Legal Question in Immigration Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Married,Visa Lapse

You asked about an expired visa.

Fear not. ICE is not out to exclude decent law-abiding persons from the country. And as a citizen yourself you have a direct claim to keep your wife in the country.

You need to hire an immigration attorney, someone who deals with problem situations.

This is far from an insurmountable problem and it should not keep you up at night. But, that said, as soon as you read this message you should be looking for an immigration attorney to unwind the problem.

Needless to say, she shouldn't leave the country until the matter is resolved and she has a green card or other visa.

Regards,

Roger

Go see an attorney

If by "a temporary Visa" you meant conditional permanent residency, your wife may have a big problem. Does your wife have a green card that expires in 2 years?

Ninety days before the expiration of the temporary green card, the cardholder is supposed to file a petition to remove conditions. Failure to timely file the removal petition results in an automatic revocation of the temporary permanent residency.

A temporary greencard holder does have an option of filing a late removal petition if the cardholder can provide a good reason for the delay. The problem lies in that the USCIS has the discretion of whether to accept the cardholder's reason.

If the USCIS does not accept your wife's petition, she likely is subject to a 10-year bar because of her long overstay in the US.

On the other hand, perhaps your wife will face no serious immigration problem. Perhaps after a long process, she will be granted legal permanent residency.

Since you write that you do not know what your wife's immigration status is, no one here knows what her immigration status is either.

To have a good strategy, your wife needs to know what she is facing. She needs to gather all of her immigration document that she has now and go see an attorney. After knowing her options, you two can decide a course of action.