Do I have to list all my jobs on my immigration application? Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our office here in St. Louis, Missouri and in San Diego, California. We had one of our live chats on our Facebook group and on our YouTube channel just this week, and someone was going back and forth with me on whether or not they had to list every job that they had ever had. They had prepared the forms and were getting ready to submit the forms, and they didn't feel like listing some of their employers, and specifically, some of the employers that they'd had in the last five years. When I asked them, they said, "Well, I don't really know all the details of that. I could go back and look, but I just don't feel like it."
One of the people in the chat said, "Don't argue with Jim, just do what he said." What I had said was give them everything they want. Your job, when you're filling out an application, is to be as thorough as possible. You don't get to pick which information that you don't present. You don't get to pick which jobs you list and which ones. You don't get to pick which addresses you list and which ones you don't. Your job is to answer their questions, and that's true, whether you're answering them on paper or you're answering them in the actual interview. Don't forget, when you sign a form applying for an immigration benefit to USCIS, you are swearing under oath, under penalty of perjury, which means that you could go to jail for lying on that form, for not being thorough or being truthful.
And an act of omission, omitting important information from your application, that can be deemed to be unlawful or false and can hit you with a problem later on down the line. They can decide that you tried to commit immigration fraud or that you made a material misrepresentation, and that might keep you from getting the immigration benefit that you want, or even future immigration benefits. It's in your best interest to take a little bit of extra time. I know you want to get your application on file quickly. It's in your best interest to take that extra time and to give them every piece of information that they ask for. It's not just about jobs, it's whatever information that they're asking for.
If you're having problems with this, if you're confused, you should give us a call 314-961-8200. You can email us at [email protected]. You can join us in our Facebook group which is called Immigrant Home. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you get updates whenever we make videos like this one. Finally, you should be sure to join us every Tuesday and Thursday, usually, at noon central where I can answer questions just like this one. At the end of the day, you really want to make sure that you are honest and thorough and you give them all the information that they request. Thanks a lot, have a great day.
