U.S. Immigration Made Easy by Ilona Bray J.D & Attorney Richard Link

Author:Ilona Bray, J.D & Attorney Richard Link
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781413325966
Publisher: NOLO
Published: 2019-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

If children immigrated with you, their legal status will pretty much match yours. If you received conditional, rather than permanent residency, so did they—and they will also have to apply for permanent residency 90 days before the second anniversary of the date they won conditional residency.

If you got a green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen, some special rules apply. If your spouse was a permanent resident when you were approved, then you, as well as your children, must wait five years before applying for U.S. citizenship. However, if your spouse was a U.S.

citizen when you were approved and you’re still living together three years after your approval, you can apply for citizenship after these three years—and when you’re approved, your children under 18 become citizens automatically (as long as they are living in the U.S. citizen parent’s custody).

This right comes from the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. To prove their citizenship, your children will automatically receive a certificate of citizenship from USCIS by mail, within about six weeks of entering the United States. Children who are over 18 when they become permanent residents will have to wait five years before applying for citizenship (despite the fact that you, their parent, need wait only three years).

D. Losing Your Permanent Resident Status

You can lose your U.S. permanent resident status by violating the law (committing a crime) or by violating the terms of your residency, such as by staying out of the United States and living abroad for too long, as explained above in Section B. If you are in the United States, such a violation could make you removable (formerly called deportable), in which case USCIS might start Immigration Court proceedings against you and eventually send you away. If you attempt to return to the United States, you could be found inadmissible and kept out.

RELATED TOPIC

For more on inadmissibility, see the discussion in Chapter 3 and I.N.A. Section 101(a)(13)(C), 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(13)(c). The grounds of

inadmissibility overlap with the grounds of removability or deportability, but they are set out separately in the immigration laws, and there are some significant differences.

See I.N.A. Section 237(a), or 8 U.S.C. Section 1227(a) for more on removability.

A full discussion of removability is beyond the scope of this book. In brief, you become removable if you:

• fail to advise USCIS of your changes of address within ten days of moving

• are involved in document fraud or alien smuggling

• go on welfare or government assistance (become a public charge) within the first five years of entry, if it’s because of a reason that existed before you came to the United States (see I.N.A. § 237(a)(5), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(5))

• fail to comply with a condition of your green card (such as failing to follow a course of treatment to cure an illness you had when you were approved for residency)

• commit a certain type of crime, including domestic violence, or

• violate the immigration laws (for example, participate in a sham marriage or help smuggle other aliens into the United States).

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