I see one from Manny. Manny Rodriguez asked, "My wife and I are going to our adjustment status interview soon and we're wondering if it'll help bring her case if we bring our daughter along?"
I think a birth certificate is plenty good for that. I don't know that you necessarily need to bring the child. If it's a little baby you can bring them, but a lot of times I've seen officers tell people to have the kid go out in the hall. So you might want to just leave the kid with a babysitter. If you have a birth certificate for the child, they're going to take you at face value and believe that the marriage is real based on that. I think that's good evidence. Of course, there's only one person in here. That's probably you.
All right. Now we go. April. "I live in Mexico with my husband. We've been here for eight years because of the 10 year bar, we're getting closer to file a I-130. I would like to know if when I sponsored my husband, I did not learn enough. What other options are there? I already had my mom as a possible joint sponsor, but I've heard that they're starting to put a stop to using joint sponsor solely. I would prefer to not separate from my husband in order to move back to the USA for a job. If I own property in the US ..."
Okay, so this was an interesting question. April, we're talking about situations where someone has a 10 year bar and being in the United States, but putting that to the side because that's not really the crux of your issue. The crux of your issue is that you're going to have to reestablish your domicile in the United States.
If you've been living in Mexico with your husband for the last eight years, you need to come back to the United States and reestablish your residency. You need to establish that you are domiciled in the United States or you are going to want to come back and get a job and get a bank account and a piece of property or lease. Or something that shows that you're ready to come to the United States.
I don't know if it has to be a particular value of property, but you want to be earning ... I mean right now with the discretion that's being given to state department officials on the public charge issue, I think that if you don't come back and reestablish your domicile and show that you're working, and that you can support your husband, even with the co-sponsor, I think you're going to be in trouble.
So, my advice would be even before you file the I-130, to come back and try to get a job lined up, maybe get a letter of employment, an offer of employment, reestablish your residency in the United States because putting aside everything else, you're still going to have that as a problem.
All right. If anybody else has questions, go ahead and leave them in the comments. Tim and Shamar, thanks for joining us. Sorry about the hassle with WebinarJam. We've used it many times and we've never had a problem before, so I'm sort of surprised by that.
All right. Some people are sort of bummed. I'm sorry about that, but we will try to get things moving. Hi How you doing? Hi, April. Oh yeah, we got you. Good.
All right, Maria. "I'd like to apply for citizenship and I lost my green card. Do I need to get a replacement green card or can I apply without a replacement? My green card was supposed to expire on October, 2026. I have a PDF copy, as well."
Yeah, we actually have a YouTube video on this one. You can apply for citizenship with an expired green card or with a lost green card. Now, you're probably going to want to either have a police report or you're going to have to sign an affidavit at your interview that says that you lost your green card so you can naturalize without it. They know that you're a lawful permanent resident, so having a copy of it, a PDF is good. I would submit that with the application.
But if you show up at your interview, they're going to be frustrated by that. But it's still an improvable case. We've had plenty of cases, probably five or six approved with a lost or missing green card. If we have a police report, that's usually better, but if it's just lost, obviously you probably can't come up with one of those. All right, so good luck with that. Maria.
Oh hey Yasir, how you doing? "How long should one wait before filing a writ of mandamus for a marriage based green card delay? It's been almost three months since the interview is completed."
So three months isn't that long. I would ask myself ... I always go off when was the case filed? And I think that if you're getting a two year since it was filed, that'd be long enough. So I don't know how long your case was processing at USAS before you got the interview notice. But, I need that information before I could tell you when to file.
All right, April. So someone's going to have to certify that they speak both Spanish, that they're fluent in Spanish and in English. So those are the requirements for translations. You don't have to have an official translation. If the person in the test properly that they are fluent in English and Spanish, that should be good enough for translations. Now you can't translate your own documents. You're going to need someone else to do that for you. You can't certify that your own translation is accurate. So either you are the beneficiary, it has to be some neutral third party.
