People who are applying for Immigrant Visas or green cards have to be eligible and not be subject to what are called inadmissibilities.
Basically different forms of inadmissibilities could defeat your green card application. Inadmissibilities include, but are limit to, when a person committed one or more a crime or lied to an immigration officer to get an immigration benefit, or committed a serious crime – drug offenses, murder, and the like.
When one of these inadmissibilities applies, even though you may be married to a U.S. citizen, you may not be eligible for a green card because you’d be subject to one of the forms of inadmissibility. They are all statutorily based in a list. Some inadmissibilities may be waived by applying for the hardship waiver (I-601).
One of them is called “unlawful presence.” These are people who entered the U.S. illegally or who entered the U.S and overstayed their visa, and had been here for more than 6 months in a year, or more than one year.
If you were here more than 6 months in unlawful present, you were subject to what is called a 3-year bar. If you were in the U.S. for more than 1 year, you would be subject to a 10-year bar. This means you could not come back to the U.S for 3 to 10 years.
Learn more about the immigration services provided by Philip Levin & Associates.
