Hey guys,
Can someone help me out please?
I married to a US citizen, and i was wondering if anyone has filed their permanent residency without a lawyer, i heard that its too much paperwork to fill and file, but cannot afford to hire a lawyer to do this for me, he is asking $800 upfront then $1200 after that, and there is no way!!. I cannot work right now for obvious reasons,i have no parents to help me out either! my husband has a job but he has to pay the morgage and other bills, and getting a lawyer would put us in debt!! My visa is about to run out on top of all of this!!
Is there anyone who has filed their permanent residency themselves, or am i the only unfortunate one? ???
Any ideas i would appreciate!
You don't need a lawyer unless you have a shady past, eg criminal record.
The forms basically ask for biographical information. If you use a lawyer, you still have to supply this info to them.
I didn't use an immigration lawyer either myself, you might try the local Catholic Charities group as they helped me and Christine a whole load for very little money. They tend to have tame immigration lawyers and whatnot who can help you.
Incidentally, be prepared to wait a very long time indeed for the magic Green Card, mine took 18 months or so to sort out.
Thanks for the info guys!
No i dont have a criminal record, all im worried about is that my visa will expire whilst filing all these damn froms!!
Right now im looking at the INS website,im overwhelmed by the number of forms i have to file?? I-485 permanent residency, whats the I-130 petition for alien relative whats that about?? and I864 Affadavit of support?
jeez im so confused!!!
I did it without a lawyer also. It's been a while for me, but I just remember lots of forms to fill out and lots of application fees! eek
You don't have to worry about you VWPP expiring as overstays are forgiven for spouse of US citizens.
Your husband needs to file an I-130 petition if you are not currently the beneficiary of any petition. This will be the case if you arrived as a tourist, rather than with a fiancé visa. And you need to file an I-485 to adjust your status from tourist to immigrants. The I-864 is a contract between your spouse and the US government that you won't become a public charge. It's a very important document and it seems to get more scrutiny than any other.
When looking at the INS pages, you'll want to check out the procedures of the local INS office that you'll be dealing with. This governs how you go about adjusting status.
One thing I meant to mention about using an attorney - if you were questioned by the INS officer at the airport when you arrived in the US, and you told him that you would be returning to the UK before your three months were up, you may wish to consult an immigration attorney. The same applies if you were already married before arriving in the US.
Hiya,
PHEW! I was worried about my visa expiring than anything else, so thanx for the info Ameriscot. I feel alot better now. All i need to do now is type those forms and print them out.
Once again, thanx!
But don't wait too long - you don't want to antagonise the INS lol
Britgirl - where are you? if you go to http//www.google.com and type "Catholic Charities immigration help" all manner of places across the US pop up.
Seriously, these guys were great. And no preaching either, which I was kind of expecting not to happen, y'know?
Can i put my two cents in.
According to INS rules, if you apply for your i-130 whilst in the states then, you are deemed to be in a limbo situation, concerning your previous i-94 or 3 visa, in other words as long as you are applying then you can stay indifinately until they either approve or deny your application, also if they deny, you can argue this point in immigration court, this in itself takes at least a month, then if they deny you, you can argue the point with the immigration board, all in all as long as you are applying or appealing through the courts or boards you are eligble to stay! hope this helps.
Also on another note, i was going to do the same thing as you, but bear in mind you need to do the following, Change your status, i have attached a website from INS, you must read this to be totally prepared, it is not as easy as everyone here as said.
http//www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/LPRApplication.htm
Bear in mind you will be classed as "Otherwise Eligible", which means that you stayed beyond your visa exp date and also that you entered the country on a I-94, but this is fine with the INS, as long as you either said nothing to the Customs official or at least didn't mention anything about staying or going you should be fine, even if you did as Ameriscot mentioned a lawyer can help, and even then the INS are still lenient.
Below is another site at INS that you need to read carefully, both sites explain what you must do and if you are eligiable to change your status within the states.
http//www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/lpreligibility.htm
also one last thing, the site below is a site based ins site list, it should have a list of pro-bono orgs that can offer support. Just find the area that discribes where you are living and then go to ther help secton and there should be the list of pro-bono help.
http//www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/alphaa.htm
Hope this all helps, if you need any other help, my own e-mail is luke.dollard@circle33.org
Well I adjusted my status whilst here and collected my documents to allow me to work on Monday of this week.
It's perfectly possible for you to adjust status and without a lawyer as we have done. I don't think there is any such thing as a *clean* entry into the US as I was asked about overstaying and whilst I was able to provide written proof of my ties to the UK (I didn't INTEND to adjust status.. stuff happend).. like permission from work for my holiday time off.. bills and stuff I still got stopped.
I was incredibly nervous about overstaying my 3 months on my passport but we did it. Ameriscot's advise is pretty much dead on. It's cost us the best part of $550 to file all the required forms you will soon find out that you need to file for like EVERYTHING! If we can be of any help then please send a private message or another post or something.
I wish I had someone to ask who had done this kind of thing before it would of saved a lot of worry. Wish you both well and Im sure everything will be fine.