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villages/hispanic/ AP Headlines Update Page
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US judge drops some charges against PR governor |
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villages/hispanic/ AP Headlines Update Page
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New opportunities section added
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Ice on Immigration: Travel
and expired visas
By L. Patricia Ice, Featured
Columnist
Question: I am in the United States under temporary religious visa
status, R-1, which expired on July 31, 2006. My dependent family
members have R-2 temporary visa statuses, which also expired in July.
In June, before our visa statuses expired, we filed to extend them for
two more years. We have not yet gotten an approval of the visa
extensions, but we need to leave the United States to go for a month to
our native country. What will be our immigration status if we leave the
United States before the approval of the religious visa extensions?
Answer: I suggest that you wait in the United States until your visa
extensions are approved. If you leave the United States before you are
granted an extension, the government may make a determination that you
overstayed your visa statuses by more than 180 days, making you
ineligible to receive any type of visa for 3 years. This rule, known as
the "3 year bar," applies to anyone who has stayed in the United States
longer than allowed in any visa category by 180 days or more, not just
religious visa holders. There is also a "10 year bar," which forbids
the issuance by the United States government of any type of visa to
anyone who has left the United States after overstaying his visa status
for more than 365 days. An overstay determination is often made if
there has been no visa status extension approval before the person exits
the United States. Before making any decision to travel outside this
country and for more information on this subject, please contact a
qualified immigration attorney or Board of Immigration Appeals
Accredited Representative to discuss your specific case.
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L. Patricia Ice
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Featured
IMDiversity Immigration Columnist L. Patricia Ice is an attorney and counselor who has taught
immigration law at Mississippi College School of Law
in Jackson, and also contributes regular immigration advice stories
to La Noticia and The Jackson Advocate. A
practicing attorney, Ms. Ice has recently taken on a two-year role
as an Equal Justice Works Katrina Legal Fellow, focusing on
immigrant employment issues as fair labor standards, and wage and
hour problems, in areas around the Gulf Coast. She is also
dedicated to immigrants rights advocacy, and serves on the Board of the non-profit
rights education group,
MIRA: The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance at
www.yourmira.org.
Articles in this column are Copyright 2006 L. Patricia Ice.
All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce further without
seeking the permission of the author.
IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view.
However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of
the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or
employees at IMD.
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