When you apply for a permanent residency in the US, you might face severe problems, if you are found guilty of working there without the legal permission to do so. It is basically a violation of the non–immigrant status and may result in the denial of your application for permanent residency. Have you faced problem when you apply for a green card, if yes, find out the reasons and how to correct them?
In many cases, it may even place you in a removal proceeding and issue the NTA- Notice to Appear.
You may face a problem when you apply for a green card, if you have worked without completing legal formalities in the US:
Exception to the law:
There is a solution to this situation. Under Section 245 (k) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A) that if a person is otherwise eligible for the immigrant visa or green card in other words, may adjust the status, if he had entered the US in a lawful manner and had not worked unlawfully for more than 180 days. So you are still eligible for a green card if you fall into this exception.
Common mistakes made by the applicants:
The most common mistake made by the applicants is in the calculation of the number of days of unauthorized working. It should be counted from the day you were hired for a job and ends on the date on which your employment was terminated, or the date on which you were granted the legal authorization to work in the US.
If you have worked with many employers, then this 180 days should be a total of the working days of yours, with all of them. The main point to be remembered is that the 180 days are inclusive of all the weekends, public holidays and all those days when you had taken off from your work.People tend to exclude such days and make a wrong application.
The second common mistake is not considering the unpaid employment as a part of the unauthorized employment. The law says that even if you have worked for a voluntary association for no pay, you still are doing a job without fulfilling the criteria of working legally in the country and you cannot escape the charges.
Disclose all the information correctly and truly in your application form:
When you apply for your green card and you knowingly try to hide the details of your unauthorized job, you may land up in great trouble. That will be considered as ‘wilfulmisrepresentation’ and might result in rejection of your application. You need to mention in the application about all your jobs in the last five years, including your unauthorized jobs.
So even if it has been years of your stay in the country, you will still not be eligible for holding a green card, if you misinterpret about your employment experience.
Get a good Immigration Attorney hired:
Looking into the complexities and severe consequences with relation to such a situation, it is advisable to hire a professional Immigration Lawyer who can help you in filing an application for your green card. An Immigration Attorney can easily determine your eligibility under the law and advise you with legal options for application, if you fail to qualify under the exception of section 245 (k).