| nepali on know |
Posted
on 12-Feb-01 08:22 PM
I do not know if this is applicable to every one or not but INS section 245(i) [effective until April 30, 2001] lets you to regain your legal status if your employer or relative sponsors you. This is effective only if you have lived in the US upto Dec 31, 2000. for more information read:
http://shusterman.com/
Q1. I've heard that a new law was recently passed by Congress which would reauthorize section 245(i). What is section 245(i)? (§ = Section)
A. §245 of the immigration law allows persons to become permanent residents without leaving the U.S. through a process called "adjustment of status". Generally, persons who entered the U.S. without being inspected by an INS officer, who have ever been unlawfully employed in the U.S. or who failed to always maintain lawful status in the U.S. are barred from adjusting their status in the U.S. (There are certain exceptions to the last two bars for "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens and for certain EB applicants.)
§245(i) was first added to the law in 1994 to allow persons who qualify for green cards, but not for adjustment of status, to be able to adjust their status in the U.S. upon payment of a fine (currently $1,000). Congress phased §245(i) out of the law on January 14, 1998. However, persons who had already qualified under the law as of that date were "grandfathered" into the benefits of §245(i) for the rest of their lives. The problem was that hundreds of thousands of otherwise qualified persons who missed the January 14, 1998 deadline cannot adjust status in the U.S., and cannot return to their countries to obtain green cards without being subject to either a three or a ten-year bar from returning to the U.S. These persons (You may be one of them!) have been in a state of legal limbo since 1998.
Congress gave a holiday present to hundreds of thousands of potential immigrants on December 15, 2000 when they extended the grandfathering date of §245(i) to April 30, 2001. Not only does this extend the benefits of §245(i) to persons who had labor certifications or visa petitions (I-130, I-140 or I-360) filed on their behalf between 1998 and 2000, but it gives persons over four months AFTER the passage of the law to qualify for the benefits of §245(i).
Q2. What must I do to qualify for §245(i)?
A. A person with a labor certification or a visa petition filed on their behalf on or before January 14, 1998 is qualified for the benefits of §245(i). Under the new law, a person who has a labor certification or visa petition filed on their behalf after January 14, 1998, but on or before April 30, 2001, is also qualified for the benefits of §245(i) but only if they were physically present in the U.S. on the date of enactment of the new law (December 21, 2000).
Q3. Does this mean that I must have been lawfully in the U.S. on December 21, 2000?
A. No, merely that you were present, legally or illegally, in the U.S. on that date.
Q4. What exactly do I have to do to qualify for the benefits of §245(i)
A. You must have either an employer or a relative submit a labor certification or a visa petition on your behalf by April 30, 2001. It is not necessary that the Labor Department or the INS approve your application or petition by this date, only that it be filed.
For example, there is a tremendous labor shortage in the U.S. in a wide variety of occupations. Whether you work as a nanny or a rocket scientist, a nurse or a professor, a mechanic or an engineer, if your employer (or prospective employer) is unable to find a U.S. worker to fill your job, you may be eligible for labor certification.
Also, if your brother, sister, father, mother, adult son or daughter, or your spouse is a citizen, or perhaps even a permanent resident, they should immediately submit a petition on your behalf, no matter what the waiting time is in that particular category. The purpose of filing such a petition is to qualify you for the benefits of §245(i).
U.S. citizens may petition for their spouse
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