Do the ‘waive’ and stay in U.S.
QI understand that President Obama’s stateside waiver program has made it easier to get a green card if you were here illegally. Can you explain the program?
Tasha, by email A Most people who entered the United States without being inspected by an immigration officer must return home for their immigrant visa interview. If they have been here illegally more than 180 days, they face a three or 10-year bar to returning.
The “provisional stateside waiver” allows some immigrant visa applicants to apply to for a waiver of the “unlawful presence” bar to permanent residence while in the United States. This rule benefits applicants who must go home for their immigrant visa interview.
Immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen qualify for a waiver. To get the waiver, they must prove that their leaving would pose “extreme hardship” to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent. Under the stateside processing program, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will consider an immediate relative’s waiver request before applicants leave for their interview abroad. Then, the
interview at the consulate is routine.
QSomeone brought my girlfriend here at age 3, using another person’s passport. I am a U.S. citizen. If we marry, how does she get a green card?
O.H., New York City
AOnce you marry, your girlfriend should apply for a green card through “adjustment of status,” the process of interviewing in the United States for permanent residence. With just a few exceptions, the spouse of a U.S. citizen who was “inspected and admitted” when he or she entered the country qualifies to adjust status. Even entry with another person’s passport is an inspection and admission. She will need to convince USCIS or an immigration judge that she was inspected at entry. Since she was too young to have known about the fraud, it shouldn’t be a factor.
Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New York’s Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com.