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Filed for citizenship but my husband is illegal. Will that jeopardize my application?
SORRY FOR THE LENGTHY POST!!
I went to my naturalization interview on March 31. I was a little nervous because I had lost my green card. I lost it when I went to make copies of it to submit with the naturalization application so I decided not to apply for a replacement to save myself the $500. I they asked me to, of course I would have. The officer, Officer Brown in the Charleston, SC office, was plain rude from the very beginning. But I won’t into much detail about that. The thing that I would mostly like to know about is this:
I got my green card in January 2009 I got married 4 months later in May. I was aware that my husband was illegal, but neither us were aware that he had removal proceedings against him. We found out about 2 -1/2 years later when ICE went to look for my husband’s brother and told him that they were also looking for my husband and my mother-in-law (MIL).
In February 2012, ICE went to look for my husband at the house that he and MIL purchased before we were married. MIL was there, she called us, and we went to meet the very nice officers at her house. They didn’t take him, instead, they put him under an order of supervision because (they said) they were familiar with his family and their whole case, he had no arrests since a trespassing charge in 1992 and, we showed up there to meet them, which showed good character. Fast-forward to around September 2013, we took care of it, we hired a lawyer, the case was closed. In the process of getting the deportation removed my husband was issued a work permit for a year, so that obviously has expired. Also, the case was closed on the basis that, again, he had no “major” arrests, he has a citizen son from a previous marriage, and I was soon going to become a citizen and petition for him.
Now to my interview, Officer Brown was asking me questions that are on the application, as usual, I assume. He asks me how I lost my green card and asks me to sign a statement about it or something. Nothing out of the ordinary until we got the part about my marital status. Then it went like this (not verbatim):
Officer: Are you married?
Me: Yes
Officer: When did you get married?
Me: May 23, 2009
Officer: (looks at me like I just offended his mother and shuffles through my paperwork) SO YOU GOT MARRIED 3 MONTHS AFTER YOU GOT YOUR GREEN CARD?
Me: Yes…I guess.
Officer: What is your husband’s status?
Me: Well, he had a work permit but it expired.
Officer: SO HE’S ILLEGAL.
Me: Yes, he’s illegal. I’m going to try to petition for him.
Officer: YEAH, I’M SURE YOU ARE. YOU GOT MARRIED 3 MONTHS AFTER YOU GOT YOUR GREEN CARD AND HE HAD REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS. THAT’S GONNA BE TOUGH TO OVERCOME. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. IS HE WORKIN?
Me: Yes
Officer: WHY IS HE WORKING? IF HIS WORK PERMIT IS EXPIRED, HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING. WHERE DOES HE WORK?
Me: (I tell him where my husband works)
Officer: (writes it down)
**Skip down a couple of questions**
Officer: Have you ever helped bring someone here illegally?
Me: No
Officer: Have you ever harbored an illegal – well besides your husband. BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE DOING. YOU WANT TO BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND BY LIVING WITH HIM, YOU’RE HELPING SOMEONE BREAK THE LAW.
Me: (flabbergasted)
… And that was the end of it. We do the civics, written, & reading test (which I passed since I’ve been in this country since I was 6 months old) and then he tells me that he “has to look more into my marriage and my green card”. Hands me a sheet that says that a decision can’t be made at this time and tells me that I should expect something in the mail in 30-45 days. So I walked out of there with my tail between my legs with so many questions and honestly, quite a bit of anger. What am I supposed to do? Divorce my husband because he is illegal? I don’t think that’s one of the options when you get divorced. Is there a law or an unwritten rule as to how much time you should wait after you get your green card before you can get married? So illegals are only allowed to marry illegals? Sorry, this is me venting.
Today is day 29 and the status online still says that it’s being reviewed. Has this happened to anyone? Is my application likely to get rejected because I LIVE WITH MY HUSBAND?
Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks in advance for any comment/help/suggestion.
I went to my naturalization interview on March 31. I was a little nervous because I had lost my green card. I lost it when I went to make copies of it to submit with the naturalization application so I decided not to apply for a replacement to save myself the $500. I they asked me to, of course I would have. The officer, Officer Brown in the Charleston, SC office, was plain rude from the very beginning. But I won’t into much detail about that. The thing that I would mostly like to know about is this:
I got my green card in January 2009 I got married 4 months later in May. I was aware that my husband was illegal, but neither us were aware that he had removal proceedings against him. We found out about 2 -1/2 years later when ICE went to look for my husband’s brother and told him that they were also looking for my husband and my mother-in-law (MIL).
In February 2012, ICE went to look for my husband at the house that he and MIL purchased before we were married. MIL was there, she called us, and we went to meet the very nice officers at her house. They didn’t take him, instead, they put him under an order of supervision because (they said) they were familiar with his family and their whole case, he had no arrests since a trespassing charge in 1992 and, we showed up there to meet them, which showed good character. Fast-forward to around September 2013, we took care of it, we hired a lawyer, the case was closed. In the process of getting the deportation removed my husband was issued a work permit for a year, so that obviously has expired. Also, the case was closed on the basis that, again, he had no “major” arrests, he has a citizen son from a previous marriage, and I was soon going to become a citizen and petition for him.
Now to my interview, Officer Brown was asking me questions that are on the application, as usual, I assume. He asks me how I lost my green card and asks me to sign a statement about it or something. Nothing out of the ordinary until we got the part about my marital status. Then it went like this (not verbatim):
Officer: Are you married?
Me: Yes
Officer: When did you get married?
Me: May 23, 2009
Officer: (looks at me like I just offended his mother and shuffles through my paperwork) SO YOU GOT MARRIED 3 MONTHS AFTER YOU GOT YOUR GREEN CARD?
Me: Yes…I guess.
Officer: What is your husband’s status?
Me: Well, he had a work permit but it expired.
Officer: SO HE’S ILLEGAL.
Me: Yes, he’s illegal. I’m going to try to petition for him.
Officer: YEAH, I’M SURE YOU ARE. YOU GOT MARRIED 3 MONTHS AFTER YOU GOT YOUR GREEN CARD AND HE HAD REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS. THAT’S GONNA BE TOUGH TO OVERCOME. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. IS HE WORKIN?
Me: Yes
Officer: WHY IS HE WORKING? IF HIS WORK PERMIT IS EXPIRED, HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING. WHERE DOES HE WORK?
Me: (I tell him where my husband works)
Officer: (writes it down)
**Skip down a couple of questions**
Officer: Have you ever helped bring someone here illegally?
Me: No
Officer: Have you ever harbored an illegal – well besides your husband. BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE DOING. YOU WANT TO BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND BY LIVING WITH HIM, YOU’RE HELPING SOMEONE BREAK THE LAW.
Me: (flabbergasted)
… And that was the end of it. We do the civics, written, & reading test (which I passed since I’ve been in this country since I was 6 months old) and then he tells me that he “has to look more into my marriage and my green card”. Hands me a sheet that says that a decision can’t be made at this time and tells me that I should expect something in the mail in 30-45 days. So I walked out of there with my tail between my legs with so many questions and honestly, quite a bit of anger. What am I supposed to do? Divorce my husband because he is illegal? I don’t think that’s one of the options when you get divorced. Is there a law or an unwritten rule as to how much time you should wait after you get your green card before you can get married? So illegals are only allowed to marry illegals? Sorry, this is me venting.
Today is day 29 and the status online still says that it’s being reviewed. Has this happened to anyone? Is my application likely to get rejected because I LIVE WITH MY HUSBAND?
Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks in advance for any comment/help/suggestion.
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