All right, so Yesir said May of 2019. Yeah, I don't think that's long enough to sue, Yesir. I'd probably wait until at least the end of this year, early 2021 before I would think about suing on a case like that these days. They're coming back. They're pushing back if we sue and the case has been pending less than a year, I think that's too early.
All right. Oh, there's Tim's question. Okay. "USCS received my [RFE 00:06:26] documents on November fifth, no response. Multiple inquiries later, nothing's happening. I think the issue is that I received my green card through marriage, less than five years ago, which ended in divorce. It was a hundred percent bonafide and I spent [inaudible 00:06:37] what to do."
So Tim filed for, it looks like citizenship on January 24th, 2018. So that's a long time. If I'm correct Tim, it seems like this is a naturalization case then you've been waiting a long time and the interview was on November fifth. So December fifth, January fifth. So if you wait two more months and they still don't have a decision, you can sue them. Because you're going to sue for a citizenship case you can sue 120 days after.
Finally, Maria, you're most welcome. Happy to help. Always happy to help. All right, Sharif. "Hey, Jim. I did my interview four months ago and I got no updates. Is that a normal? Marriage based interview was almost two hours."
Oh that's interesting. Sharif, I'd probably need to know a little bit more about that. Again, to me, I always go with the date that the case was filed. Not the date of the interview. Date of the interview can be instructive, but generally you're going to want to know or I'm going to want to know if you're talking about filing a lawsuit, how long the case has actually been pending from start to finish. That's really the most important thing.
Okay. Tim's got a green card case for his second spouse. All right. Oh, so this is a pivot case. We call this a pivot case. Hey, look who's on? It's our friend Katie. Hey Katie. What's up?
All right, Tim. That's probably a case that you're going to want to have a consult about because every case is a little bit different, but generally they don't like it when someone receives an immigration benefit and then turns around and tries to give that to somebody else, especially if the new ones [inaudible 00:08:27] be back in the country, they think it was part of a scam.
So those cases are tricky. They're hard to win. And by the way, Mackenzie, we need to do a video on that. If you can remind me on pivot cases. We call this pivot because you're pivoting from being the beneficiary to being the petitioner. And so that's always something that you're going to be a little bit nervous about. It's good that you waited five years to file, but still they look at those cases suspiciously. And I hope that you use an attorney on the on that case because I'd be interested to see what happened at the interview and what kind of presentation it was.
All right. I don't have any other current questions. I see we've got 15 people on the call. I'm really bummed about the webinar not working because we had a lot of people signed up for today, but we can get a fix for next time.
All right. All right. There's Shiv. Oh Hey Shiv. How are you doing now? You have to know Shiv, that my son, his best friend's name is Shiv, so I'm always happy when I have a person that I'm talking to named Shiv. All right. "Jim, I'm an immigrant from India with a parity date of May 10 2010. This question is regarding employment base H1B extension for three years. I'm with the same employer since 2006 and have had six approvals in the past, my 797 expires in March 2020 and it made a regular application. Does premium processing result in a higher probability of RFE?"
Boy, I don't think so. I think that right now, I don't think this is the right question, Shiv. I think the right question is that even though my case has been approved six times in the past, does the current situation with the Trump administration and its treatment of H1B visa holders mean that I'm going to get an RFE if I reapply?
I don't think prime premium processing matters that much. I mean I think generally they do like to use RFEs when premium processing is taking too long. Or when premium processing is applied for, but I think the bigger question is, are we going to get, are you Shiv going to get hit with an unfair request for evidence and or denial just because the Trump administration has sort of changed the rules.
Now for me, the fact that you've had your H1B approved six times before, if they deny your H1B, what I would do is I just sued them right away. I'd sue right away and say this is absolutely ridiculous. This is proof positive that they've totally changed the stakes. If man has had his H1B renewed not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, not five times, but five times total. And that just shows you how ridiculous it is that they are treating people like that. So for me, I would go ahead and apply for premium processing and then if they deny it, I would just hit them in the mouth and say, "Look, this is total BS. He's already been approved before and you guys have just changed the standards."
