Sharpes, FL Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

It is difficult to say what will happen if you leave the US at this point. I assume that you filed for a six-month extension or 180 days. USCIS believes that if the intended period of stay exceeds the time that you are requesting, you should file an application to extend even if the first application is still pending. Perhaps the better route at this time would be to file for a late extension before leaving the country. Generally a person leaving the US during the time of a pending extension would have no problems, but I am not sure that the answer holds for someone leaving the country where he or she has already exceeded the time requested on the pending extension. 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.

For an answer, you must look at the Visa bulletin, a monthly publication by the Department of State. It states the date for each category. The January 2011 visa bulletin indicates 1-1-2002 for 4th preference (USC sibling filing for another), Dominican Republic. This means that a person whose American sibling who filed a family petition before 2002 can now apply for an immigrant visa. In this case, this means about 9 years.

The problem may not be with your having been illegal in the US, but rather the way that you answered the question before the officer. You can be denied naturalization on the basis of a finding of no good moral character where you have not told the officer the truth at the interview. It should also be kept in mind, however, that any misrepresentations should be material – meaning that the misrepresentation should relate to a possible problem on an issue that matters affecting your immigration case. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (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.