- Thread starter Mack
- Start date
Be careful you could be on a one way ticket home.....................................
I doubt if anyone any where in any country is able to "Follow ALL the rules ALL the time." Maybe for a few weeks at a time most people can, but nobody could all the time for years not possible.
Der Fish
Is there any legal difference between a Mexican or Central American schlepping across the southern border becoming an illegal alien and a Dominican on a tourist visa flying across the border on Jet Blue with the INTENT to stay as an illegal alien?
Yes, one has come in legally and overstayed their Visa. The other has entered illegally. The end result may be the same but under immigration law they are two different situations legally.
Don't kid yourself, there are Dominicans and Haitians crossing the border too. Just last week someone was telling us their cousin made it to Mexico, intending to cross over to US, but he met a Mexican woman and decided to stay there. We know of others who have crossed over from Canada.
Factor in the intent of the one coming on a tourist visa, and they are the same.
The tourist visa was granted on the premise the holder would NOT overstay. Coming with the intent violates the terms of the visa.
Sure, but proving intent is very difficult. Dominicans can be crafty, coming a number of times without violating the Visa until they have things set in place, like a marriage of convenience.....etc. Either way under immigration law they are treated differently.
Laws cannot be based on intent. If one arrives with a visa they are not illegal until that visa expires. When I arrive in Puerto Plata am legal until my tourist card expires and I arrive legally, I just decide to become an illegal alien evidenced by the fact that I am still there on day 31. Yes there is a difference.
Der Fish
Once you have a deportation order against you...illegal presence in the US, I did not think that it was as simple as a visa renewal. A friend of ours was in a similar situation, overstayed visa and had a order of deportation (never did a visa renewal just continued living in the US). Married a US citizen (naturalized) and wanted to do the green card process. Because of the deportation order they were advised that one would need to return to their home country to begin the green card process due to the order of deportation.
With a tourist visa (as Cobra stated) there can be no intent on staying in the US or intent of adjusting status (green card...). You can be denied entrance to the US if it is determined that you have this intent. There are some that have tourist visa's (living out of the USA) and are going through the I 130 process (immigrant visa/process to green card). The process can take awhile so some may want to travel on their tourist visa while waiting. They are strongly advised not to do this as they can be denied entry (based on intent to adjust) and their I 130 process could be placed in jeopardy.
I am surprised that the lawyer in this case was not aware of the consequences and allowed this to happen...
Yes proving the intent is not easy...and once you have overstayed your visa you are illegal. Marrying a US citizen does not change this. One would need to have renewed their visa and be in a "legal" status in order to begin the process for a green card. There could be legal "loopholes" but this is the process that was explained by a immigration lawyer for our friend. We were trying to help him...
With a tourist visa (as Cobra stated) there can be no intent on staying in the US or intent of adjusting status (green card...). You can be denied entrance to the US if it is determined that you have this intent. There are some that have tourist visa's (living out of the USA) and are going through the I 130 process (immigrant visa/process to green card). The process can take awhile so some may want to travel on their tourist visa while waiting. They are strongly advised not to do this as they can be denied entry (based on intent to adjust) and their I 130 process could be placed in jeopardy.
I am surprised that the lawyer in this case was not aware of the consequences and allowed this to happen...
Yes proving the intent is not easy...and once you have overstayed your visa you are illegal. Marrying a US citizen does not change this. One would need to have renewed their visa and be in a "legal" status in order to begin the process for a green card. There could be legal "loopholes" but this is the process that was explained by a immigration lawyer for our friend. We were trying to help him...
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Don't you remember Hillary's email scandal where "intent" was important in the eyes of the law?
Intent regarding immigration? See for yourself from a lawyer:
2. Apply for a green card through marriage soon after arriving as a visitor.
Immigrant intent is something that U.S. immigration laws take very seriously. The intent when you arrive on a visitor visa is not to have any immigrant intent – sounds like a tongue-twister, but what it means is that you are not supposed to want to get a green card or some other type of visa that allows you to stay legally in the U.S. when you enter with a visitor visa. Your intent should only be to come to the U.S. for a temporary visit.
Let’s say you arrive on a visitor visa on Sept. 1, 2015, and you get married to a U.S. citizen on Sept. 10, 2015. If your U.S. citizen spouse then files a family petition for you along with your adjustment of status application to become a lawful permanent resident, this will raise a big red flag with immigration officials. Your case can be denied for having “immigrant intent” when you arrived on your visitor visa. A green card application like this within the first 30 days of arriving is going to be presumed to show immigrant intent – meaning that it will be presumed you were trying to avoid doing it the right way.
http://heitzimmigrationlaw.com/2015/09/5-things-not-to-do-when-coming-to-the-u-s-on-a-visitor-visa/
Correct. A shorter time might have been taken as INTENT to mistreat a visitor's visa.
Possibly one of the more important components is not to over stay your visa, having a deportation order against you. Obviously that will make it very difficult or impossible to adjust status while in the US. As far as intent...I will go out on a limb here and say it is more than likely up to the discretion of the adjudicating officer to determine intent.
Of course, overstaying a visa makes one an illegal alien subject to deportation when the visa expires.
It is absolutely up to the immigration office to determine intent.
Proving may be difficult, but that does not meant intent is not a component of the law.
In most judicial systems there are two components to a criminal act. The act itself and the intent to break the law. This is why a defense such as diminished capacity exists. If one cannot understand that their actions were a crime or does not possess the ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy, they cannot be found guilty of a crime.
Eg. You and the wife go out to dinner. She wears her mink coat. Coat given to coat-check girl upon arrival. At the end of the meal, coat-check girl is on break, wife grabs what she believes to be her own coat from the rack, but in fact it's a similar coat belonging to someone else and leaves with it. Real owner is upset and wants to press theft charges. In this case, because it was an honest mistake, with no intent (mensrae) to actually steal that coat, no charges can be laid. Walking out with a mink coat when you checked a leather jacket would be a completely different story.
Eg. You and the wife go out to dinner. She wears her mink coat. Coat given to coat-check girl upon arrival. At the end of the meal, coat-check girl is on break, wife grabs what she believes to be her own coat from the rack, but in fact it's a similar coat belonging to someone else and leaves with it. Real owner is upset and wants to press theft charges. In this case, because it was an honest mistake, with no intent (mensrae) to actually steal that coat, no charges can be laid. Walking out with a mink coat when you checked a leather jacket would be a completely different story.
I just keep coming back to...how did his lawyer not know the process. Then again there are some immigration lawyers who really do not know the law well and are just in it for the money. I have seen this now 3x with different individuals. In the end though it is up to the individual. You know you overstayed your visa...you know the consequences.
I stand corrected. Yes my cousin was arrested for intent to sell that stuff in the trunk of his car.
Der Fish