All right, so Sharif, this is sort of funny. I'm going back and forth with different cases. So Sharif. All right, so Sharif's case has been pending. It's a spouse based case since basically January 1st, 2019. I would wait, probably until July first of 2020, Sharif before I started thinking about suing.
I like those loves. Thanks for the love symbols everybody, I like it when you guys are sharing this and liking it. That makes me feel good. I like to see those likes and those little heart signs.
All right. Sharif's talking about Orlando. Well Sharif, Orlando can be tricky. I've dealt with them before, but I think you should give them at least until summertime to do anything else on that.
All right. Let's see what Christina says. "I have my marriage based green card interview coming up and I can't find my social security card. My spouse in the US citizen. I'm the foreign national. Do I file a police report and bring it to the interview?
Nah, I don't think so. They usually just ask your social security number. I can't think of an interview where the officer actually asked to see a social security card. Now you might go to the social security office and tell them that you need a replacement card, but that's more so just so you have it for the rest of your life living in America, not so much that you needed for the interview, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.
All right. Tim's back. Yeah. No case is 100% Tim. I need to make a video about that too. No case is 100%. Not even the slammest of slammy dunks. I never say 100%. So I'm super delayed, getting nervous. Yeah. RFE turned in 90 days ago.
Yeah. So Tim, if I were you, I'd send an email to [email protected]. And Katie can get you squared away with a consult and we can figure out how we might be able to help. You can even send along the RFE response if you want. So you're up to speed.
All right, my man, Shiv, you are most welcome.
All right, Muhammad Caseen. Muhammad how are you? "Hey Jimmy, I am a citizen now. Do I still need to pay for my kids to become citizen?"
Oh, that's another good video. Yes, Mohammad, you need to pay for your kids to become citizens. Get them that certificate of citizenship. They're going to need it the rest of their lives. So don't fool around with that. We don't want there to be any problems. It's easy to get the passport, but I know it's expensive to get that certificate of citizenship. But do that for your children. Do that for their future. Don't waste time. Don't wait around. Go ahead and get that. File that N-600. Do that right away. All right. That's all I have to say about that. Good luck, Muhammad.
All right. All right. Natalia is asking, "If we buy a house and are not charged for the American government at all, is there any way to ask for residence?"
So Natalia, there's four ways to stay in the United States permanently. One is through a marriage based green card or a family based green card, a US citizen sponsors you. If it's a marriage based case, they're priority dates going to become current right away as opposed to waiting for brothers or sisters. For an employer to sponsor you for a green card. Or the diversity visa. And for asylum. That's it. So just having a house and not being coming, a likely public charge. That's not a basis for coming to stay in the United States. I have a video. I can probably find it real quick on the four ways you can stay in the United States. Let me get that and I'll put it in notes.
Muhammad, you are most welcome, my brother. You got it. All right. That's me. Yeah, that's me. All right. Keep those questions coming people. Let's see here. Search. There we go. Great.
All right, Natalia, here's the link to the YouTube video that sort of shows how you can stay in the United States. I even got my red, white, and blue tie on that one. All right. We didn't get everybody over from the other call or from the other software. A couple of people are trying to get over there. They don't have Facebook, so we're going to have to the deal with that later. Yeah, I think everyone's sort of out of that thing, so I'm going to shut that down. Okay.
does anybody else have any other questions? thanks for watching the videos. Those are fun. Natalia, you need to invest $500,000 in order to go through that investor green card.
Muhammad. Yeah, we do. We definitely handle asylum cases and the best way to get ahold of us is to send an email to [email protected]. I'll type it right here. Or tomorrow during business hours you can call (314)961-8200.
