A good friend of mine has been living in the US under a visitors visa (I think this is what it is called). These are initially issued for six months and you are allowed a six month extension then that’s it. At that point you must either leave the US, get a student visa, or get married, as I understand it, or you’re illegal. Her exteded visa will soon be expiring and she wants to stay. Any suggestions?
She doesn’t believe she can afford school to remain under a student visa. I suggested a student loan, but she believes that these are not available for non-citizens. Is that true?
This is a good person who grew up in a communist country who appreciates and loves “the land of the free.” Can anyone help?
Well, if you care that much and you want her to be able to stay legally, marry her.
Otherwise, she should go home and work towards getting a legal permanent visa.
- conditional permanent resident of the U.S.A speaking, born a Canadian national, married an American - I really wish he’d been born in Canada!
I should have saw that one coming. It’s my understanding that “marrying” is verified with certainty. I don’t think we’re there yet. I don’t understand your comment about going home and working for it? Go for the phd?
Depending on her country of origin, your friend may qualify for the US Diversity Visa Program. This program issues 50,000 permanent resident visas to people wanting to immigrate from countries with low rates of immigration. It’s too late for her to register for the 2006 lottery, but she should be able to apply for the 2007 lottery if she’s eligible. Citizens of the following countries are NOT eligible for this program in 2006 because these countries sent over 50,000 immigrants to the US last year:
CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
Thank you Adrienne. On a country basis, she would be eligible, Romania. 2007 is a ways out, as of yet. I guess, I’m looking for loopholes. Are Roma eligible for asylum? Anyone?
Marrying is verified - I’m still a conditional permanent resident - our case should be coming up for hearing sometime this year, around our 2.5 year wedding anniversary. However, there is no clause that states you must be deeply in love 
you just need to live together.
Bluntly, what I meant by working towards getting a visa was going home and spending some time researching the different visas available (oh, there are a lot), and trying to find what she is eligible for. It took me 3 years to legally enter the country on a visa (tried employment, NAFTA and H1-B, finally went for fiance visa, which the customs guy at the border screwed up, and I ended up having to submit alien spouse of citizen papers, so to speak, after the fact. VERY messed up.)
uscis.gov lists all of the categories - there is a lot of information there, it can take some time to get through it.
Your friend should definitely apply for the DV-2007 program, that looks like her best chance other than marrying a US citizen. Judging from the 2005 results, Romania sent over 2,500 applicants in that year, so she’ll be facing some competition, but it’s a shot. But she can try again in 2008, 2009, etc. Also, if she’s under 21 her parents can enter and if selected she’d get citizenship through them. Assuming one or the other of her parents wants US citizenship.
Another possibility is a US citizen relative who will sponsor her.
Re: Asylum: she must meet the definition of “refugee”, and must apply for asylum within one year of her last arrival in the US. I think your friend might qualify as a refugee, based on her Roma status, she has to convince the US officials of that: A refugee is “any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality…and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race…membership in a particular social group….”
You got that backward- persons from those countries are NOT eligible, having sent a significant number of immigrants to the US in the past few years.
Isn’t that exactly what she said?
Whoops… got confused by the formatting- it says "are ineligible above, then the break, and the list of ineligible countries, then that little bit about Macau, etc… being eligible.
I read it as all of the countries in the bottom paragraph were eligible.
Having a baby together makes verification a slam-dunk. 
I can’t urge you strongly enough to set up an appointment with an immigration attorney and see what possibilities there are. Check in your area for a non-profit that does this kind of work. (If you can’t find one, call Catholic Charities. They will probably know.) It’s been almost 10 years since I worked with an immigration attorney, so I don’t feel comfortable with what I recall, but the penalties for overstaying a visa have become IMO, draconian. This is something you want to avoid if you can. Don’t take it lightly. Hie thee to an immigration attorney.
(And, no, it’s not easy to be able to stay in the US.)
Perhaps not easy, but doable. A friend of mine recently got her greencard after overstaying her welcome by roughly a decade. Luckily, she had a high powered attorney working on her behalf for a good 3 years to get the job done. Count me in on the whole “get an attorney” thing.
You don’t even have to live together. But it does make the immigration folks much more suspicious if you don’t.
Be aware that if you go the marriage route that you have to prove a certain income for the past three years. This amount varies from state to state. It is no longer enough to simply be married to a US citizen, that citizen must also show income/assets over a certain amount.
Give us your poor? Not really
Actually, just giving birth whether you married or not is all it takes. You don’t even need a husband (by marriage or common law or even a SO).Cite.
If you don’t mind waiting 21+ years for your child to be old enough to sponsor you for immigration (if s/he chooses to, that is). Which is not a minor detail.
But if you have a child born here and you’re the only parent in the picture who cares for that child, then it does become a minor detail. That’s why many illegal immigrants use this method to stay in the country.
If I’m not mistaken, the baby can apply on behalf of their parent for citizenship (not literally, but you know what I mean).
If the baby’s born here, they’re a citizen, thus can’t get kicked out. What’s the government gonna do? Deport the child’s mother but let the baby stay here with nobody to take care of him/her?
Wrongo. Having a baby here does not entitle you to stay here until your U.S. citizen child turns 21 and petitions for you (which also takes a while). And yes, the Feds are quite willing to deport the mothers of infant U.S. citizens; they don’t consider the welfare of the baby to be their problem. The deported mother is free to try to find other relatives to take care of the baby in the U.S., but usually the baby leaves with the mother. As a U.S. citizen, the baby is free to return as soon as he/she is able to do so (after first documenting citizenship and obtaining the appropriate travel document, of course).
Knowing nothing about the OP’s friend or her educational/professional background, it’s hard to say whether she would qualify for any type of work or student visa. Most work visas require the bearer to have a job offer from a U.S. employer for a position requiring at least a bachelor’s degree, and obviously for the prospective employee to have that bachelor’s degree. Very few postsecondary institutions offer scholarship or loan money to students who aren’t at least permanent U.S. residents, even ones who are here legally (say, as dependents of people here on work visas).
Asylum? I dunno; I’ve seen some successful asylum claims from Roma, but again, it’s difficult to say, knowing nothing about her circumstances. Most major metro areas have several nonprofit organizations that provide immigraiton advice to people either for free or at reduced rates, under circumstances; Catholic Charities is one, as are Heartland Alliance, some offices of Legal Assistance Foundation, World Relief, and many community-based ethnic organizations. (They vary widely in their resources and the categories of people to whom they provide services, but even if they won’t help her, they may be able to recommend a reputable local attorney who specializes in that type of immigration case.)
And yes, the penalties for overstaying have become draconian. Overstay 180 days or more, and you are barred from returning in most circumstances for 3 years. Overstay a year or more, and the bar is for 10 years.
Eva Luna, Immigration Paralegal