Schenectady, NY Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

Your question requires an attorney consultation. It is not a simple question that can be answered on this type of forum. There are many factors that would need to be considered and evaluated. The short answer is that it depends on the felony and whether or not your are deemed inadmissible. I suggest that you, or someone on your behalf, contact an experienced immigration attorney for a face-to-face consultation and give him/her all of the facts surrounding your situation. (S)he would then be in a better position to analyze your case and advise you of your options.

Best wishes upon your marriage! The starting place to answer your question is to analyze eligibility to become a Lawful Permanent Resident (to get a "Green Card"). Only after having been a Permanent Resident for the required number of years (usually 5 years, but only three years for most Permanent Residents married to U.S. citizens). To determine eligibility to become a Permanent Resident significantly more information is needed, including information about the way you entered the U.S. (with some sort of visa? without a visa or inspection?), the date you entered the U.S., whether anyone may have applied for you to obtain immigration benefits in the past, what type of "work visa" you have, etc. There really is no substitute for working with an immigration attorney who, after learning all of the relevant details about you and your immigration-related history, would be able to advise you about eligibilities, options and strategies.

Where the I-539 is denied and I-94 expired, an individual has certain choices. If you believe that the decision was incorrect, you can file a motion to reopen or reconsider within 30 days on form I-290B. If you do that and U.S.C.I.S. approves the motion, then you will have incurred no illegal time. The difficulty may arise that the agency may not adjudicate the motion within six months. Then you would be on the horns of the dilemma since you would have been accruing illegal presence since the I-539 denial date (assuming that the filing was timely). If you have illegal presence of 180 days, you would be barred from returning to the States for three years if you left the country. Persons who have motions which are pending close to the six month mark would have to make a decision as to whether to leave the country and avoid the three-year bar or staying in the country for the result of the motion adjudication in the hopes that the decision would be overturned. Another option available to you would be to seek any other type of available nonimmigrant status and have the visa consular processed overseas. And of course, many individuals overstay their visa statuses and remain illegal in the States in the hopes that they can later legalize their statuses. That is not a course that we would recommend.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.