSC, why can't you go back and live there with your wife?
It's not like Rwanda or Sudan in UK, so what's the point of winning your case?

quote:

Originally posted by ProudUSC:
Hi Englishguy and welcome,

What hardships to your USC spouse do you have? That's what it boils down to. She needs to prove why she can't live with you in England - which won't be that easy. Since England is not a third world country, speaks the same language, has health care, etc., you guys don't have the same hardships as someone trying to get a waiver approved in Mexico.

You might want to look at some examples of hardship letters at this site: http://www.immigrate2us.com. Good luck.

Thanks for your prompt reply. hardships would be:

A) Majority custody of Two daughters from a previous marriage age 19 (Attending USC) and 15 where the ex husband has made it explicitly clear he does not want them to have to leave the country.

B) Financial....which I know is very flimsy at best as financial hardship isnt viewed as 'extreme hardship,' nonetheless, she works for Los Angeles county and I am therefore the primary caregiver to our two-year-old son from 2-12pm daily. If i were forced to leave she wouldnt be able to afford childcare for those hours and would therefore have to give up work, lose the house etc etc.

To clarify my query, the I601 states the following: "If you are found to be inadmissable based on criminal grounds, you may seek a waiver of inadmissability for the following....A crime involving moral turpitude.

It continues, and this is the ambiguous part:

With the application , you will have to establish that at least 15 years have passed since the activity or event that makes you inadmissable, that you have been rehabilitated and your admission the the United States or the issuance of immigrant visa will not be contrary to the national welfare, safety or security of the United States; OR

Your qualifying US citizen would experience extreme hardship."

Please note the * OR * (located on page 4 of I601 form)

To me, it seems as if it's a 'one or another' argument, hence the 'or.' I accept I could be totally wrong and that was the reason I posted, so with the additional information could you shed any light on this, as I said, it seems ambiguous to me and seems possible that you would have less to prove RE. hardship to spouse if you can in fact make a convincing case for being rehabilitated and posing no threat to the United States.

Thanks for your earlier reply.

quote:

Originally posted by Brit4064:
Also try Catholic Charities. They have good immigration lawyers and deal with this issue quite often. You don't have to be a catholic to use them and it's free.

CatholicCharitiesusa.org

Many thanks, it's appreciated.

I would make the arguement that no one is safe in the UK from Muslim terrorism.

Another 'hardship' should your wife have to move to the UK would be having to eat stale Weet-a-bix for breakfast....surely that should rank way up there as an 'extreme' hardship.

quote:

Originally posted by Someone12:
Another 'hardship' should your wife have to move to the UK would be having to eat stale Weet-a-bix for breakfast....surely that should rank way up there as an 'extreme' hardship.

I certainly agree, although the severest hardship thus far is having to read messages from people like you who wrongly assume they're funny.

Jokes are exponentially more entertaining if they're funny to start with, just a heads up.

For instance; My sister went to her hairdressers and said:"Make me look like Barbara Streisand." So the hairdresserr hit her over the nose with a hairbrush."

or

Man says to his wife: ‘Pack your bags, I’ve won the lotto.’
She says: ‘What should I pack? Something light, something warm? Where are we going?’
He says: ‘We’re going nowhere. Just pack your bags and f*** off.’

Get it?

Nope....I didn't think you would.

and yet, you are the w.anker who is barred from entering MY country, whereas I have no such restriction entering yours....now that's funny....so sod off.

Case closed. lol

Didn't need CSI for that one.

quote:

Originally posted by englishguy100:

quote:

Originally posted by ProudUSC:
Hi Englishguy and welcome,

What hardships to your USC spouse do you have? That's what it boils down to. She needs to prove why she can't live with you in England - which won't be that easy. Since England is not a third world country, speaks the same language, has health care, etc., you guys don't have the same hardships as someone trying to get a waiver approved in Mexico.

You might want to look at some examples of hardship letters at this site: http://www.immigrate2us.com. Good luck.

Thanks for your prompt reply. hardships would be:

A) Majority custody of Two daughters from a previous marriage age 19 (Attending USC) and 15 where the ex husband has made it explicitly clear he does not want them to have to leave the country.

B) Financial....which I know is very flimsy at best as financial hardship isnt viewed as 'extreme hardship,' nonetheless, she works for Los Angeles county and I am therefore the primary caregiver to our two-year-old son from 2-12pm daily. If i were forced to leave she wouldnt be able to afford childcare for those hours and would therefore have to give up work, lose the house etc etc.

