Immigration Issues That You Need To Be Aware Of

[suzanne4]

please read this closely:

1. the green card will not keep you from getting deported if you break the law in the us, something as simple as a dui can get you deported.

2. a visa out of status for any reason can get you deported. you get stopped for a traffic ticket, and out of status, do not pass go, and you will go to immigration detention.

3. a ssn# that is not a legal number will also get you deported. they are verifying them when you apply for a license.

4. does not matter if you have family, own a home, and a car, and even a business, if you get deported, you will be out of the country shortly, immigration does not care.

right now, ins is in a surge mode to pick up anyone that they find illegal in the us, for what ever reason..........please do not let this happen to you.

in california, they actually have immigration stops set up, and they are picking up people in large numbers. does not matter which country that you are from, how long that you have been in the us, etc. if you do not have a legal document permitting you to be in the us, you will be gone.

please be very careful. and all of the above also goes to nurses that have overstayed visas, immigration does not care. and if you get deported, it will be ten years before you will be able to return.

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after consulting with multiple immigration attorneys, it is not expected that any special visas for nurses will be available until the congress and the house of representatives create new visas, and not until later in the year. there will not be any schedule a visas appearing in the januray bulletin of the uscis until they become available. right now, there is no preference....strictly on where you were born.. if your country does not use up its allotment, then you will be able to get a visa earlier, otherwise all will be waiting. no special cicumstances apply here.

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without having us citizenship, you do not have the same rights as far as immigration. scary, but it is true.

[suzanne4, RN]

Is anybody in here who applied in spetember and has already recieved his/her green card?

Not one that I have heard of. All have their EAD, but not the green card, and that includes those that applied during the summer.

[MARI 1]

i have a green card now for over 21 years , permanent , I am married to an American. What are you saying?

Hi,

What I am saying is that I personally know someone that was in immigration detention and while I was there... waiting and waiting and waiting to visit or attend the court proceedings I had the opportunity to personally speak with the families of many people in immigration detention (federal area in a federal prision) and many of their family members in detention had green cards... the government will take your green card AWAY if you do something wrong. For example one lost his and was deported because he had a DUI he had been in the USA since age three. That person had a business(employees) and owned a home. Another was deported, because he had not completed the process after getting refugee status and allowed his paper work to expire.

The one that really effects those here working on tourist visas, that I personally saw and spoke with family about is:

to all those working illegally in nursing homes, care homes etc. On monday this week I saw a young woman in immigration court that came from the Philippines on a tourist visa... she said she was just helping her brother who was working illegally in a care home in Los Angeles. She arrived one day from Manila (with a tourist visa) spent the night in the care home with her brother and ICE raided the care home the following day.... they were both arrested and taken into custody, she has spent three weeks in immigration detention and is being sent home. I don't think the employer is going to say they convinced you to work for them, they will say that you lied about your status and you will be the one paying the price. Immigration is not playing with people, they are doing sweeps and you will be arrested. So don't work illegally, if you have a green card, don't do anything wrong (even walk away from that argument with your neighbor) because if you get charged and convicted they can take your green card back. If they found out you lied they can take back the green card.

Get your citizenship asap...

Please do advise everyone you know not to play games or try to tell lies to get their papers through. They will catch you and deport you. I sat and watched it with my own eyes...

The detention centers are jails, you are put in with criminals because it is a criminal offense. Many of those in there are not healthy... or clean... for example they have had "chicken pox" going through the place for three months now. It is not worth it.....

[MARI 1]

Does that mean that after passing NCLEX, and doing OPT I have to go home?

There is no chance to get a green card based on work petition? We are back to H1-A/B???

Also, my son got a DUI under 21. In Lousiana it is a misdemeanor, he is F-1 and a freshman in college. I've been told that on immigration forms, just do not lie. Mention the offense and how it was resolved. Any info?

CIAO and thanks

Do not lie....

There are some things that don't really count ie misdemeanor. If he was a juvenile they do take that into consideration. However felony convictions ? they really come down hard on. The other issue is anything to do with drugs is bad... they won't even listen if drugs are involved. You would need to check with your attorney. Under no circumstances lie....

[embarq]

Not one that I have heard of. All have their EAD, but not the green card, and that includes those that applied during the summer.

I personally know a nurse who has applied for AOS in August and got her GC in October. Her husband is affected by retrogression though.

[suzanne4, RN]

I personally know a nurse who has applied for AOS in August and got her GC in October. Her husband is affected by retrogression though.

Sorry, but I would want to see proof on that one. It takes several weeks at the earliest to even have the approval of the I-140, and then there is the approval of the I-485, and the EAD. It usually takes about five weeks at the earliest to get the EAD. Something is definitely not correct here.

I do this on a daily basis, and sorry, until I would see physical proof, I do not buy it. If this nurse was in the US, but the husband was not, they are going to be affected by more than the retrogression, as they could have not been included in her petition in the first place. If they were included and everything was kosher, they would have had their documents, as well as green card at the same time.

This story is not adding up.

[lawrence01]

Green card in 2 months is not the norm and frankly not physically possible.

There must be a mistake or something. Personally know some who are petitioned on that same month or even earlier and all they have is the EAD.

Some people do make mistakes and make wrong presumptions regarding their true status.

For one, there are those who just have a tourist visa and they treat it as if it were a work permit or an EAD and when people see them working they presume that they do have those documents but in reality they only have tourist visas. People doing these do not say they only have tourist visas so they go along w/ the presumptions.

