Dalton, GA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

ICE responds to complaints in its own time. It is even more aggressive these days in following up on complaints, and so it will likely work very quickly if you gave a good location. On the other hand, ICE also has much more work to do given the President's priority to move undocumented immigrants en masse from the country, and so that may slow down its response time. As with all undocumented immigrants, the coyote would be entitled to a hearing before the immigration court to determine his deportability. Working under the table is generally not used as a ground of deportability in the type of situation you describe, as that has more to do with the taxing authorities. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.  

I recommend speaking with an immigration attorney regarding your situation. If you are planning on getting married, you would be able to file a petition for him as an immediate relative. Whether he would qualify to adjust status while in the United States depends on several factors including whether he entered legally or without inspection. If he entered without inspection, he may still be able to qualify through 245i, which is a provision in the INA. This is a narrow provision and may be an option depending on when he entered and whether a petition has been filed on his behalf. If not, there are still other options you may pursue. I highly recommend speaking with an immigration attorney regarding your case so you can determine your best course of action.

Approval of a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative does not, by itself, create a new immigration status, authorization to remain in the U.S., authorization to be employed, or authorization to travel abroad and re-enter the U.S. Instead, it is just one step in a two-step process of seeking to become a Permanent Resident (getting a "Green Card"), and the other step is filing a Form I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status. For the parent of a U.S. citizen, where the parent already is in the U.S. following a lawful entry and inspection, the two applications should have been filed concurrently, and along with them your parent should have filed an Application for an Employment Authorization Document ("EAD" or "work permit") and, if at that time he was "in status," he could have filed an Application for Advance Parole (a "travel document"). The EAD and Advance Parole are issued by the USCIS within 90 days of filing. If you and your parent were to file the Adjustment of Status, Application for EAD and Application for Advance Parole now, your parent could expect to receive an EAD and Advance Parole by late-January. Note: applications for an EAD and Advance Parole may be filed only in conjunction with an adjustment of status application; they cannot be filed solely with a Form I-130 Petition. Although more information is needed in order to provide a full analysis and accurate advice, generally it is necessary and desirable for a parent of a U.S. citizen in these circumstances to file the applications while in the U.S. There are no steps available for expediting adjudication of the case(s) based upon a pregnancy or similar matter. It sounds like your family is not sufficiently informed of the immigration application steps. Having failed to file the Form I-485 application (and related applications) with the Form I-130 Petition will cause significant delay in achieving your parent's goals, and other steps you might be contemplating (such as going abroad to await approval of the Form I-130 Petition) could have harsh consequences. For something as important as achieving immigration goals, it really is a mistake for your family to go forward without working with an immigration attorney; if you had obtained legal advice from the outset, your parent already could have obtained employment authorization and would be much closer to becoming a Permanent Resident too.