To clarify my query, the I601 states the following: "If you are found to be inadmissable based on criminal grounds, you may seek a waiver of inadmissability for the following....A crime involving moral turpitude.

It continues, and this is the ambiguous part:

With the application , you will have to establish that at least 15 years have passed since the activity or event that makes you inadmissable, that you have been rehabilitated and your admission the the United States or the issuance of immigrant visa will not be contrary to the national welfare, safety or security of the United States; OR

Your qualifying US citizen would experience extreme hardship."

Please note the * OR * (located on page 4 of I601 form)

To me, it seems as if it's a 'one or another' argument, hence the 'or.' I accept I could be totally wrong and that was the reason I posted, so with the additional information could you shed any light on this, as I said, it seems ambiguous to me and seems possible that you would have less to prove RE. hardship to spouse if you can in fact make a convincing case for being rehabilitated and posing no threat to the United States.

Thanks for your earlier reply.

Hi Englishguy,

First, just ignore S12. The custody issue could have some bearing regarding the 15-year old. The 18-year is considered an adult and won't matter much in the eyes of USCIS. You being the primary care-giver for your son could also carry some weight.

You should look at the other site I gave you. They have a hardship waiver section that may give you some other ideas of what USCIS could consider as valid.

And, the other part is it's been 15 years since you committed the offenses, so what was the reason for you being inadmissable? How did you first arrive in the USA? Did you overstay your visa? Need to understand more about your circumstances.

Btw, that other site, immigrate2us.net, has a free chat on Wednesdays from 11:00 - 12:00 with an immigration attorney. You might want to tune into one of those.

quote:

Originally posted by Someone12:
and yet, you are the w.anker who is barred from entering MY country, whereas I have no such restriction entering yours....now that's funny....so sod off.

LMAO!!!!

Thanks USC,

I did try the link you gave, it appears to be a broken link.

I'm inadmissable because I have previous convictions, albeit 19 years ago. An attorney I spoke to you today more or less said it's procedure and this was always the route I was going to have to take but I'll be fine. We'll see. I do appreciate your time, thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by englishguy100:

quote:

Originally posted by Someone12:
Another 'hardship' should your wife have to move to the UK would be having to eat stale Weet-a-bix for breakfast....surely that should rank way up there as an 'extreme' hardship.

I certainly agree, although the severest hardship thus far is having to read messages from people like you who wrongly assume they're funny.

Jokes are exponentially more entertaining if they're funny to start with, just a heads up.

For instance; My sister went to her hairdressers and said:"Make me look like Barbara Streisand." So the hairdresserr hit her over the nose with a hairbrush."

or

Man says to his wife: ‘Pack your bags, I’ve won the lotto.’
She says: ‘What should I pack? Something light, something warm? Where are we going?’
He says: ‘We’re going nowhere. Just pack your bags and f*** off.’

Get it?

Nope....I didn't think you would.

Whole lotta Funny Bone for Someone Concerned about Others and Hardship??? Stole a car in your 20's????? WTF??? 15, 16 Maybe Forgive. 20's???????????????????????????????????????????????

lol There's nothing more amusing than watching angry people with no lives who attack people who mistakenly stumbled across 'their ' forum and made the mistake of assuming they were conversing with similar people who lead normal lives and have things like wives and gf's.

The profile of people who hang around internet forums is fascinating and troubling all at the same time, kinda reminds me of pedaphile research.

This is The Twilight Zone, it's hilarious.

quote:

Originally posted by englishguy100:
lol There's nothing more amusing than watching angry people with no lives who attack people who mistakenly stumbled across 'their ' forum and made the mistake of assuming they were conversing with similar people who lead normal lives and have things like wives and gf's.

The profile of people who hang around internet forums is fascinating.

This is The Twilight Zone, it's hilarious.

Stick Around! Theres a Bon Fire at the End of each Month Where We Crazy People Sacrifice 1 Scammer of the Board! Maybe you get lucky???

quote:

Originally posted by englishguy100:
Thanks USC,

I did try the link you gave, it appears to be a broken link.

I'm inadmissable because I have previous convictions, albeit 19 years ago. An attorney I spoke to you today more or less said it's procedure and this was always the route I was going to have to take but I'll be fine. We'll see. I do appreciate your time, thanks.

Here it is again. It works for me.

http://www.immigrate2us.net/

Go where all twittering cows hang out !!!

quote:

Go where all twittering cows hang out !!!

So-B should know. He hangs out there all the time. Must be those big udders he likes LOL