American Wife wants to move back home but..?

Question

I am a British citizen and Have been married to an American citizen for eight years now. We have a six year old boy who has dual nationality. Back in 2001 My sister inlaw sponsored me because we were going to live in America. I was approved and had no problems at the Embassy. Whilst in America I was issued with a social security number and passed my driving test. We were only in America for approximately three months when my father in England had several bad strokes. I flew back to England alone to be with him and it was quite obvious at the time that I would be unable to return to America for some time. My wife and son flew back to England about a month later so we could become a family again.
As time passed it seemed the easier option to stay in England for the benefit of my father.

It has now been six years since we came back to England and my father has been doing fine for the last couple of years. My wife is feeling very home sick to say the least. She misses all of her Family in America and has wanted to go back for the last 12 months. The only thing is about three years ago I was out of work for six months due to needing an operation on my hand and on benefit. As my wife is an American citizen and has never wanted to become a British citizen we only had my benefit money to live on. As you can imagine life was pretty tough going all three of us trying to live of my benefit. I was offered a production job and was given a three month trial. During this trial period I was not doing so well with my hand and thought that I wasn't going to be kept on after the three months were up. Foolishly I did not tell the local council that I was working at the same time as claiming benefit for rent and council tax. At the end of my three month trial period I was offered a permanent job with the company and was in the process of writing the local council a letter when I received a letter from the local council stating that I was committing benefit fraud. I went down to the council and offered to pay the amount I owed them but they said it was to late and that it would be going to court. It went to court and I was ordered to pay £10 a month until the debt was cleared and was ordered to do sixty hours community service. This was a very sad moment in my life as I have never done anything illegal before or after this event. I have never even got a parking ticket let alone going to court for benefit fraud. I think deep down my wife is ashamed of me for doing this as she had no knowledge of the situation at the time. I just told her that I was taking care of it. As you can imagine being out of work for six months I had a lot of arrears to catch up on. I was just getting back to normal and informing the council of the changes in my circumstances when I received the letter from the council.

Can you tell me if this situation will stop me from getting a visa to go and live in America again? My wife's sister will sponsor me and my wife is a fully qualified cosmetologist and can start work straight away. I have worked in the printed circuit board and electronics industry for 18 years now and I'm very hopeful that I can find myself a good paying job when I am allowed to work.

My wife is so desperate to go back to her homeland, That I don't want to let her down again if I am unable to go because of my foolishness a few years ago. Our marriage is very strong and we love each other very much and along with my son we are a very happy family and can be of great benefit to wherever we live. The only thing is that her desire to move back to America might be more than it is to be with me and I don't want to force her to choose. Our family in America is very supportive and would love us to come back again.

Thank you in advance.

Tony

Thank you so much for all your help. I'm feeling more confident about things now and have started the immigration papers.
Thanks once again.
Tony

Answer 1

You would have to ask an immigration attorney. Can you have the charges expunged? If that is your only offense, and it seems minor enough to me, then I don't see why not. Then your record will be clear and there will be no issue.

Answer 2

Having a conviction expunged does not "clear" you for immigration purposes - under U.S. law any conviction remains a conviction indefinitely unless the court vacates the decision (essentially admits that it convicted you in error). What expunging may do is remove the conviction from a police record, but you are asked during the immigration process regarding former convictions and would be required to answer yes (or commit fraud again).

The question that is truly important is whether or not your conviction constitutes a crime of moral turpitude. This would depend on what you were actually convicted of, and not what you actually did. If you were convicted on a count of "benefit fraud," then this probably would fall into the moral turpitude area, but it would depend on the specific definition of whatever you were convicted of.

Assuming it is a crime of moral turpitude, you would need to look at the sentencing - it doesn't sound like you were sentenced to any prison time. If that's the case, then as long as you don't have any other crimes on your record and as long as the maximum potential sentence for "benefits fraud" is less than one year of prison time, then you can qualify for an exception to the crime of moral turpitude ineligibility and shouldn't need to worry at all.

Finally, even if you have an ineligibility, for spouses of American citizens a waiver of this can be obtained - it would add some months to the process, but is not the end of the world.

