We have consulted two different attorneys and advices are contradictories between each other. These are the facts:
A friend of mine filed a Political Asylum application. This application was a late filing application. An Immigration Judge decided her case and the Immigration Judge DENIED the case based on: LATE FILING, POOR EVIDENCE AND NO MERITS. My friend appealed her case with the Board of Immigration Appeals and her case was DENIED. At this time, she does not want to file a Review since her case has no merits. She is willing to leave the country; however she has a house and different things to get done before departure from the United States. Here are my questions:
At this stage, can she apply for a VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE? If she,
Does any one know what the procedure is?
Is it a good idea for her just to leave the country immediately without informing to Immigration or the Immigration court about her departure?
I really appreciate if anyone can help me with a guidance…thanks.
P.S.: An Immigration Judge in Atlanta Georgia decided her case back on 09/2006. Board of Immigration Appeals denied her case and she received the notice of denial on April 3, 2008.
Originally posted by Javi: I need your help on this matter:
We have consulted two different attorneys and advices are contradictories between each other. These are the facts:
A friend of mine filed a Political Asylum application. This application was a late filing application. An Immigration Judge decided her case and the Immigration Judge DENIED the case based on: LATE FILING, POOR EVIDENCE AND NO MERITS. My friend appealed her case with the Board of Immigration Appeals and her case was DENIED. At this time, she does not want to file a Review since her case has no merits. She is willing to leave the country; however she has a house and different things to get done before departure from the United States. Here are my questions:
At this stage, can she apply for a VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE? If she,
Does any one know what the procedure is?
Is it a good idea for her just to leave the country immediately without informing to Immigration or the Immigration court about her departure?
I really appreciate if anyone can help me with a guidance…thanks.
P.S.: An Immigration Judge in Atlanta Georgia decided her case back on 09/2006. Board of Immigration Appeals denied her case and she received the notice of denial on April 3, 2008.
A voluntary deportation order is where an immigration judge grants the deportation order to the immigrant who lost the case in a deportation hearing. Generally, if a voluntary departure order is granted by the judge, it is no more than 60 days, but if you enter a plea with a USCIS trial attorney, it can be up to 120 days before the completion of the deportation hearing. I am not sure why there are two different opinions if the facts were presented two different ways and one thinks there might be merits to reopen the case. However, this is very risky to pursue given that the case was denied because of merits and late filing.
Best advice for your friend since he/she does not want to pursue any additional legal action is to make all final arrangements for personal effects to be stored or shipped to whatever address your friend has now.
At her hearing the judge must have given her choices on how to leave. Do you know which one she decided on?
Its not a great idea to just leave without letting DHS know, just in case there is a chance she wants to come back in the future.
Unfortunately, there are so many people out there in her situation. Asylum, cases do not merit anymore. The worst part is there are many lawyers out there convincing clients that they have a chance with this form of relief.
Add to del.icio.us