All right folks, I'm going to wrap this up a little bit. Oh, wait a minute. Josephine has a question. I'm going to wrap this up in a little bit, unless anybody has any other questions. I'm sorry that it didn't work. Let's look at our schedule for next week. Maybe we can just reschedule it and see what's going on with the software. Today. Next week is February 4th.
Let's see. Yeah, let's do it from five to six next week.
Okay, so we'll reschedule this for next week, but let me answer Josephine's question. You're welcome Natalia. Good luck. "My husband had an interview last March due to us getting expedited due to my illness ..." I'm sorry that you're sick, Josephine. "I took papers to them and went with them the interview and the guy called me up and interviewed me even though I did not go there for an interview. The counselor denied it saying he doesn't think our marriage is real."
Yeah, this is a new thing. I really don't like it now when the US citizen goes back to the home country where the person is applying for a benefit, what do I mean? I'm talking about a situation where someone's case has been delayed for a long time and understandably the US citizen wants to go visit them. And I've seen this probably three times in the last six months, all with Morocco. But basically the embassy finds out from the foreign national that the US citizen is in town. And they say, "Hey, go get your spouse and bring them back here and we'll interview both of you." Nothing ever good comes from those interviews. So I'd prefer for the US citizen just to stay in the United States and sue them and let them process the case without that additional testimony from the US citizen. I used to coach my kid's baseball team and in baseball there's a time when you are on offense and there's a time when you are on defense.
So even if you're not familiar with baseball, you understand offense and defense. Well when you're on defense, nothing good happens. And when your clients are at the immigration interview at the embassy, pretty much nothing good happens. So long in the short of it is, if we can avoid having US citizen show up at the embassy for part of an additional interview, we like to avoid that. So, try to keep that in mind. I'm not surprised, Josephine, that you had that problem. I think that if you want to talk about maybe refiling the case or filing a stronger case, we could do that. The contact information is in the chat. Just let me know. But otherwise, I'm sorry that that happened and I think you're probably going to be starting over. All right, good.
All right. Ana has a question. "I'm a green card holder since 2001. I went for my citizenship and past, but my ex husband sent a letter saying to them that I was married in my country, but that is not true. immigration denied my citizenship, but I was able to renew my card."
All right, so here's the trick Ana, you need to do a freedom of information act request from from immigration. So you need to file a G-639 and you need to request a complete copy of your immigration file from USCIS. It'll take probably three or four months. They used to be taken seven or eight months, but they got sued. So things are happening faster. I think that you should definitely before you reapply for citizenship, you want to try and get a copy of that letter. And it's interesting. They should have sent you a notice of intent to deny and given you the chance to prove that you weren't married in your home country.
They shouldn't just be able to take the word of your ex husband that you're married in the home country. But that's something if you do the [inaudible 00:21:26] you might get a copy of the letter and at least you're going to be able to file a stronger case explaining why they're full of crap and you should have been approved. So, that's the way to do it. I'm sorry that that happened, but that sounds like something that they like to do, especially if people don't have a lawyer. Those are the kinds of tricks they like to pull.
All right. See some friendly faces in here. Hello Nadine. Hello Nora. How you guys doing? Good to see ya. Sharif. "My work authorization is going to expire in five months. Can I submit for renewal now?"
Yes you do. You can pay for it now. It depends on what the basis of your work authorization is. If it's marriage base, you don't have to pay. If it's asylum based, you don't have to pay. But it all depends on the basis of your underlying application.
All right. Josephine's back. "I filed a new petition and they bring up 231 G when my husband record was expunged even though he didn't go to jail or commit the crime."
All right, Josephine, I can just give general information on this call. I can't really get into the specifics of certain cases and I think that your case sounds sort of complicated, so I think you might benefit from scheduling a consult just because it's hard to talk about this stuff A, in public and B, without having all the documentation. So I think that you might think about scheduling a consult with one of our lawyers.
Oh, there's old Johnny. Hey Johnny. How you doing? All right, Teresa. "My mom said she was an American citizen back in 2001 and she never appeared in court and left back to Mexico. I became a citizen not too long ago. Is there anything I can do for her or is it a lost case?"
