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Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#11

Post by rit »

HelloBeautiful wrote: post #3

If you're in a state that allows gay marriage and have a non-married co-founder with citizenship ... I'd just keep talking with immigration layers, until someone gives me a way out.

Whether you are being serious or not, the Federal Government does not recognize Same Sex marriage (Defense of Marriage Act, I believe) and thus, it cannot be used for immigration purposes.

Not to mention, seeing that the OP is already in hot water with being here illegally, recommending he defraud the government with a fake marriage can only serve to make things worse. Especially as when they see his prior status they are going to look very, very closely at the legitimacy of the marriage.

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#12

Post by nick-dap »

I am in the same boat.

This could be my story, except my parents never managed to legalize, and I couldn't even get a tax id. Lawyers haven't been able to help. I am going to a "big shot" lawyer soon to see what he says, but at this point I'm not holding my breath. I was brought to the states at the age of 12; that was 13 years ago. I'm in limbo, as you.

Forget the Start Visa Act, that's fresh out the oven and even if it did, somehow, manage to make it through the stalemate in Congress, there is no way it would cover people like you and I, who have "broken the law" (we were brought here as children, for the few who will miss the point). Something that _could_ help us is the Dream Act.

In college I started http://dreamact.info It is the biggest community of would be Dream Act beneficiaries and undocumented students. I'm not too proud of what's there at this point -- I always want to do more -- but it's the best I could do with life always catching up. =( I've been in and out of the fray trying to pass this bill and perhaps have some things to share that go beyond the scope of this comment. If you are at all interested in the bill, or just want somebody to share with -- I know it gets very tough -- feel free to contact me at nick at dreamact.info

I hope this gives you hope. Hang in there.

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#13

Post by Mz »

To those folks who keep saying "get married", a couple of questions, out of curiosity:

A) Did you even read the entire post? He states his lawyer has already recommended that and he has already ruled it out.

B) Do you realize this is a public forum and (assuming you are in the US) you can be potentially tracked down and theoretically charged for encouraging someone to break the law?

------

To the OP: I have tried to do some googling. Law is not my strong point and I'm not finding what I want, but I am curious if there is a means to seek amnesty based on the fact that you were brought here as a child, so had no real choice in immigrating illegally. If I find something to point you to, I will post it. If not, please consider researching that angle as well.

Best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#15

Post by [deleted] »

Mz wrote: post #13

To those folks who keep saying "get married", a couple of questions, out of curiosity: A) Did you even read the entire post? He states his lawyer has already recommended that and he has already ruled it out. B) Do you realize this is a public forum and (assuming you are in the US) you can be potentially tracked down and theoretically charged for encouraging someone to break the law? ------ To the OP: I have tried to…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#16

Post by petervandijck »

nikcub wrote: post #5

you didn't mention the most important aspect of this story: your country of origin. things are very different for those from, for eg. australia vs being from, for eg. columbia sounds like you need to either pay somebody to marry you, or sneak out of the country and go to a third-nation, live there for a while and apply for residence via your parents from there could be possible that they don't know you were in the US…

It's Colombia, with an O :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#17

Post by shareme »

You need to talk to some Angel/VCs as they face these set of issues of founders and may have answers the normal HN crowd may not..

Okay people that are approachable, I would say go local if there are VC/Angels in your geographical area.

It may be that one of the VC/Angels that you contact may be able to help you reach the $250k Startup Visa Act precondition.

Sorry that I do not have more in-depth answers.

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#18

Post by petervandijck »

lightblade wrote: post #9
petervandijck wrote: post #8

Pay someone to marry you for the papers. Divorce afterwards.

That is not an option. Fraudulent marriage is punishable by fine and imprisonment in the US. Your USCIS interviewer will go to GREAT length to check whether your marriage is legit. By GREAT length, I mean they will come to your home at 4 AM in the morning, knock on your door, just to see the 2 of you having sex.

Of course it is an option, if it wasn't your interviewer wouldn't drop by at 4AM :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I (illegal immigrant/programmer) get legal status in US?

#20

Post by wolfrom »

nikcub wrote: post #5

you didn't mention the most important aspect of this story: your country of origin. things are very different for those from, for eg. australia vs being from, for eg. columbia sounds like you need to either pay somebody to marry you, or sneak out of the country and go to a third-nation, live there for a while and apply for residence via your parents from there could be possible that they don't know you were in the US…

Maybe it's because I'm Canadian, but I've never been checked on my way out of the US. My first thought on this was to enter Canada and go home from there (detouring around the US on your return flight).

I've actually called US Customs and Immigration before to discuss visas and status. As you're not identifying yourself in the call, you might be able to get a feel for whether or not you would have trouble leaving the country and then getting sponsored.

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