Destin, FL Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The answer is that your sister needs to get in touch with a qualified attorneynow. Looks like your sister's husband has had a detainer (hold) placed against him under a program called Secure Communities. So when the county is done with him, the immigration authorities will assume custody and they will then decide what to do with him. Sounds like he would be eligible to have an application for adjustment of status considered based on his marriage to a US citizen, but if that is going to happen he needs to put a plan in place immediately to see that the case is handled correctly. Once the tail light issue is resolved with the county, his case will be considered by the immigration authorities. The plan here should be to get obtain an attorney to represent him on the criminal matter and the immigration matter in an effort to make things as smooth as possible. If nothing is done, the likelihood is that your sister's husband will be picked up by the immigration authorities, taken to an immigration detention center and placed before an Immigration Judge and processed for removal. So rather than wait for that to happen, take the bull by the horns, hire someone who can help and effectuate the plan on his terms rather than whatever dictate the government will put in place. Certainly no one can promise the resolution that your sister and her husband want most (i.e. being permitted to remain in the US on a permanent basis). But the quicker that a qualified and competent attorney is put on the job, the quicker your sister and her husband can rest assured that their case will be handled and that your sister's spouse will not be summarily deported and removed from the US.

Yes.  H1B visas are dual-status.  That is, they can be treated as immigrant or as non-immigrant visas.  In this case, because you are in F1 status, the H1B application will be treated as a non-immigrant visa change of status application.  You would not risk losing your student status just for applying.  Of course, once the change of status application is approved and your H1B employment begins, you would in fact lose your F1 status and switch to H1B status, but that is the point of the application.

If you moved back to Canada in 1995 with no visits or sporadic visits to the U. S. since then, you would have lost your green card long ago. You would probably have to start the process all over again of immigrating to the States. If your children are U. S. citizens and over the age of 21, they could conceivably petition for your immigration. If they were 18 years or older at the time that you married with your 2nd wife, however, they would not be able to petition for her. In that situation, you would have to immigrate first and sponsor your wife under the F-2A category for spouses of lawful permanent residents. The backlog before she could enter the States with permanent residence is approximately 2-3 years. 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. t-family:"Albertus Medium","sans-serif"'>