Blakely, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

Your question requires an attorney consultation. It is not a simple question that can be answered on this type of forum. There are many factors that would need to be considered and evaluated. I strongly suggest that you contact an experienced immigration/criminal defense attorney for a face-to-face consultation and give him/her all of the facts surrounding your arrest/case/situation. He/she would then be in a better position to analyze your case, (and) advise you of your options (and, if possible, make sure that the necessary paperwork and documentation is presented so as not to delay the process).

While I respect that you and your fianc? face financial challenges, the situation you described presents significant risks and it would be a mistake for you and your fianc? to try to pursue adjustment of status without engaging an immigration lawyer. Very recently the USCIS announced that it will apply a high level of scrutiny to marriage-based adjustment of status cases where the foreign national spouse entered the U.S. with a visa requiring "nonimmigrant intent," i.e. an intention to remain only temporarily and then depart, and then soon took steps indicating an intention to remain temporarily. A visitor's visa (or entering from Canada with TN status) requires nonimmigrant intent. Marrying a U.S. citizen is an event reflecting immigrant intent, and the USCIS may deem your fiance to have fraudulently entered the U.S. by misrepresenting his intention. Immigration fraud can have very harsh consequences, including a permanent bar to immigration benefits. An applicant can try to persuade immigration officials that he had nonimmigrant intent, but understandably changed his mind after learning his girlfriend is pregnant. That becomes more challenging when immigration officials at the border already suspected immigrant intent even before he knew you were pregnant. There are several options that may be appropriate to consider to achieve your goal of living together and raising a family in the U.S., with your husband attaining Permanent Resident status (i.e. getting a "Green Card"). There really is no substitute for you and your fiance to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information, could advise about eligibilities, options and strategies to attain your goals, and who then could offer legal representation in the often complex application process.

Best wishes for your upcoming marriage. A U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident may sponsor a spouse for immigration in the Family-based Second Preference (F2A) visa category. According to the February, 2017 Visa Bulletin issued by the U.S. Department of State, there is a visa backlog in this category (visas now are available for applicants who filed their I-130 on or before April 15, 2015), and until the Visa Bulletin shows that an applicant's Priority Date has been reached, an I-485 application for adjustment of status application cannot be filed. There is no visa backlog for spouses of U.S. citizens, who qualify for the Immediate Relative visa category. One option may be to file a Form I-130 now in the F2A category, and if your spouse becomes naturalized before your Priority Date becomes current you could request that the visa category become upgraded to Immediate Relative. There are many details that should be considered in addressing immigration application strategies, including information about your own current immigration status, and the application process often is significantly more complex than it might appear from just reading the material posted online by the USCIS and reading the immigration regulations. It would be wise for you and your fiance to consult with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant information about you and your fiance, would advise about immigration eligibilities, options and strategies and could offer legal representation in the application process (perhaps including representing your fiance in the naturalization application process to help assure that it becomes successful at the earliest possible time). Some immigration law firms, including mine, offer legal services on a "flat fee" basis so that a client will know the total expense from the very beginning, and a few immigration law firms, including mine, offer an initial consultation free of charge.