Claimed US citizenship

[Alexsol]

Hi, I was brought here by my parents when I was 12 yrs old. We came with a tourist visa in ‘92 and overstated and never went back.

Recently my son turned 21 and went to go see a lawyer to see if anything could be done and was told yes, until I told her that my parents had gotten me a social security card and told me to always just say and fill everything out saying that a was a US citizen, never gave it any thought as I saw that one by one every member of my family had gotten through the process to obtain a green card and one is even a US citizen.

So that’s how I lived all my 27 years here in the United States. My lawyer is recommending that I check that I have not claimed this on the application risking the fact that they could say that I’m lying and could be deported and under no circumstance be able to come back.

I’m really torn with this decision and don’t really know what to do, so if anyone out there has gone through this I would really appreciate if I could know your experience. I still haven’t decided to file anything yet.

Thank you, have a wonderful day.

[newacct]

Did you claim to be a US citizen only on that Social Security card application, or on other applications too? What year was this application made? The lifetime ban with no waiver for false claim of citizenship only applies to false claims made after September 30, 1996; a false claim of citizenship before that would fall under fraud or misrepresentation, which is a lifetime ban with waiver (though you would need to show extreme hardship to a US citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent if you can't be in the US; do you have such a spouse or parent?). There is an exception to the false claim of citizenship ban if both your parents were citizens at the time you made the false claim and you came to the US before age 16. Were your parents citizens at the time you made the claim? It's also possible to overcome the false claim of citizenship ban if you can show that you didn't know that the claim was false. What age were you at the time you made the false claim? If you were young, you might be able to show that you didn't have the capacity and maturity to understand the consequences of a false claim of citizenship a the time.

See USCIS Policy Manual Volume 8 Part K for more info about the ban for false claim of US citizenship. I don't think it's a good idea to lie on the application and say you didn't falsely claim to be a citizen if you did.