The Montreal Mirror is reporting that a British woman named Deena Gilby lost her husband in the WTC attacks. Since she was listed as a dependent on his work visa, which was terminated as of his death, the INS sent her a letter advising her that she is in the US illegally.
Moreover, since her kids were born in the US, they are citizens and are welcome to stay. But she has to leave.
I won’t go into details about how fucking moronic this is, as I suppose you can gather that.
Tangently, I would like to ask: in Canada we have something called “admission on compassionate grounds” in which someone who’s in a very tight spot can petition the Ministry of Immigration to let them stay in the country out of the goodness of their hearts. Are there provisions for similar in the US?
I will bet one American dollar that when the man’s visa was terminated upon his death, the letter was automatically generated and sent out without human intervention. I attribute this to a horrible oversight and a PR disaster, rather than any form of malice or dispassionate rule-of-law.
(I checked on the Montreal Mirror’s webpage, but couldn’t find a mention of this there - do they have an article linked online?)
Tangentially to your tangent, she has several options: because her children are citizens, they can sponsor her for a family-based visa, as their mother. (I-130 Petition for Alien Relative) Her husband likely filed this for her in the first place. The only problem here might be that her children do not have enough money to qualify their Affadavit of Support.
I believe if she leaves the country for a short period of time, she can apply for and easily recieve a ‘vistor’ visa which is good for up to 6 months. At this time, she can apply for a non-immigrant change of status.
Also, there is this quote from
So she may not have to leave the country, but she will have to file paperwork. I’m guessing that she hadn’t originally filed for lawful permanent residency, or she wouldn’t have this problem in the first place. On a side note, I’m assuming her husband was a lawful permanent resident, as they were apparantly in the country long enough to have children. If this is not the case, of course, her options might differ.
Disclaimer: IANA Immigration Lawyer, just a canadian trying to get into the US
she can also JUST NOT LEAVE! kinda like not paying those record clubs, sure, its technicly illegal, but no one is going to do much about it…
english buddy of mine lived over here for years and no one ever hunted him down. he was stopped by the police alot (drives fast and drinks once in a while-- not at the same time-- so calm down!) and he never ran into problems. he finally went and got himself a green card only so he could leave the country and return. (now he’s bummed, cause he has to pay taxes)
i would be willing to bet she could stay put and never give it a second thought. (but i’m probably wrong, as i am sure to find out shortly)
OOH! TRADING CARDS? Do you have the one with the fuzzy pink bunnies on it? I don’t have that one, but I have the pony with the purple tail.
slaps head back on straight Sure, if you don’t mind paying something like 60% of your income in taxes? Sorry, no cite on that, but 30% of my paycheck I never even see.
Of course, if my honey wasn’t american I’d be trying to get into somewhere like… Norway, maybe.
gatopescado: glad to hear your friend had no trouble, all this visa crap is just so they can keep tabs on people anyways, but if you wanna raise a family I can imagine it would be hard to do without. Also, the woman may need a work permit now if she previously was the homekeeper, unless she finds someone willing to hire an illegal alien. If she had nothing to lose, I’d say go for it.
My cousin spent time in Arizona with no visa, her sister mockingly told me it wasn’t as important as I thought it was. Back of my head thinks… yeah I wanna get deported when I’m 6 months pregnant or something, you stupid bitch. Her sister is now home. Ran out of money
Anyone else noting the bitter irony that some of the September 11 hijackers were apparently here on expired student visas and the like, but this woman gets instantaneous notification that she has to leave?
Uhm, no, Milo, I don’t. Who the hell said the hijackers didn’t also get similar letters and just ignored them, as has been suggested that this woman do by some not-so-bright person here?
I really appreciate your consideration in avoiding stepping on my penis - Spiny Norman
Jeg elsker dig, Thomas
And you would win that bet, lno. For those too lazy to check the link that was kindly provided by ruadh, it says, in part (bolding mine):
So it appears, matt, that the “routine letter” this woman received did not tell her she had to leave the country, it was merely following up on a request initiated by her husband prior to the attacks. Seems to me your local paper ought to do a better job of checking their facts before they print lies that make the United States look like a bunch of heartless, fucked up bastards. We’re not, thankyouverymuch.
Waal, as a politician in your fine country, I should think you’d want to send a letter to the editor and express gave concern that they’re printing tabloid-style garbage as “news” without bothering to get all the facts before publication. Or do you not care if The Montreal Mirror spreads lies as truths because they’re about the heartless bastards south of the border?
Oh yeah, I really said all the people in Montreal are assholes. And I really said that The Mirror sent their own people down to the States to dig up the story. Right.
Learn to read, please. I said they didn’t bother to check their facts. And they didn’t - OBVIOUSLY. And in the process, they managed to portray US as the heartless, uncaring assholes.
On a side note, I’m assuming her husband was a lawful permanent resident, as they were apparantly in the country long enough to have children. If this is not the case, of course, her options might differ.
