Immigration
to the United States - Are you Ineligible?
Previous
page. The
following classes of people are not eligible for immigration
to the United States and SHALL NOT receive adjustment
of status to lawful permanent residence (get green
card):
- (1) alien crewmen;
- (2) anyone (other than "immediate
relatives" as that term is specially defined),
who continues in or accepts unauthorized employment
prior to filing an application for adjustment
of status or who is in unlawful immigration status
on the date of filing the application for adjustment
of status or who has failed (other than through
no fault of his own or for technical reasons)
to maintain continuously a lawful status since
entry into the United States is banned from immigration
to the United States;
- (3) any alien admitted in transit
without visa under section 212(d)(4)(C) is not
eligible for immigration to the United States;
- (4) an alien (other than an
immediate relative) who was admitted as a non-immigrant
visitor under the visa waiver program does not
qualify on itself for immigration to the United
States;
- (5) aliens who are deportable
under section 237 of the INA;
- (6) any alien who seeks adjustment
of status to that of an immigrant through an employment
based preference and is not in a lawful non-immigrant
status; or
- (7) any alien who was employed
while the alien was an unauthorized alien, or
who has otherwise violated the terms of a nonimmigrant
visa is ineligible for immigration to the United
States.
Also, the following
classes of people are also banned from immigration
to the United States and shall not receive adjustment
of status (cannot get green card):
- You entered the U.S. while
you were in transit to another country without
obtaining a visa.
- You entered the U.S. while
you were a nonimmigrant crewman.
- You were not admitted or paroled
into the United States after being inspected by
a U.S. Immigration inspector.
- You are employed in the United
States without USCIS authorization or you are
no longer legally in the country (except through
no fault of your own or for some technical reason).
This rule does
not apply to the following:
- The immediate relative of
a U.S. citizen (parent, spouse, or unmarried child
under 21 years old).
- Certain foreign medical graduates,
international organization employees and family
members.
- A J-1 or J-2 exchange visitor
who must comply with the two-year foreign residence
requirement, and you have not met or been granted
a waiver for this requirement.
- Those having an A (diplomatic
status), E (treaty trader or investor), or G (representative
to international organization) nonimmigrant status,
or an occupation that would allow you have this
status.
- An individual admitted to
Guam as a visitor under the Guam Visa Waiver Program.
(This does not apply to immediate relatives.)
- An individual admitted into
the United States as a visitor under the Visa
Waiver Program. (This rule does not apply to you
if you are the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen
(parent, spouse, or unmarried child under 21).)
- You are already a conditional
permanent resident.
- You were admitted as a K-1
fiancé but did not marry the U.S. citizen
who filed the petition for you. Or, you were admitted
as the K-2 child of a fiancé and your parent
did not marry the U.S. citizen who filed the petition
for you.
NOTE:
Immigration to the United States and the process
of an adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence
(get green card) may be a complicated procedure for
some individuals. Unless it is a clear case where
there is no criminal background whatsoever, no documentation
conflict, and absolutely clear and concrete facts,
you should contact an immigration lawyer to counsel
and do the processing for you.
Even if
you have a clear cut case, my strong recommendation
is to retain an immigration lawyer. The ultimate result
of an adjustment of status (obtaining your US green
card) is a very important result to put at risk.
Ultimately, this is not the type of proceeding you
would ever want to put to risk since any mistake
in your application process may result in a waste
of money, waste of time, and putting yourself at risk
of being out of status, or even worse, being DEPORTED.
|
