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Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

nytimes.com

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Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#41

Post by aikinai »

jackjeff wrote: post #28
aikinai wrote: post #19

As an American with a foreign-spouse who went through the green card application long before Trump, these stories are heart-breaking but also what I expected. I guess these couples and lawyers were just counting on lax enforcement? But this was never allowed. The article is very light on details, but implies all of these spouses travelled to the US on a visa waiver (or similar) and then applied for a green card. Ente…

So the right process is to request for a K1 fiancé visa which takes over a year?! I can see why people were tempted to cut corners, especially given past tolerance…

Yes, exactly. Your legal options are to either remain separated for one or two years while you wait, or the American can immigrate to the spouse’s country and wait there (since almost every other country is easier to immigrate to).

It's an inhumane system, but as someone heavily impacted by US immigration policy, I'd much prefer they enforce the laws evenly and then fix them where they're broken rather than disadvantaging everyone going through the legal process while those that cheat get to jump ahead.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#42

Post by FuckButtons »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #7
Gabriel_Martin wrote: post #6

Truly brave feat of public service getting those criminals off the street.

Friendly reminder that it's often not possible to differentiate snark or sarcasm from cruel indifference towards fellow human beings on Hacker News.

I don’t know that this reply was warranted, it’s clearly sarcasm.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#43

Post by nxobject »

jmyeet wrote: post #40
quadrium wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's required to overstay, and for the case of student visas, you must abandon the visa when petitioning to adjust status. The terms of the student visa are that you cannot have immigration intentions. When this happens, you're present without a visa, but it's not illegal. You're on a "stay authorized by the attorney general". I'm not sure if that has changed, but the " authorized stay" thing is the defense to being…

This is false. If you get married as an F1 student, it's completely fine (and encouraged) to continue your studies under your F1 visa while your I130 and I485 are pending. There are differences here if you're marrying a US citizen vs a green card holder. If you marry a green card holder, you must maintain your status until you adjust status with your I485. If you marry a US citizen, being out of status is forgiven. I…

> If you discontinue your studies, USCIS (particularly under this administration) might try and argue you obtained your student visa fraudulently to deny your marriage petition. The best thing you can do is complete your studies and then, if applicable, obtain OPT to further maintain status.

There are two things that I'm not sure about:

– Is the distinction between studying (regardless of status), vs. being in status vs. having a visa? Because the three are different: you can enter as a student and study, and have your F-1 expire, and still maintain status per SEVIS.

– IANAL, but you get an EAD upon petitioning for an AOS – does that prevent you from applying for OPT?

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#45

Post by jmyeet »

crystal_revenge wrote: post #38
nxobject wrote: post #2

A note that it's easy to "overstay" a visa when waiting for a green card interview - the wait times are often in the 6-16 month range, and if you leave the country you'll be considered to have abandoned your "petition to adjust status". It's a catch-22, and it looks like the only recourse is for an immigration lawyer to file a habeas corpus petition in federal court.

It's also worth pointing out that the nature of the green card interview is largely up to how the interviewer feels about you. It's a terrifyingly subjective experience. There was an error in my wife's green card application that many people (including myself and our lawyer) should have caught. Our lawyer promised us that during the final interview this could be trivially corrected on the spot. Despite many smiles an…

Errors happens on immigration forms all the time. Many of them aren't a big deal and can be corrected but there's a right and wrong way to do it. Fixable errors include things like failing to mention all your employers that you worked unauthorized or your name having a different spelling in certain cases. Since unauthorized work is forgiven if marrying a US citizen, the omission of employment is a correctable error.

The right way to fix this is to type out the questions you want to correct into a document (called an errata sheet) with the corrected answers and to hand that to the visa officer with your ID at the start of the interview. The reason you want to do this is you want a paper record that you volunteered this information. Anything verbal can be argued that you only revealed such information when confronted and that's a problem.

So I don't know what your issue was. Errors with a divorce could be as serious as you weren't free to marry because at the time you got married your divorce wasn't finalized and that invalidates your entire petition and there's no correcting that.

Another big one is USCIS not believing your divorce is real. this happens if you get divorced in certain countries (eg Ghana, Nigeria) where apparently fradulent divorce decrees are a real problem.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#46

Post by sam-cop-vimes »

I am surprised people are willing to put up with this sort inhumane treatment. A person I know has been waiting for 16+ years for his green card. They've very rarely traveled out of the USA together as a family because they were afraid they might be a problem getting back in. The people I know are not even desperate migrants where this sort of treatment is still better than the lives they are living - yet they still normalise it. When I ask them why they tolerate such draconian conditions, I get answers such as "well, we didn't realise it would take this long" or "this doesn't happen to people like us".

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#47

Post by epistasis »

anon291 wrote: post #23

While I personally find no objection to these spouses remaining here, I don't see what is really supposed to concern me from a legal perspective. There is no right to residency of migration in general. I do agree we ought to change the law to be make it easier for spouses of citizens, but if you overstay a visa you should expect detention. However from a moral standpoint I find the infant child separation abhorrent a…

A capricious, arbitrary, hard to satisfy legal system that's filled with catch-22s doesn't concern you?

Is it because only immigrants and their families are subjected to an unfair legal system, so it doesn't seem to be your concern? In a democracy, the actions of a government are collective. We all bear responsibility for injustice and a corresponding responsibility to pursue a more just system.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#48

Post by crystal_revenge »

jmyeet wrote: post #45
crystal_revenge wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also worth pointing out that the nature of the green card interview is largely up to how the interviewer feels about you. It's a terrifyingly subjective experience. There was an error in my wife's green card application that many people (including myself and our lawyer) should have caught. Our lawyer promised us that during the final interview this could be trivially corrected on the spot. Despite many smiles an…

Errors happens on immigration forms all the time. Many of them aren't a big deal and can be corrected but there's a right and wrong way to do it. Fixable errors include things like failing to mention all your employers that you worked unauthorized or your name having a different spelling in certain cases. Since unauthorized work is forgiven if marrying a US citizen, the omission of employment is a correctable error.…

It had nothing whatsoever to do with the divorce itself, I'm a US citizen and was (legally) divorced for several years before the interview (and my marriage). The error was a typo that the interviewer was informed about well in advance of our interview, and could have been corrected by changing a value in a field which our lawyer informed us had been done many times in the past for other couples.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#49

Post by nxobject »

someperson wrote: post #14
SilverElfin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading that depending on which country you’re from, the waiting time can be years or even decades. Is that true? If so that’s crazy and cruel.

Country of birth does determine the "priority date" waiting list. Specifically for Philippines, Mexico, India and China. Due to demand. Everyone else is in the rest of the world bucket. For those countries (especially India) the wait can be more than a decade. Moving to a points based immigration system without country of birth consideration may one day happen. Depending on what contributes to points it would encoura…

> Moving to a points based immigration system without country of birth consideration may one day happen.

Anything, honestly, to end the need for informal lawyering that even immigrants with straightforward situations still have to do.

Re: Green card interviews end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

#50

Post by aikinai »

sam-cop-vimes wrote: post #46

I am surprised people are willing to put up with this sort inhumane treatment. A person I know has been waiting for 16+ years for his green card. They've very rarely traveled out of the USA together as a family because they were afraid they might be a problem getting back in. The people I know are not even desperate migrants where this sort of treatment is still better than the lives they are living - yet they still…

Supply and demand. The US is by far the top place people want to be, so however poorly they treat applicants, there will still be an infinite supply of people willing to put up with it.
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