https://youtu.be/DtFRj4GKDBI
What happens after I've been deported and 10 years have gone by?
Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our office here in St. Louis, Missouri.
Today's question comes from Immigrant Home, which is our Facebook group. If you haven't joined our Immigrant Home Facebook group, you should. We share a lot of information and we get a lot of our video ideas in here. If you ask me a question in there, we might just shoot a video just for you and for everybody else.
Today's question comes from [Ersbet 00:00:30]. Ersbet raises an issue that we have seen from time to time and I wanted to highlight it, when my eye sort of grabbed onto this question, when I saw it in the feed. So let me read it to you.
"What do I have to do next when my 10-year ban is over, in order to be able to get back to the United States? Can I apply an I-601 waiver before my 10 years? I left the United States voluntarily four years ago. I have four beautiful children, each of whom were born in the United States and are citizens. However, they are minors. None of them are aged 21 yet. Any advice helps. Thanks."
Okay, Ersbet. So here's the deal. One thing that people think about after getting deported or when they're even facing deportation is, that if they ever want to come back, they might have a ban. It sounds like, Ersbet, that you have a 10-year ban. The bans can come across for different immigration violations. For visa overstays, you could have a three-year ban, a five-year ban, or a 10-year ban. We see that from time to time. We've had people get deported, or who contact us after being deported, and they want to know when and how am I going to be able to come back and as there's [inaudible 00:01:40] can I just file a waiver?
The important thing to keep in mind is that you have to have an independent basis to come back to the United States. Let's say that you came as a refugee, or let's say that you won the Diversity Visa. Or let's say that you had a family member who sponsored you, who's no longer alive, or is no longer related to you. Maybe you got divorced. Just because you were here in the United States before doesn't mean you're going to be able to come back to the United States. In many ways, you're just like someone who's never been here before.
People contact our office all the time and say, "Jim, how can I come and stay in the United States?" Well, you're going to need one of our usual regular bases to come to the United States. Usually that's going to be a family member who sponsors you, a employer who's going to sponsor you, you might have the Diversity Visa, or you might somehow be able to apply for asylum or some other thing.
Those are the main ways that you can come to the United States. You need to be thinking about that even like Ersbet is. Ersbet took voluntary departure four years ago and has a 10-year ban. So Ersbet is thinking... If Ersbet had a child who's say 21, Ersbet could file, and that child could file for Ersbet, but they can't file until the child is 21. So that's going to be a problem. Ersbet might be waiting for that child to become 21 and then to apply. Otherwise, if Ersbet had a spouse in the United States, or a family member, the important thing would be to file as soon as possible. You don't want to wait the 10 years and then file on a family petition, especially if there's a backlog in that visa category.
For instance, let's say Ersbet left on voluntary departure four years ago. But Ersbet had a U.S. citizen brother. That U.S. citizen brother should file an I-130 for Ersbet right away. This is all putting aside the reasons why Ersbet got deported and what other bars that there might be. This is just the fundamental basis on how do you come back? That's where you were leaning to think about. Everyone gets focused on why I got deported and when my ban is over, but what they don't think about is the ability to even come back.
That's what Ersbet needs to be thinking about. It sounds, based on the message in our Immigrant Home Facebook group, that Ersbet is going to have to wait until the child, one of the children, turns 21. The eldest child turns 21. And then that child can sponsor them. If the ban's still in place, and we can deal with that ban later, and deal with a waiver perhaps. But at this point, the I-130 needs to get on file so that Ersbet's case gets processing, especially considering these long processing times.
If you have questions about this, if you've been deported or facing deportation, or have any questions about that, give us a call at 314-961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. Be sure to join us on our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home. If you liked this video, we ask that you please share it out on social, and you subscribe to our YouTube channel, so that you get updates whenever we make videos, just like this one.
Thanks a lot. Have a great day.
