what would happen if an illegal immigrant did this?

Question

the illegal immigrant who has been here for 12 years illegally and never done anything criminal decided to go back home to his country. would he have to face any penalties for going back to his home country without being forced to leave? i need some help on this my friend is in this situation and he wants to come back to the country the right way but he heard that once he were to leave his passport would stamped and he could not try return back for 10 years. is that correct??

he isnt mexican he is portuguese he wants to go back to portugal so that he can apply to come the US under the legal system. but he would be barred from coming back for ten years.

Answer 1

It is true.

Along with the above ground of inadmissibility, the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act created the concept of “unlawful presence” and made it a ground of inadmissibility. People who have been unlawfully present in the US for more than 180 days but less than one year are subject to a three year bar on admission, while those who have been unlawfully present for more than a year are inadmissible for ten years. Also, those who have been unlawfully present for more than one year, were deported, and then seek to reenter the US without authorization are permanently inadmissible.

While the 3/10 year bar, as it is commonly known, seems straightforward, issues involved in determining exactly what constitutes unlawful presence make it more complicated. The relevant statute (Section 212(a)(9)(B)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act) defines unlawful presence as presence “in the United States after the expiration of the period of stay authorized by the Attorney General or [presence] in the United States without being admitted or paroled. The INS has not issued regulations to further define the concept, providing only memoranda on the issue, essentially saying that a person begins accruing unlawful presence when they remain in the US past the expiration date of their I-94. Unlawful presence can also be accrued if, in deportation proceedings, the immigration judge determines that there has been a status violation. Those entrants who do not have a date on their I-94, but are instead admitted for the duration of status (primarily students) do not accrue unlawful presence until the INS rules that they have violated their status.

An applicant who was formally admitted or paroled into the US and timely files an application to extend or change their status is given a 120 day grace period following the date on the I-94 during which no unlawful presence will accrue.

There are some exceptions to the 3/10 year-bar. So long as a person is under 18, they will not accrue unlawful presence. People with a bona fide pending asylum application do not accrue unlawful presence, nor do beneficiaries of the family unity program. Other groups that do not accrue unlawful presence include people with pending application for adjustment of status, people in temporary protected status, and people under a grant of deferred enforced departure.

It is possible to obtain a waiver of the 3/10-year bar. To do so, the applicant must demonstrate that if the waiver is not granted, their US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parents would suffer extreme hardship. While this standard is nowhere defined, cases make it clear that the hardship required will not be found in many cases.


The 1996 law said that if ap person stay in America for more then 1 year illegally even if you go back to your country you be bar from getting in again in a legal fashiion for 10 years. .

Even the people that want to go out and start from zero can not go out right now .If they do they will be bar for 10 years



Source

http://www.visalaw.com/01nov3/12nov301.html

Answer 2

I'm not certain I follow this. He's in American for 12 years, wants to return to Mexico, but is afraid when he does, his passport will be stamped and he can't return for 10 years to America? Is that it? Why is he going back to Mexico? For a visit? To live? I need more details to answer this. (Not to mention I didn't think they stamped the passport and didn't allow you back for 10 years yet.)

Answer 3

I don't know anything about the laws in his country.It is just sad that he wasted 12 years of his life.Good luck now that he wants to straighten things out.

Answer 4

No...in fact, he would probably get a pat on the back on the way out.

Answer 5

It's true. BUT he did do something criminal, he was here illegally. ILLEGAL=CRIMINAL.