Walnut Creek, CA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

The more often your daughter visits the US, the higher the probability that an officer may conclude that she is actually an immigrant and not just a visitor, in which case the officer may take her visa away and deport her if she is on US territory. The longest that she will be allowed to stay in the US legally on each visit is 1 year. There is no magic formula; an officer will analyze each situation on a case by case basis. As long as she can prove to the satisfaction of the officer that she is just visiting, then she shouldn't have any problems.

A U.S. citizen may marry a foreign national who entered the U.S. lawfully and with inspection, and then complete the process of Adjustment of Status so that the foreign national may become a Lawful Permanent Resident (i.e. get a "Green Card"). This is true regardless of whether for foreign national's passport may have expired, and regardless of whether the foreign national may have overstayed his visa. If the foreign national is not in valid nonimmigrant status at the time an Adjustment of Status application is filed, he will not be eligible for Advance Parole (a "travel document") for use while the case remains pending, but he will be eligible for an Employment Authorization Document (an "EAD" or "work permit"). The USCIS is inconsistent in the amount of time it takes to process a properly prepared and fully documented application package, but the USCIS's Atlanta Field Office (which handles cases from throughout Georgia and Alabama) generally completes adjudication of these types of cases within about 5 - 7 months. If is a case is not properly prepared or is inadequately documented, there can be significant delays beyond that time period, and there even is a risk of more harsh consequences. It would be wise to engage an immigration attorney to provide representation for the Adjustment of Status process. 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.

Your husband should send a relative to the local civil registry in Mexico to get a letter indicating that a search has been made, but no marriage records are found.