I have been in this country for 12 years. When first entered the U.S I did it with my passport ( the ones that got change for the new laser visa ) I'm from Mexico and bring with me my wife and two children. Since then the family got bigger, we have two more kids (they are U.S citizens).My wife applied for a visa throught her sister who is a U.S citizen where in that application she included our two older children and my self. Our priority date is October 1990. The question is if I should waite for the priority date or try suspention of removal. We applied like if we where living in Mexico and also, I'v been working illegaly ever since. Thanks for your time to respond. Truly yours Leonardo Montijo

-- Leonardo Montijo (leomontijo@juno.com), April 23, 2002

Answers

Response to complications, working

Cancellation is very difficult to win. It's based on showing that your U.S. citizen children would suffer EXTREME hardship if you were removed. Judges are often unsymapathetic in cases where the children are under 10 years old and speak the language of the home country. Unless your children have serious health problems or learning disbilities, you are unlikely to win cancellation.

Your family petition should "reach the front of the line" soon. The current processing date for brother-sister applications is March 1990. You should get a lawyer before entering the final processing stage (adjustment of status). The INS may accuse your wife of fraud based on listing a Mexican address if you all were actually here. They may have some concerns about your employment and how you got your jobs (like using bad documents to do so). otehr things like pretending to be a U.S. citizens to get a drivers license or a government benefit are also problems. These are things you need to review in detail with a competent immigration lawyer before you make your final application. Although the forms themselves are simple, some of these background problems can be very tricky.

Finally, be sure to process here, NOT in Mexico. Travel overseas would probably be fatal to your chances. Good luck.

-- Michael Boyle (boylelaw@aol.com), April 25, 2002.