My boyfriend of 5 years is illegal from mexico.we have a 3 yr old daughter.he has been living in the U.S for 10 yrs.If we were to marry how long after would he become legal to come and go accross the boarder?We want to take our daughter to mexico to visit her grandparents and family but worry about coming back.Will i need to come back alone with our child and wait for him to try and make it accross alive?Hes been back to mexico 2 times in the last 5 yrs and this last time almost died trying.Is their an easier way.

-- Tiffany Montano (princessax1@aol.com), October 17, 2004

Answers

There would be some significant challeneges. Assuming that no one had filed an application for him prior to April 2001, he's not eligible to do his final green card processing in the U.S. The first phase (Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative) could be done here, but he would have to leave for consular processing in Mexico and spend 3-12 months there waiting for a waiver (immigration pardon) based on his unlawful presence. You would want to get good advice from an attorney or an experienced agency, registered with the Board of Immigration Appeals, before going forward with this. Good luck.

-- Michael Boyle (info@immigrantcenter.com), October 20, 2004.