Dania, FL Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

Hello,   You do not say how long you overstayed in the U.S before you left the country and triggered the unlawful presence bar. The unlawful presence bar requires you to stay outside of the U.S. for 3 years, if your overstay in the U.S. was from 180 days to one year, and up to 10 years if your overstay was more than one year, and you left the U.S. and tried to obtain a green card. You would only make your case more difficult if you tried to renter the country illegally, even if you married an American citizen. Depending on your immigration and criminal history you may be able to file for an unlawful presence waiver and it would be advisable for you to discuss your case details and future plans with an experienced immigration lawyer in your local city before you make any decisions. If you are granted this waiver, you would be able to return to the U.S. to join your spouse without  having to remain abroad for the three or ten years time frame. Good luck.   This information is of a general nature and is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. Please consult your immigration attorney with your specific case details for legal advice for your situation.

My suggestion would be that you speak with a US immigration attorney before taking any action. Sounds like you were a resident alien (a/k/a lawful permanent resident) for an extended period of time and may have "abandoned" that status as a result of your absence from the US for as long as you were away. On the other hand, you may not have abandoned that status if the only purpose for your extended time away was to attend school and then return to the US. The easiest way out of this situation is for you to not be considered to have abandoned status and for the US consulate to provide you with evidence that you maintain status as a resident so that you can return to the US. If that does not happen, the you may likely need to have mom or dad file a visa petition on your behalf and start all over again. Having some effective advocacy here may assist greatly with the hoops that you may need to jump through in order to find a workable solution to your situation and I would suggest that the best place to start is with a good immigration attorney. Good luck.

Hello Joanna. If you are a US citizen, and you marry your boyfriend, and he entered the United States with a visa, then you can sponsor him for his green card, and he can process his case without going back to his country. This is true despite that he is out of status now. Some of us charge a very affordable flat fee rate to handle the case from start to finish.