Quote:
Originally Posted by ericsvibe
My wife is from the Dominican Republic. Her first cousin Rachael came to the U.S. Illegally, (she assumed the identity of her sister, who had a valid visa, and then overstayed.) She met an awesome guy and got married. They decided to have her return to the Dominican Republic and then apply to come back. It did take her awhile, because her home country had her do some things first before they would even give her a passport (allot of this was tax related, they wanted to make sure she paid any taxes owed to them, on any income she earned in the U.S., she also had to get a driver's license, etc.) Once she got that taken care of, she applied for a VISA as a spouse of a U.S. citizen. It took her a little over a year to get the approval, and she is now happily in the U.S.
Sometimes, the right way may be a little more painful, but the result is better. She now has permanent resident status, and never has to worry about this again. She should contact the Mexican Consulate to find out what they are going to require her to do upon her return, in order for them to issue a passport.
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It's tough for me to respond to these kinds of threads because I was a legal immigrant (now American citizen) so jumped through all the hoops the feds needed me to jump through. But a couple of thoughts:
1. Reading about others' experiences is a good start, and a good way to get different ideas, but please take all advice from anonymous posters on an anonymous message board (and that includes mine) with a grain of salt. That's not meant to denigrate the previous responses but your issue is complex.
2. You are currently meeting with a few different lawyers and have just spent the past few years wasting time (and presumably money) with an "immigration agency". How do you find a good lawyer who can truly help with your situation? I don't have an answer for that. Given the current climate re: illegals in this country right now, I would be willing to bet that there are plenty of "immigration agencies" and immigration lawyers popping up like dandelions, who are more than willing to take the money handed over by desperate illegals who can afford such services. Many of those same illegals will find themselves in the position you are now in - poorer with three years wasted, and no closer to the solution you seek.
3. Out of everything I've read in this thread, this highlighted paragraph in the quote above is the one that most struck home with me. My gut tells me two things. a) contacting ICE, coming clean with your wife's situation and asking how to make this right is the the best policy b) most illegals won't do that. I don't know if your wife is "most illegals" or not.
There is peace of mind acquired by making this right. By being here legally. By not having to use a SSN that was bought somewhere. By not having to look over her shoulder, not having to hide who and what she is, not having to wonder when and how it's all going to fall apart.
4. Your wife is in this position partly because she was brought here illegally as a young child (so had no say in the matter) and partly because (as an adult) she has made the conscious decision time and again over the course of many years to ignore what she should not have ignored. And now here we are.
5. I encourage you and your wife to make the hard decisions, do the hard work and make whatever sacrifices you need to make in the short term, in order to make this right. She (and you) will not regret it.
Best of luck to you both.
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