‘I Lied about my US visit’
This is the first in a new series on immigration. We welcome your letters, questions and comments regarding immigration matters. You may send these questions to the North Coast Times at editorial@northcoasttimesja or even by post or directly to the attorney whose details will appear with these articles every other week. – The Editor
“Can I go back to the US?”
In 2003, I bought a visitor’s visa in a different name and went to live in New York. My mother got her citizenship, filed for me and I came down for my interview in August 2014. I thought everything went well until they called me for a second interview. The officer showed me fingerprints and proof that I travelled to the US with a different name. I lied and told him that it was not me. They refused to give me the green card and handed me a piece of paper. I miss my family and am depressed. Do I have any chance of getting my green card?
By law, you are ineligible for a green card based on two grounds of inadmissibility, unlawful presence and misrepresentation.
You had to return to Jamaica because an adult child of a US citizen cannot adjust immigration status while remaining in the United States.
However, once you leave the US after being there illegally for a year or more, a mandatory 10 year bar applies. You cannot return to the United States unless a waiver is granted. There are instances where a provisional waiver application can be made before you leave the US. It does not apply to persons like yourself though who need multiple waivers. An immigration lawyer would have alerted you to this prior to your leaving the US. You didn’t say whether you consulted with one.
You are also inadmissible on grounds of misrepresentation. Generally if anyone gets a visa or document or admission to the US or any other immigration benefit by fraud or willful misrepresentation, they are barred from entering the US without a waiver being granted.
Extreme hardship to your US citizen mother based on specific criteria would have to be proven.
Keep the document which you received from the Embassy. It gives the reasons for the denial of your green card and whether or not you are eligible to seek waivers. You need specific legal advice.
Charmaine Smith Bonia is a lawyer and member of the Florida and Jamaican bars and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She practices real estate, probate, family and civil law in Jamaica. Her office is located at Point Plaza in Ocho Rios, St. Ann. Email [email protected].
