Legal Question in Immigration Law in South Carolina

Re: permanet residence

If you are presently in the United States and you have not committed acts of moral turpitude or have not committed certain crimes that may cause you to be inadmissible, then you should be able to adjust your status in the United States based upon a relative petition filed by your U.S. citizen spouse, regardless if you overstayed your visa. If you file both I-130 and I-485 at the same time, you may be able to also file for employment, I-765. Use an immigration attorney to file for adjustment of status to avoid problems. Glen

You can get good information on adjustment of status at http://immigrationflowchart.com (a free service) and go to end679.

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Client may be eligible to adjust his/her status in the United States because

1) Client last entered the United States with a nonimmigrant visa (B-1, B-2 etc. ) or other manner of authorization (e.g., parole, entry via Matter of Areguillin);

2) at the time of Client's legal entry, it was Client's intent to return to his/her home country;

3) Client married a U.S. citizen;

4) Client decided to change his/her status to that of U.S. resident ("green card" status) while inside the United States' borders;

5) Client does not have negative U.S. immigration history (e.g., voluntary departure, deportation, removal) , or , if such history (e.g. client is eligible for a waiver of the inadmissibility;

6) Client has not committed acts of moral turpitude or has criminal convictions that could bar Client from adjusting status in the United States, or, if Client has committed such acts or has certain criminal convictions, Client is eligible to apply for a waiver of such inadmissibility.

Forms for relative petition (Form I-130), adjustment of status (I-485), employment (I-765), and supporting forms (e.g., G-325A) can be found at:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Questions on Form I-485 that may affect Client's eligibility to adjust his/her status while living in the United States:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-485.pdf