All right, so that's funny. I was talking to somebody today about that very issue. I think your mom if she made a false claim to citizenship. That's going to be a hard issue to overcome. Also, if she self deported by going back to Mexico after receiving a notice to appear those are potential problems.
Hey, Nassir. So long buddy. Theresa, so you need to also do a freedom of information act request on your mom's file. So you need to get a complete copy of her file. See everything that happened at both immigration court and USCIS and then we could talk about maybe you being able to sponsor her. It's going to be a tough case for sure. I wouldn't say it's completely lost, but it's going to be tough. But we can't do anything until we actually get a copy of the file.
Johnny's right. The Moroccan consulate is off the chain. We have sued them. I was talking to Amany today. I think we've sued them about 65 times so far. We've sued them more than all the other consulates combined. The people running it I think are nuts and they feel like they can do anything. We're still getting good movement when they sue them. We're still seeing a lot of cases approved or we've had a couple sent back recently. So just in general Jenny, you're right. I've talked about this before but that place is nuts.
All right. I know it's a little bit early but we only have everybody here for a little bit longer. If anybody has another question or comment, please leave it below. Otherwise, we'll wrap up and again, sorry for the technical issues. We'll reach out to WebinarJam and try to figure out what we did wrong. Maybe you can send me an email or something.
This was fun. We should definitely do this again. I like sort of the spur of the moment questions. And then we can go from there. So someone is asking, "I-130 took a long time and now finally for the I-485, will that take a short time?"
No, in my experience if an I-130 takes a long time and then you filed a I-485, that's also going to take a long time. I mean I guess in theory security checks and things can be completed, but I don't think so. I think that if the I-130 took an abnormal amount of time, the I-485 probably will as well. All right.
I made a video today about the new public charge. Basically yeah, I'll just give you the latest. Historically forever immigrants haven't been allowed into the United States if they are probably going to become a public charge, if they aren't going to be able to support themselves.
So the Trump administration has tried to take that and take it to the extreme. They are trying to find much greater reasons to deny people for visas and green cards to come to the United States. So the way that they're doing that is they're giving officers much more subjective powers to determine whether or not the person sitting across from them, the foreign beneficiary is going to be a public charge.
Now, historically, this has always been solved by the affidavit of support, but the Trump administration is continuing its assault on legal immigration. They're trying to keep people from coming here, and so they expanded the definition and the scope of public charge and some States and some immigration advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Department of Homeland Security in federal court. The federal judge agreed that the Trump administration hadn't shown a need for this, hadn't done proper rulemaking procedures, and enjoined or stopped temporarily, that from going into effect.
Then the Trump administration appealed that all the way to the Supreme court, and the Supreme court said that while the case is pending, that is, they're not getting to the actual merits of it, but that the rule can go into effect.
So, so far they seem to have allowed the Trump administration to go ahead with these extreme interpretations of the rules and allow the cases to work their way through the court as opposed to stopping them and maintaining the status quo, which is what they should have done. But it's a stacked Republican Supreme court.
All right. All right. All right. I'm going to go. I don't see anything else.
The best way to get ahold of us is (314)961-8200 during business hours, or you can always email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us in our Facebook group. You're in it right now. It's called Immigrant Home. We try to post new immigration news there. And then subscribe to the YouTube channel. We are going strong. Today is January 28th and we're still posting out one video every day, so we hope you guys find that helpful.
As always, if you have videos that you'd like for us to shoot, we'd be happy to do it and just email us and I'll try to add it to the list, Mackenzie's got a long list going.
So, all right everybody with that, We're going to try to redo this next week or the week after. I'll put out an announcement tomorrow with that. We're going to reach out to WebinarJam, ensure that doesn't happen again. Other than that, people peace out. Have a great rest of the day and a good rest of the week. Thanks so much. Bye. Bye.
