False U.S. Citizenship Claim and Overstay in the U.S.
Please read it!! I know its long, but please Help ...
HI, this is kind of a long story, but I thing all details count. I entered the US legally when I was 17 years old with an L2 Visa.. Six months later some new friends in high school invited me to go eat across the border. When it wasn't as dangerous as it is now. My parents would never let me go across, so I would never have my visa with me, but my new friends all US Citizens told me everybody would come back and forth easily stating US citizenship. So I decided to go (The worst day of my life), On our way back we get detained and asked for Questions after we all stated (Including me) US Citizenship, I was 18 years old at this time. The Officer told me to go back to Mexico and wait for my parents to bring me my visa, so I could cross back legally. He called my parents, which at the time that was my most important worry, and told them what was happening. He did tell me that he was not gonna take my visa, but there was gonna be a report on my file, an that it would be at the consul's criteria to renew my visa two years after. Another thing I remember is that he said he was going to write in that report that I retracted myself. Those two years passed by, I was on my second semester of college, We go back to the US consulate in Mexico to renew our Visas, and they renew my family's but not mine. I couldn't come back home with my parents and stayed over a month in Mexico. But then, the unthinkable happens, We go to the US port on entry to inquire on my case, and of course they said nothing could be done there, but they called the consulate and they tell them that they had send a package for me, and it was the Post Office to go pick it up. (just as they send the Visas in Mexico, once approved they tell you to go pick them up at a Post Office). My still not expired Visa is there... intact. It still had one month, so my parents brought me back to the US. Since I had all paperwork to go to school here and my father was able to pay for it. I finish my bachelors degree in 2004 and then my Masters Degree in 2010. My Parents are resident aliens and my brother is a US Citizen now. In the past a lawyer (supposedly one of the best in town) told me that I had to wait 10 years for me to be able to start working on my case ( I remember he would say a cancelation of removal or something like that.) That lawyer sent a request for my file a (FOIA form) but nothing was found, Now I just hired another lawyer and she didn't want to give any advice until she sees the file, so she is looking for it as well. She said it can even take a year for them to find the file if it exists. I have no criminal record whatsoever, single and with no plans on marrying anytime soon ... Hopefully you can give me some insights on what my options are, Now, I know what I did was wrong. In principle I know lying is wrong, but haven't travelled in 10 years. People tell me only an immigration reform or maybe the Dream Act will be ale to help me. The chances of that passing through Congress are so minimal. Now, I am 29 and I would like to explore my opportunities in life, but I know that if I live this town , I would probably not be able to come back home ever again.. Please Help!
Re: False U.S. Citizenship Claim and Overstay in the U.S. . Will I Ever Amend This
That is a risk you take when you knowingly try to build an illegal existence. An attorney specializing in immigration law is your best bet.
Re: False U.S. Citizenship Claim and Overstay in the U.S. . Will I Ever Amend This
So you are presently unlawfully in the U.S.? Are you the subject of removal proceedings? Was the prior incident classified as a removal, prior to your reentry with your family?
As your lawyer no doubt told you, overstay for more than a year makes you subject to a ten year bar (presumably the ten years you are talking about) and lying about being a U.S. citizen can result in lifetime ineligibility to reenter. Are you stating that your lawyer advised you to wait out your ten year bar from the overstay, then to petition for relief from your continuing bar due to your misrepresentation about your citizenship?
Your lawyer, quite obviously, knows a lot more about your case than we do and is thus in a far better position to analyze your options.