Legal Question in Immigration Law in California

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

Your matter is complex and you should get an attorney. If you are located in Orange, San Diego or Imperial Counties, you can email me your contact info, so we can discuss your particular situation. There is no charge for consultation.

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

Your matter is complex and you should get an attorney. If you are located in Orange, San Diego or Imperial Counties, you can email me your contact info, so we can discuss your particular situation. There is no charge for consultation.

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

Your matter is complex and you should get an attorney. If you are located in Orange, San Diego or Imperial Counties, you can email me your contact info, so we can discuss your particular situation. There is no charge for consultation.

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

You are in violation of your status as a J-1 not within the DS-2019 form activities. You cannot change status to another nonimmigrant status, but you could adjust status to permanent residence ("green card"). If you don't marry and file in the U.S. for the green card, which I recommend as long as your relationship is real, you must depart the U.S. and if you're lucky, a consular officer might understand, but honestly, what you're saying you did could sound as though you didn't take your immigration status serious enough to understand what it meant and then deny you another visa because you have fallen out of status now a long time ago.

Given that you've left things alone and are no longer in legal status in the U.S. and you didn't know this, you should seek counsel to assist with your matter to be sure it's successful without hitches.

Check me out at http://www.yardum-hunter.com or email me at [email protected].

Alice M. Yardum-Hunter, Attorney at Law, Certified Specialist, Immigration & Nationality Law, State Bar of CA, Bd. of Legal Specialization

ST: 15915 Ventura Blvd., Penthouse #1, Encino, CA 91436

EM: [email protected] WEB: http://www.yardum-hunter.com

A �Super Lawyer� 2004 � 2009, Los Angeles Magazine

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

A lot of people confuse the fact that just because their visa issued at the U.S. Consulate in their homeland states on its face a certain number of years that they're entitled to stay in the U.S. for that number of years (5 years in this case). That's not true at all! That's simply the length of time the visa is good to allow you to apply for entry at a U.S. port of entry without having to use a different visa. The actual length of stay is authorized by the U.S. immigration official at the port of entry where you entered, and in this case it was duration-of-status until your work completed in November 2007.

I agree with the previous attorney that you appear to not have taken your obligations under this visa seriously but there may be solutions. Even if you marry your boyfriend and apply for adjustment of status here, you may still be subject to the two-year residency requirement (not all J-1s are subject to that requirement) and will require a waiver. One way of receiving the waiver is to prove extreme hardship to your husband if your waiver is not granted and you must leave the U.S. You should have an experienced attorney help you with the waiver and all paperwork to even have a realistic chance of success.

You can no longer change your status to F-1 by remaining in the U.S., BUT you can go back to your homeland and apply for an F-1. The two-year residency requirement does not apply in that situation (or applying for a new tourist visa). You would have to explain to the consulate, however, why you overstayed your J-1 for so long, and that may not be easy.

Larry L. Doan, Esq.

(Straight-talk on Immigration Law at www.GuruImmigration.com)

Note: The above response is provided for information only and should not be construed as legal advice, nor to create an attorney-client relationship, which can only be established through payment of consideration.

Re: J1 out of status? Solutions..

You became out of status when you stopped working for the employer specified under the terms of your J-1 visa program.

If you marry your US citizen boyfriend however, you can adjust your status to permanent residence. You'll just need to make sure you are not subject to the 2 year home residency requirement under the terms of your J-1 visa.

You may find comprehensive information here:

http://www.msclaw.com/Green_Card_for_Spouse.html