Dear Mrs Huntington,

I am married to a United States (US) citizen, but I am currently working in the cruise industry on my C1/D visa. I also have my B1/B2 visa that I use to spend time with my wife whenever I get my time off from work.

Can I apply for my green card while I am working on the ship, or do I have to be in the US country itself to apply?

Yours truly
– K.T.

Dear K.T.,

The holder of a C1/D Crewman Visa is limited to only travelling to the US in an Ôin-transit’ status. This means that you are unable to change your C1/D status to any other legal status while in the US. Unfortunately, this leads to many a crewmember being in legal limbo in the US. They, like yourself, marry a US citizen, leave the ship, remain in the US and file to change their status to that of a green-card holder, only to discover that they cannot accomplish this change.

Whatever visa you enter the US with is the status that you have once you remain. In your case, if you enter the US with your crewman visa, notwithstanding the fact that you have a B1/B2 non-immigrant visitor’s visa, you cannot just leave the ship and believe that the B1/B2 will protect you or give you that status. You would have to leave the US and return using your B1/B2 to enter in order to be considered in B1/B2 status.

If you intend to keep working on-board the ship, your US citizen wife can file a petition for permanent residency for you indicating that you would collect your visa and do your interview in Jamaica. That process should take nine months to one year from beginning to interview. However, if you are present in the US on your B1/B2 visa visiting your wife, and after 30 days decide to remain there, she can file to change your status from a visitor to a permanent resident.

Be extremely careful not to accrue any unlawful presence in the US with your C1/D Crewman Visa. All the best to you.

......................................................

Hello, I am a Jamaican and I have been dating an American for the last 18 months. We will be getting married this summer, but I have been hearing rumours that if I get married, and send in my papers after August, I will have to return to Jamaica before I can get my green card.I would like to know if that is the truth.Thanks in advance.
– VA

Dear VA,

If you are in the US pursuant to lawfully entry - meaning you entered the US in your own passport and with your own visa - and you marry a American citizen, you can file to adjust your status to that of a permanent resident.

If you entered the US illegally - without being inspected by an immigration officer, or if you entered illegally with false documents - you would not be able to adjust your status even if you married a US citizen.

Adjustment of status means you are asking the Department of Homeland Security to change your non-immigrant visa status to that of a permanent resident while remaining in the country. Only certain family members are allowed to file a family-based adjustment of status application, one’s considered immediate relatives - spouses of US citizens, parents of over-21-year-old US citizens, and under-21-year-old children of US citizens. If a petition-for-alien relative was filed for by other relatives before April 30, 2001 and the beneficiaries are in the US - even if they are out of status - when the priority dates of those petitions become current, the beneficiaries can pay a penalty and be allowed to adjust their status in the US.

If you qualify for an adjustment of status, you are allowed to remain in the US, while your green card is being processed and, at the end of the process, you would go to an interview and, if approved, you would be granted permanent residency. In addition to having a qualifying relative, you must also be able to overcome the public-charge question by having your sponsor, or a joint sponsor, file a qualifying affidavit of support in order to adjust your status. Additionally, you must be otherwise admissible to the US to receive adjustment of status.

Out of status

If you entered the US legally, and are now out of status, meaning that your allotted timed in the country has expired and you leave the US, you would face a mandatory three or 10-year bar to returning. The duration of the bar depends on how long you have been out of status in the US. This bar applies even if you are married to an American citizen. The only way to overcome the mandatory bar would be for your husband to show extreme hardship and qualify for a waiver.

There is no legal reason I am aware of that would make submitting your documents after August change the information I have just given you. However, I do not have all the information surrounding your particular situation. I strongly suggest you have a consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer, in order to know your options in your situation. There are far too many Jamaicans who left the US when they were eligible to adjust their status and returned to Jamaica only to be stuck here and unable to return for three or 10 years.


- Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises law in Florida in the areas of immigration, family, corporate and personal injury law. She is a mediator, arbitrator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. Email info@walkerhuntington.com.


Free Naturalization Information Session
- Jan. 30th

PEMBROKE PINES - On Monday, January 30, 2012 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will host a Naturalization Information Session for legal permanent residents and interested naturalization applicants.

Topics covered at this FREE session will include:
l the Naturalization Process
l the Naturalization Test
l Rights and Responsibilities of U.S. Citizenship

The free session will be held at the Abundant Living Ministries located at 14331 SW 72 St. in Pembroke Pines from 7p.m.-9p.m.
– South Florida Caribbean News