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Oh my god, you guys really freak me out, am I going to deported? Is USCIS just spend that long time to prepare deport document? It seems like I am here to waiting for a dead news. I have family here, what can I do? I will find a lawyer definitely, but I am really scared now.
Oh my god, you guys really freak me out, am I going to deported? Is USCIS just spend that long time to prepare deport document? It seems like I am here to waiting for a dead news. I have family here, what can I do? I will find a lawyer definitely, but I am really scared now.
I'm sorry, but you needed to get scared. I see so much bad advice on these kinds of message boards, mostly from well-meaning people who can't believe our immigration system is as unforgiving as it is. You needed to take this seriously, and I'm glad you are doing so now.
First, I hope you kept a copy of your I-485 adjustment of status application. Go back and look at it, and see whether you answered no to that question. If you answered yes, things might still get complicated, but you're pretty safe. If you answered no, find that lawyer soon to start looking at some strategies.
They may sit on your case for a long time. They could even overlook the whole thing and go ahead and grant the naturalization. But in this day and age, I don't see that happening based on the facts you've presented. They could deny the naturalization but take no further action on your permanent residence. That would be an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and could happen, depending on a lot of factors. But if they flag it as fraud, they are likely to try to rescind your permanent residence, and that's what can start the deportation process.
Where a lawyer can help you now rather than later is to size up the specific facts of the case and, depending on what office you are processing through and other factors that might be present, the lawyer may advise to affirmatively address the issue, and work with USCIS to get to a settlement. If you can show that the mistake on the application was innocent, that would help a lot. Your specific facts, and the attitude of the USCIS office that has your naturalization application are what the lawyer would be looking at
Deportation is not imminent, but is a very real danger in your case. Get help.
Please provide verifiable corroboration of your assertion.
The law is often not easily packageable in a nice little narrative on a website somewhere. There is a long line of case law on what constitutes material misrepresentation on an immigration application, and this falls squarely within that line of cases. Some research on Lexis or Westlaw would bring it forward. Lawyers in this field are fully familiar with it, as it's a too-frequent part of their practices.
Then there's the statute, which makes clear at section 212(e) that failure to fulfill or waive the foreign residency requirement renders a person inadmissible as a permanent resident. That's why the question is asked on the application. And why answering no when the answer was yes is a big "gotcha". Indeed, that's why that whole list of questions is there, starting on page 3 of the form at http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/f...form/i-485.pdf . Look at those questions--1.a for example. Who would ever admit that they committed a crime for which they were not arrested? Questions like that are there so that, if the government later discovers that the answer really was yes, they can come back and rescind your status.
Then there's what happens if you apply for naturalization. They actively go back and re-look at your permanent residence application to find exactly this sort of thing. That's what happened to the OP, and why the adjudicator flagged the J-1 residency requirement. If they find something like this, they look at how egregious it is, along with other factors.
A lot of what USCIS does is governed by internal guidance memos. There was one issued on November 7, 2011, number PM-602-0050, that addressed this scenario. Look at page 8 of http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/f...11-7-11%29.pdf . That memo gives a broad outline of when they might institute removal proceedings. (The NTA referenced is a "Notice to Appear", the filing of which starts deportation proceedings.)
You have to piece it all together, but that's what lawyers do. And, as I said, there's no nice narrative on a public site that puts it all together, but the bottom line is well known among lawyers who do this kind of work. And offering reassurances to this apparently very nice OP who made a mistake does him no favors when he needs to be getting ready to protect himself.
Oh my god, you guys really freak me out, am I going to deported? Is USCIS just spend that long time to prepare deport document? It seems like I am here to waiting for a dead news. I have family here, what can I do? I will find a lawyer definitely, but I am really scared now.
Calm down. Get all your documentation together and retrace what you have done; check every box you marked, check every answer you gave. Then look for an immigration attorney and have an initial consultation which should be free of charge.
Again, citations/statistics please. Repeating something doesn't make it fact.
No stats are that refined. But this law review note, which discusses the split among circuit courts on whether a statute of limitations applies here, mentions on page 1344 under II the "many occasions" on which removal has been initiated even beyond the 5-year limit on administrative rescission. http://www.columbialawreview.org/wp-...0/Zaragoza.pdf
I'm sorry, but you needed to get scared. I see so much bad advice on these kinds of message boards, mostly from well-meaning people who can't believe our immigration system is as unforgiving as it is. You needed to take this seriously, and I'm glad you are doing so now.
First, I hope you kept a copy of your I-485 adjustment of status application. Go back and look at it, and see whether you answered no to that question. If you answered yes, things might still get complicated, but you're pretty safe. If you answered no, find that lawyer soon to start looking at some strategies.
They may sit on your case for a long time. They could even overlook the whole thing and go ahead and grant the naturalization. But in this day and age, I don't see that happening based on the facts you've presented. They could deny the naturalization but take no further action on your permanent residence. That would be an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and could happen, depending on a lot of factors. But if they flag it as fraud, they are likely to try to rescind your permanent residence, and that's what can start the deportation process.
Where a lawyer can help you now rather than later is to size up the specific facts of the case and, depending on what office you are processing through and other factors that might be present, the lawyer may advise to affirmatively address the issue, and work with USCIS to get to a settlement. If you can show that the mistake on the application was innocent, that would help a lot. Your specific facts, and the attitude of the USCIS office that has your naturalization application are what the lawyer would be looking at
Deportation is not imminent, but is a very real danger in your case. Get help.
Actually I passed everything to a immigration lawyer for my green card application, I just checked the I-485 and that is "No" they filed, but I don't know anything about that, and the lawyer never mentioned that issue. They helped me to fill all application and filed for me, I am kind of innocent. I am luck to get green card, but not lucky this time. That lawyer has already retired, so I cannot find him, but I have all copy of my application with this lawyer's information. I will try to find another immigration lawyer next week, and I am so scared now.
Don't be. The poster producing the scare cannot produce anything to support his assertion that this is a serious situation which will result in your citizenship application being refused and your green card revoked. Permanent resident alien status is revoked for serious offenses as in felony crimes. The whole process is very backed up now and a simple review (such as is the case here) takes a while. Relax.
Don't be. The poster producing the scare cannot produce anything to support his assertion that this is a serious situation which will result in your citizenship application being refused and your green card revoked. Permanent resident alien status is revoked for serious offenses as in felony crimes. The whole process is very backed up now and a simple review (such as is the case here) takes a while. Relax.
Suit yourself. But I hope that the OP follows through and consults a lawyer.
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