Another one is those who filed for I-140 and brag they got approved in just 2-3 weeks but in reality they only have their notice of receipt and only later find out that it was just recently approved after 2 months (and this is because he was lucky enough to have his file processed in Texas Service Center). These people also do not bother to correct what they have said to save face and this is where the rumors start building-up.

Some, have their EAD granted but since their file is being handled by Nebraska all they have is the EAD (therefore able to work) but their I-140 aren't even approved yet by Nebraska Service Center. Also, some people treat their EAD as if it were a GC already and brag about it as if it really is and rumors start building-up again.

And of course, to complete the whole picture, there are those that who truly have their GC already but treat it as if they are bona fide US citizens already. They are not and are just Legal Permanent Residents (LPR). They are not the same as some think. Some even don't know that they have to apply and pay another fee for it. They think that it's automatic after getting their GC. The process stops at the GC/LPR for foreign nurses. In the Philippines, we still call this Alien Certificate of Registration or ACR and foreigners w/ just ACR are not treated as Filipino Citizens and do not enjoy the benefits of being one until they are naturalized already. Same thing w/ the US' LPR /GC.

[lawrence01]

I'm not even touching yet on the issue of fraudulent US SSN's and green cards and Marriage by convenience. There are a lot of things being done by people who are too desperate and who are running away from something.

Be careful and try to stay away from people who have done so or you may get caught up w/ them. Do not associate yourself w/ such people because the US is suppose to be a land of equal opportunity w/c is one of the reasons we immigrate to the US in the 1st place. If we still continue to associate ourselves w/ such people then it is as if we never left the Philippines.

Everyone just be careful and pick the people you hang out with, esp. on these days when the US Fed (thru ICE) are cracking down on all illegals for security reasons and of course for being an illegal but it is really for homeland security purposes if you ask me. This is not anymore the good times when illegals or in in Tagalog "TNTs" gets away and them on the loose somewhere in the US. All illegals are almost always perceived as a security threat until proven not so, esp. post 9/11.

[lawrence01]

just adding this one as added info. since i've been hearing reports that many have filed their aos within 30 days as advised by their lawyers and they are now advising their friends to do the same. filing for aos successfully doesn't mean it is going to be approved automatically nor does having an ead and working legally using it means the aos will be approved when the time comes that one's aos will be reviewed. just be careful.

aos denials

the second thing to understand about aos is that it is discretionary, not mandatory. it is possible for a person who is technically eligible for immigrant status to nonetheless be denied adjustment of status in the exercise of discretion. the most common instances of such discretionary denials involve cases where the applicant abused the nonimmigrant process.

for example, if a person applies for admission into a school or for a change in nonimmigrant status within 30 days of entry, they are presumed to have acted in bad faith. that is, they had the preconceived intent to make the change and they used an easier to obtain visa in order to evade the normal screening process abroad for the visa they really wanted.

if the application occurs between 30 and 60 days after entry, no presumption is made, but there is a strong suspicion that the person may have acted in bad faith. the case will be scrutinized carefully. if the application occurs more than 60 days after entry, the presumption is that the applicant acted in good faith. both the uscis and the state department reserve the right to re-examine such cases, however, if there is any additional evidence of wrongdoing. if an aos applicant has anything in his or her past visa history that suggests that he or she may have abused the visa process, or otherwise tried to take shortcuts, the uscis has made it clear that they can and will deny such adjustment applications in the exercise of discretion. discretionary aos refusals are not subject to administrative review. while federal court review is theoretically possible, few judges are willing to attempt to substitute their judgment for that of uscis officers in the absence of gross abuse of discretion.

source

[suzanne4, RN]

For the attorneys that I consider reputable, they will not even consider filing a petition for someone from PI until they have been in the US for at least 90 days. That is in truth what is being done. The only way that you see it done earlier is under extenuating circumstances such as when the retrogression was going into effect, etc. The attorneys do not care if you get denied, they still get paid the same money from you. Makes no difference to them.. Same thing with the H1-B visa that we keep hearing about. There are quite a few that have been boasting about their attorney submitting them for it, but not one has come back to say that it was approved. They have not been.

You can choose the information that you care to use, but you need to take responsibility for it. You cannot work on the ITIN#, you cannot work if you do not have a visa in hand, or "your papers". It is illegal if you are being paid in cash, that is another sign that it is under the table.

And another issue, if you get sick and go to the hospital, they will check to see if you are here legally.

[thenurse2006, RN]

suzanne04,speaking of aed , once approved, is it at my own discretion whether i would like to work or not? i would also be able to apply for ss# when i have the ead , and when you got the ssn, ead still has to be renewed when it has expired? is this correct? valid info comes from you. i truly appreciate it.

[suzanne4, RN]

suzanne04,speaking of aed , once approved, is it at my own discretion whether i would like to work or not? i would also be able to apply for ss# when i have the ead , and when you got the ssn, ead still has to be renewed when it has expired? is this correct? valid info comes from you. i truly appreciate it.

depending on how you get the ead. if because of the opt, then it is at your discretion, but that one is not renewed when it expires.

if you go thru the aos process, then you are being petitioned by an employer and are expected to work for them. if not able to work for them, then the ead can be cancelled. and if you do not work for them, it will not be renewed, and can be cancelled.

all eads have a validity of one year or less. and those that can be renewed are done so just bvecause the requirements for the green card have not been completed. it is not something that is normally renewed and renewed and renewed.

[macarena]