European in trouble!! Please help him out

[Riki]

My friend married his US Citizen girlfriend outside USA and then traveled to America to settle down. Once they came, they filed forms I-130 and I-485 to adjust her status to a PR around two years ago.

Now the situation is this: he came to America holding a European Passport and thought that applying to AOS before the allowed 90-day period of stay ended would keep him from violating any immigration law. Recently he had his appointment at the local INS office and was told by the BCIS officer that he knowingly violated the law by doing what he did. Neither answer nor positive news they got from INS at the time of the interview and nothing was clearly stated as a decision. They just said that he is going to receive a letter from BCIS with a decision about her case.

This is a 4 family member household, they have two children one of them was born in America and the older one is from abroad and is actually applying for AOS too.

This seems to be a complicated case and a very worrying one since the children are very young and really want to stay in this country.

Can you please give them any advice regarding this matter?

Thanks

[Riki]

My friend married his US Citizen girlfriend outside USA and then traveled to America to settle down. Once they came, they filed forms I-130 and I-485 to adjust her status to a PR around two years ago.

Now the situation is this: he came to America holding a European Passport and thought that applying to AOS before the allowed 90-day period of stay ended would keep him from violating any immigration law. Recently he had his appointment at the local INS office and was told by the BCIS officer that he knowingly violated the law by doing what he did. Neither answer nor positive news they got from INS at the time of the interview and nothing was clearly stated as a decision. They just said that he is going to receive a letter from BCIS with a decision about her case.

This is a 4 family member household, they have two children one of them was born in America and the older one is from abroad and is actually applying for AOS too.

This seems to be a complicated case and a very worrying one since the children are very young and really want to stay in this country.

Can you please give them any advice regarding this matter?

Thanks

[Riki]

I forgot to mention that my friend (European citizen) did not use a visa since there is a waiver for them, and also that he told the Officer at the interview that he was intending to stay in the country since he had married an American lady.

[aguila18]

If you or your friend is European does not matter to Immigration Authorities, your friend made a big mistake by stating at the interview he had planned to come and stay in the US since by doing this he has admitted that he misrepresent his true intents to the immigration inspector at the port of entry he used to enter the United States.

I am not European but did came on VISA WAIVER PROGRAM and at the AOS interview the immigration officer asked me why did I come to the US and I said for pleasure and then I met my wife here, however, that was my true intent on my trip to the US. But that was your friend must have said on his interview.

[moondin]

your friend (is it a he or a she, your post is confusing at times) screwed up big time by not consulting a lawyer, and volunteering info which has now gone on his record and proves he violated immigration laws.

Chances of a successful AOS is pretty **** slim now. He might not get arrested and detaind, but he might get a notice for a voluntary departure saying he commited fraud, and should leave as soon as possible. He could appeal, etc. etc. But it's best he NOW gets a good lawyer to untangle the mess his one sentence caused.

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[Riki]

Well... thanks for your replies. By saying he is a European citizen I just wanted to let you know that he did not need a visa to enter the US, nothing else...

My thoughts on this about this case are that not always is worth it to be a honest person in the sense of telling the true. To me, my friend's mistake started from the time he married outside the country, it would have been better for him to get a fiancée visa if he did not want to wait for long to get his GC in his county. What happens is that since they were not in the country they did not know all this immigration stuff. His wife, who is the American citizen, was born in Arizona but she had lived in another country since she was 1 or 2 years old.

On top of everything there is something that really worsens this situation, both of them come from a country which is not very welcome to many people around the world even though Aguila18 said that being a Citizen from Europe wouldn't really help being from a black listed country ...

[NYCImmParalegal]

Applying for political asylum is very very difficult. As unwelcoming as this country may be, most European countries would not be considered as breeding grounds for political asylees.

[moondin]

well there is hope. If he gets fully rejected and heaven forbid, gets thrown into deportation proceedings...

he can get a good lawyer and appeal it and argue that his mistake was not in malice. He didn't mean to hurt the USA -- but was merely ignorant of how the US immigration law works.

9 times out of 10 judges will forgive it. since he wasn't planning on some powerful illegal operation. Plus it was his own words which proves he believed it was legal.

But get a good lawyer, i mean he'll get his GC eventually, but now he's gonna have to pay money and build a "case" to defend himself.

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