It’s a taxing situation

QMy U.S. citizen husband wants to petition for me to get a green card, but he hasn’t paid taxes for many years. Can I nevertheless become a permanent resident? He has a good job, but he confessed that he hasn’t been filing tax returns.

Beverly, by email U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may want to see your husband’s one year’s tax returns. His failure to file tax returns, won’t by itself, keep you from becoming a permanent

Aresident. USCIS is not in the business of enforcing tax laws. However, to get a green card, you must prove that you can live here without income-based public assistance. Your husband must file an affidavit of support for you. The law allows affidavits from a friend or relative if the petitioner doesn’t show enough income. But given that your husband is working, USCIS may insist on seeing one year’s return. Because I could prove that I would be persecuted if I returned to my country, in 2012 I was granted

QWithholding of Removal. Since 2012, I have had to check in regularly with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Should I be afraid of deportation because of the new Trump enforcement policies? Name withheld, Clarksville Ind. Stay out of trouble, and you can continue to live here with Withholding of Removal status. It would be a big hassle for the government to try to take it away. You qualify for withholding if you face a clear probability that you will be persecuted if returned to your home country. ICE would need to reopen your case. That’s something they rarely do, unless an individual commits a particularly serious crime. Withholding of Removal is an alternative to asylum. It is granted to individuals who will be persecuted in their home country but who don’t qualify for asylum because of something negative in their past. Examples are people who lied on an asylum claim, or committed minor crimes. Unlike asylees, Withholding of Removal does not lead automatically to a green card.