I have recently Married my Fiance, whom has been living in the US for about 3 1/2 years, most of which is illegal, she came here on a visitation Visa(good for one month), Worked without a working permit(green card), and obtained a legal SS#, was arrested for using a fake ID, this week were married, we have every intention of staying that way forever. I am a US citizen from birth, how can i obtain permanent resident status and get her green card, and what do you think the time frame and difficulty will be?

-- Mark W. (stormlord2300@hotmail.com), October 04, 2004

Answers

It will likely be difficult and slow, but you should be able to apply for her and for the waivers (immigration pardons) that she would need to have the fraud forgiven. How hard or easy it is to get these pardons varies from INS office to INS office. (One very significant exception is that if she claimed to be a U.S. citizen there is NO pardon available.) You should get very good criminal and immigration attorneys in your area to deal with the criminal and immigraiton problems as soon as possible.

-- Michael Boyle (info@immigrantcenter.com), October 05, 2004.