moving to the us ( please help & advise welcome )

[davey747]

Hi to all i am in need of help and general information to do with immigration to the us

here is the background

I first met this lady called Briana via a Christian Chat room on the internet in June of 2003 and over that summer we chatted ever chance we got ether by chat room , email or phone so i took a chance and wondered if i could meet up so in September of 2003 i flew out to Littlerock which is in the state of Arkansas whee i spent the next 10 days meeting her and all her friends and letting them get to know me and over those days we both ended up falling in love with each other . when it was time for me to fly back to England i asked if i could fly out for Christmas and come December 2003 i flew back over to Littlerock to spend Christmas and made the decision and asked Briana if she would marry me she said yes


so in January i once more returned to England and began looking at the paperwork process so i started to try to save up the money and although i wasn't in a good paying job i tried to put money away so as the months went on nothing really had gotten done i wasn't really working and briana was still in university so i came over in November 2004 for a friends wedding and inquired if i could sort out the paperwork from the us end and there reply was that as long as we were working on the paperwork i could stay so i stayed and in January 2005 we were married and not long after that Briana discovered she was pregnant So we tried very hard to do the paperwork but to no joy so we came to a decision and in June 2006 i moved back over to England to look into the process and do this the right way

do here i am January 2008 wanting to know if it is still possible to move back over to the us to be a family with my wife and 2 year old son i am in a good job and putting money away each week for all the paperwork but i am very confused but the process i have been told i have to fill out a i-130 form i want know if this is correct cause i don't have to fill out that form it is my wife who dose all i want to know want to know what form i need to fill out where i can get it from and how much will it cost i believe it falls under a settlement visa type of thing but again i want to make sure

please any advise or help is welcome

thank you once agaiin

David

[Marco 72]

Hi David,

Did you ever try to consult an immigration attorney, or find out what the rules were? It sounds like you married a US citizen while travelling under the Visa Waiver Program. This is perfectly legal if you didn't plan it in advance, but has its disadvantages. One of them is that you must stay in the US until your application for Adjustment of Status (AOS) is approved. If you leave any time before then your application will be deemed abandoned and you may incur a ban.

In your case it sounds like you overstayed in the US by more than a year, which results in an automatic 10 year ban. It's still possible to get an immigrant visa while subject to a ban, but only if there is hardship on the US citizen.

You should really have a consultation with a good US immigration attorney.

I suggest you also post on the following forum, where you may get more detailed advice

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35

[Administrator]

.

[ ... ] i came over in November 2004 for a friends wedding and inquired if i could sort out the paperwork from the us end and there reply was that as long as we were working on the paperwork i could stay so i stayed and in January 2005 we were married and not long after that Briana discovered she was pregnant So we tried very hard to do the paperwork but to no joy so we came to a decision and in June 2006 i moved back over to England to look into the process and do this the right way [ ... ]

This part I think requires quite a bit more explanation.

"working on the paperwork" means actively attempting to get it completed, submitted and processed. Rather specifically, it should have been submitted (and documented as such) prior to your visit visa expiring.

In all that time (18 months) there should have been some communications back from immigration.

What was happening? What responses did you get?

Marco pointed out that overstaying by more than 12 months is an automatic 10-year ban. ONE way to get around that: you need to prove that you did not overstay that long. Did you have any permission to be in the U.S. after your 90-day visit visa expired?

If you had permission to be in the U.S. until a day in June 2005 that puts you in the U.S. for less than 365 days at the time you left in June 2006, then you are subject to a 3 year ban (which is at least half over now). Also, an overstay of under a year is a little bit easier to get exceptions to, if you can provide suitable explanations and reasons for an exception.


You entered "in November 2004." What day did your 90 days expire?

Did you submit your application before then?

Did you obtain any permission from anyone to be in the U.S. after that time?

Was your application actually being processed in that time, and can you prove for how long?

Did you ever get any determination on your application? Did you get a negative one? If so, did you file an appeal?

One problem you are facing is that it is very suspicious that you did not "plan" to get married on your visit visa. Make sure your story is P E R F E C T regarding that detail.


Since June 2006, what have you been doing regarding your application? What responses have you received in the past 18 months?

the Admin