The best option is to do a little advance research on the legal definition and potential sentence of whatever you were convicted of, and then be as upfront and honest as possible throughout the process. The last thing you want to do is expunge the conviction or otherwise try to hide it - like I said, if they find out, then you'd just be guilty of immigration fraud, which is in many ways a more serious offence (at least, in the mind of immigration) and makes things much more difficult.

Answer 3

Everyones happiness needs to be addressed. This is a very tough question to give a good answer to my friend. It all boils down to each of you as an individual. If your not happy together, I mean if this is coming between you two, she should go. If it can be worked out than she should stay. In the end if she is not happy it will cause tension between you which little kids or good at picking up, if she moves it will still be hard on the child. But even you two need to have some type of happiness.

But if you can get back to America, and you are happy to be hear, buy all means come back!

This is all I know what to say, I'm sorry. I wish you all the best of luck in this matter,
C.L.Porter

Answer 4

"What God has joined together, let no man put asunder" Man, be with the woman you love every minute of the day. Life is so very short. One day you are a carefree youth and the next you are an adult saddled with problems. But when you are in love, things will work themselves out someway. Few Americans realize what a treasure the Mexican people are. As a Texan, I've been lucky to spend many days and weeks in Mexico. If I could find a way to support myself there, I would have left years ago. And... I still might. But as a university professor, really, there's no income for me there. So I understand your problem. But... to be separated from your soul mate is a pain no one should endure. Go to her.

Answer 5

Crimes that restrict your ability to immigrate are as follows. My guess is that you'll be okay. For God's sake, just do not lie to the consular officer and do not lie on the forms you submit....

http://www.visalaw.com/05apr2/2apr205.html

What is considered a criminal ground for inadmissibility?

There are six basic criminal grounds for inadmissibility:



· Crimes involving moral turpitude,

· Violations of controlled substance laws,

· Conviction of more than one offense,

· Drug trafficking,

· Prostitution and commercialized vice, and

· Commission of a serious crime in the US for which the immigrant asserted immunity from prosecution.



What is moral turpitude?



Moral turpitude is one of the most amorphous concepts in immigration law. There is no definition of moral turpitude, although many courts have attempted to construe one, using phrases such as an act of baseness, depravity or vileness. While there is no set definition, it is clear that the moral turpitude involved must be part of the essence of the offense. A crime involving moral turpitude need not have resulted in a conviction for it to render a person inadmissible, and admitting to an act that has the elements of a crime involving moral turpitude is sufficient to bar entry. Where an actual conviction occurred, the only issue is whether the offense was a crime involving moral turpitude. Where there is only an admission, a number of other steps are required. First, it must be clear that the act admitted to could have been criminally prosecuted in the place where it occurred. Second, the immigrant must fully understand the elements of the crime to which they have admitted. Third, while the immigrant needs to say that he/she is guilty of an offense, he/she does need to admit to all of the essential elements of the offense. Fourth, the admission must be totally voluntary.

Answer 6

Sorry to hear your sad story. I've no idea how this criminal activity will affect your visa but you really need to stay together as a family if you can. That boy needs his father. I can see why your wife is embarrassed. I hope you can get it all worked out as I'm sure you have learned a very hard lesson. It will take a while to regain her trust and your reputation. Good Luck and God Bless

Answer 7

I am inclined to agree with the last poster's assessment. You are not guaranteed to get in but you do have a chance, if you are suitably contrite and honest. Yak Rider made a good observation about honesty. If you try to cover this up in any way, you are not going to get in.

Good luck with this.

Answer 8

Hi Tony,

I think you'll be fine. Submit your paper work and get started straight away. Your wife has sacrificed by being away from her family and her country. I'm glad to see you are willing to do the same for her. Good luck to you and your family.

Answer 9

Besides trying to have your charges expunged, you are also married to an US citizen, so you may be in luck. It would be in your favour if you obtain the aid of a solicitor/attorney.

Answer 10

Look it is your personnel problem and personnel problems never open before another one so try on your level best you talk to her and con way her behalf of your child may i think he never left you and pray to god he help you both couple....and this couple intact in future too...
thanking you...
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