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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?

#41

Post by RinseRepeat »

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.

Pretty sure you aren't serious but anyway this isn't true. Speaking from personal experience and the experience of my best friend who also went through this process recently.

They do ask for evidence but it's generally nothing like the movies unless you get targeted for special enforcement or your name gets picked out of a hat.

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

#43

Post by trumbo »

nick-dap wrote: post #37
trumbo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God, I remember when the Dream Act was first introduced. I wrote a story about it for my school newspaper, then started a GeoCities site, and then a newsletter. I thought it would be no time before it would get through. That was over 10 years ago! If it were passed 4 to 10 years from now, which is its apparent trajectory, it would be too late for me to benefit from it. I'm getting less and less optimistic with every…

We got very close to the passage of the bill during the lame duck session (dec 2010). Twenty ten especially was filled with energy and action; that's what got us there. I've seen one thing consistently, we, as a movement, are getting older, smarter, and closer to our goals. Not unlike starting a startup in high school, you are bound to fail, but after 10 years of failing you learn a thing or two. The timeline for the…

Thanks, bro. Reading this made my day. You're awesome for standing up for your friend and giving hope to strangers like me on the internet. With some luck, we'll get through this. My only consolation right now is that I'm not going through this alone. :)

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

#44

Post by charlesdm »

I believe that there are a couple of ways to get in, but for those you need to be outside of the US first. What country are you originally from?

I'm not based in the US. Out of interest, how can you live (and presumably work) there with a tax ID without being in the country legally -- is this never verified?

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

#45

Post by peelle »

silencio wrote: post #35

Get a good immigration lawyer, and go see more than one if possible. They can make all the difference. I can remember the end of the process it took both my parents to get green cards very many years ago when I was a kid. It was with a lawyer that dealt with the case like it was cakewalk where everyone else wouldn't even touch the case for being too complicated (I suspect it was something with prior legal non-arrange…

I wanted to address your marriage comments. First off I do not think people should get married unless they are in love. Marrying for citizenship is terrible in my opinion. Also, below is just my experience. It may not be the norm.

I'm American, born and raised with an immigrant wife(from Asia). When we went into DHS for our interview, we thought "Tons of pictures." == "evidence of love". We were wrong. The interviewer didn't want to see the pictures. She wanted to see our joint property, bank accounts, and utility bills.

The following are guesses on my part. I believe pictures are useless because you can produce a lot in several settings very quickly, and pictures can be doctored. Most importantly if pictures are trusted, they are only a testament to the past, not the present or future.

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

#46

Post by sganesh »

trumbo wrote: post #33
sganesh wrote: post #26

Have you ever witnessed or reported a crime? There is a provision in the US immigration law that lets illegal immigrants to get legalized if that's the case. Edit: or a victim of a crime. There was an investigative news story about this topic, in a la or a sf news paper about a month or so. I am searching for it.

Yes, I have. I was attacked and roughed up by some thugs when I was 15. We reported the case to the police, so I'm sure there is a case about this. Please let me know if you find anything on this!

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b...
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