Comments on: How can my friend from Indonesia acquire residency when his VISA expired a few months ago?

By: Fred S

Fred S — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:09:55 +0000

How was he admitted? Was he admitted as a visitor for pleasure (B-2) or as a full-time student (F-1)? Look at his I-94 to see.

If he was admitted as an F-1, his authorized stay is for the duration of his studies. Is he still a full-time student?

Your question triggers a few questions that need to be answered before your question can be answered. Basically, if he came here as a visitor, he violated the conditions of his admission by staying longer than authorized and by attending school full-time.

Unless he has an immediate relative in the U.S. who can petition for him (uncles don’t count), he has no avenue to permanent resident status.

If he came here as an F-1 student, and he’s still attending school, he’s in status, but he still needs an immediate relative in the U.S. who can petition for him.

You said that he is considered “illegal” now. If that’s true, he does not appear eligible for permanent resident status based on the information you provided.

By: dognhorsemom

dognhorsemom — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:05:18 +0000

If your friend entered with a student visa, the visa is valid for the duration of the time that he continues to study full time. So the fact that is expired is irrelevant. If, however, he entered with a tourist visa, overstayed, and went to school, there is nothing he can do except go home. He cannot apply for permanent residency unless a qualifying relative or employer petitions for immigration for him. Even if one does, the wait for his priority date to become current would probably mean that he will live for several more years illegally in the US. When he would finally be legally able to request an adjustment of status to permanent resident, the length of his illegal overstay will probably mean that he will not be allowed to adjust, but will have to go home to apply for an immigrant visa. At that time, the overstay – depending on how long it has been by that point – might trigger a multi-year bar to re-entry even as an immigrant.

Really, if his family had simply followed the correct process for a student visa, he would not have any of these problems.

By: RJ

RJ — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:12:46 +0000

Does he have a girlfriend here. Listen my friends wife is from Brazil and a family of four from there can go to Mexico city and for $3,000 be safely escorted t the border and “picked up” and stay in a nice detention center for a night and then promise to come back for a hearing in a month and leave. Then they go to St. Louis and disappear. When my friend wife was pregnant they appealed to the senator and could not get her mom a visa to come and help. I told him just to pay at he 3 grand and get her up here, but he is stupid and went to the boat. He also got drunk as we were picking the NFL games and I gave him 15-1 winners and he put two down wrong and lost $5,000. Go figure.

if nothing else check with the Mexican embassy and see about that. They seem to work magic. take care.

By: Asia Dragon

Asia Dragon — Sun, 17 May 2009 03:15:39 +0000

With the change in immigration laws, his best chance is to contact INS and explain his situation. INS will probably grant him a hearing. If he does nothing, he runs the risk of being deported and then his chance for a visa is gone.