Immigration Site

Hello, I am an United States Citizen. My father is an American citizen. My mother was a German citizen until about 1986 or so, when they traveled to the US legally. (My mother traveled here with a legitimate visiting visa and a passport from Germany). My father married my mother shortly after they arrived in the US. The Visa has long since expired and the passport/travel identity card that were issued from Germany has expired as well. This was not a large issue until a recent conflict caused a separation between the two. My mother wishes to return to Germany but has the old, expired paperwork. Weve called the German Embassy multiple times over the last two weeks without response. Ive honestly been afraid of calling INS about it, for fear of deporting her and when she arrives in Germany, be charged with something and having her face jail time over there.

What are my options? Thanks in advance.

What do you think Germany would charge her with? Surely overstaying in the US is not a violation of German law?

Did your mother ever obtain a green card or US citizenship?

There are 8 German consulates in the US plus the embassy in Washington DC. Did you try calling more than one of them? The Embassy might have ignored your calls because they dont deal with the general public as much as the consulates do. See http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/u...onsulates.html

If they wont issue a German passport to her because of her illegal presence in the US, ask them if there is an option for a temporary travel document that would allow a one-time trip back to Germany.

You can sponsor your mother for a green card, provided you are above 21 and earn some income. Her visa overstay wont be a problem as far as obtaining a green card, then she can renew at her leisure her German passport and travel back to Germany. The risk she runs which you as a child should be greatly concerned about is this: as soon as she leaves the US, she is subject to a 10 year bar to return to the US for any reason. This means, should she and your father reconcile their marriage while she is in Germany, she wont be able to return here for another 10 years and even if your father passes away. If you get married or have a child, she wont be able to come to witness and celebrate those occasions with you. You need to thoroughly think about the repercussions of her just renewing her German passport and leaving the US without fixing her immigration status, those could be severe and come back to haunt your family.

Also, there is no agency called INS, died after DHS was created and now called USCIS. If you need help in terms of how you can go about filing her green card paperwork, this forum is the Library of Congress of Immigration, we will guide you through every step and by the time you are done, you will be a mini-expert on your case. The other issue to ponder: does your mother have no intention of coming back to the US or she is unaware of the consequences of just leaving the US? I can surmise that your yourself arent educated on this issues, which you will need to correct expeditiously if you are to be resourceful to your parent. You have quite a few options to rectify the situation.

If your mother didnt get a green card or citizenship, what prevented her from doing so? Its very strange that your her husband would just let her languish for 24 years with no legal status, when he is a US citizen and could easily file for her green card. Is there something important that youre not telling us?