1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,880 Hi, I'm Hilary Walsh, a serial entrepreneur, award-winning immigration lawyer, law professor, 2 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:16,400 TEDx speaker, and Raven Phoenix Suns fan. Over the past decade, I've helped thousands 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:21,360 of immigrants live free in the United States. I'm talking work permits, social security 4 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:28,240 numbers, green cards, their citizenship, VAWA, TV visa, U visa, and lots of successful appeals. 5 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:34,960 Here's the thing, immigration law is super complicated and legal advice, well, it can be 6 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:41,440 pretty expensive. So I created the immigration law made easy podcast to share my 10 plus years of 7 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:48,320 experience with you for free. So if you're looking for tried and true, no BS, step-by-step 8 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:55,280 strategies and tips on how to win your immigration case and live truly free in the United States, 9 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,080 you're in the right place, my friend. Let's get started. 10 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,320 All right, my friends, I hope that you're having a wonderful day. This is Attorney Hilary, 11 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:10,000 and I want to talk to you today about the three reasons that a lot of immigrants get stuck in 12 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:16,720 CUD Juarez, either short term, you know, for like a few weeks, more long term for a few years, 13 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:21,920 or sometimes permanently, because there's no way for them to legally come back in. Along with that, 14 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:28,240 I want to share with you ways to avoid that. So this doesn't happen to you or your family member, 15 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:34,800 or if you're an attorney listening in, this is a great way for you to avoid this for your clients. 16 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,880 So I want to start by kind of highlighting what the three things are, the three main issues, 17 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:44,720 and then I'm going to go one by one with, you know, what the problem is, I'm going to tell you a 18 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,120 personal story, kind of a horror story I've heard from other clients because their families are 19 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:54,240 contacting me because they have a family member who's stuck abroad, and they need help and how 20 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:02,560 I've been able to help them navigate this. And then really the big point of this podcast, this 21 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:09,440 lesson, if you will, is I want to teach you the difference between a 601A waiver, which is called 22 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:17,360 a provisional waiver, and the rest of the waivers, which are like pardon waivers, they're usually 23 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,080 filed with a form 601, and you have to get those adjudicated while you're outside the country. So 24 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:27,360 I want to really teach what those are. I'm going to start with the heavy stuff first, specific to 25 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,760 what those waivers are, and then we're going to work through things. So stay with me. This is going 26 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,880 to be packed with lots of info. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. 27 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:46,720 I'm at New Frontier Immigration Law, and we answer our phones 24 7365 or in 2024, 366 days a year. 28 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,680 So you can call us at New Frontier Immigration Law, you can Google us, and you'll find us. Okay. 29 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,000 So what are the three things? Let's jump right into it. What are the three reasons, the most 30 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:02,320 common reasons I see people go to CO.Horiz and not be able to come right back? And this is everybody's 31 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:08,080 kind of big fear when we talk about doing the process called consular processing, 32 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:14,080 is that something is going to go down at the consulate, and my family member is going to get 33 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,800 stuck there. And I need him or her to be able to come right back. And this also applies if you're 34 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:24,560 just doing consular processing and you already live outside of the country. Lots of people think, 35 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,960 like, okay, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go to the consulate. I finally have my interview. It's 36 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:34,560 taken years for me to finally get my interview. And then the process gets extended because of the 37 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:41,120 same reasons. So let's talk through them. The first one is there's a ground of inadmissibility. 38 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:47,280 So you are applying for a green card. You're asking and on some level, this, this, this episode 39 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:52,480 can apply to you even if you're applying for a visa. Okay, you can have grounds of inadmissibility 40 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:58,480 related to applying for a visa like a fiance visa or a tourist visa, student visa, lots of things 41 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:04,240 like that. But I'm really talking to people who are wanting to get their green card because this 42 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:11,040 really is helpful for you in particular. So you're applying for a green card, which means you 43 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:18,720 have to be what the US government calls admissible. We want to say that you are allowed to be admitted 44 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:24,080 into United States. We're allowed to receive you. You don't have anything that gives you kind of an 45 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:32,240 X on your file, which would make you inadmissible. You're not allowed in. So what happens at the 46 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:38,880 consulate is you'll go and sometimes you'll already have a ground of inadmissibility. You may not 47 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:44,880 know it. Your lawyer may not know it. Hopefully, your lawyer, you've met with them before you leave 48 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:50,080 and you and they do tell you, look, this is you have kind of a heads up, you have a ground of 49 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,800 inadmissibility, you're going to have to file a waiver once you get there. And this is the part of 50 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:00,880 this, this episode, I really want to clue you in on. And I may even do a totally separate episode. 51 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,160 So we can just title it and hopefully be able to help lots of people find it. 52 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:11,360 But there are two different types of waivers. One is called a provisional waiver and one's 53 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:17,120 just a regular old waiver. What's the difference between these? A provisional waiver helps you 54 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:24,480 in its file on form 601A if you have unlawful presence and that's your ground of inadmissibility. 55 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,760 So you can get your provisional waiver. The reason it's provisional is you get to file it 56 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,960 while you're already in the United States. So the processing time, the approval, all of that 57 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:41,440 will come while you're in the United States. You don't have to risk leaving and then waiting for 58 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:46,480 this waiver to get approved and hoping and kind of rolling the dice. You'll already know by the 59 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:52,880 time you leave for your appointment for your COD Juarez Consulate appointment, you'll already know 60 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:58,880 that your, your unlawful presence waiver has been approved. So you know that that form, that, that, 61 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:03,840 that ground of inadmissibility, that basis for them possibly saying, look, I can't give you a 62 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:08,800 green card. You'll already know that that's off the table. It's already been approved. It's not 63 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:16,080 going to cause you any issues, okay? Because it's already been approved. Now, that's only 64 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:24,160 for unlawful presence. So if you have other grounds of inadmissibility, then you have to wait in, 65 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:29,600 in this instance, I'm using Ciudad Juarez because so many of my clients are Mexican. And that's where 66 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:35,680 you're going to go for your consular processing is Ciudad Juarez. If you have another ground of 67 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:41,200 inadmissibility, you're going to have to file that waiver after you get to the consulate in most 68 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:46,480 circumstances. Now, there are other circumstances where you don't have to wait to get the notice 69 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:51,760 from the consulate. Perhaps you've already gotten the notice at a prior interview, that the reason 70 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,600 you're getting denied is for this reason, you don't have to get another denial. But what I 71 00:06:55,600 --> 00:07:00,400 really want to emphasize is this is your first time and you're like, I want to go and I don't want 72 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:06,880 to get stuck. What is everything I can possibly do beforehand? I have bad news for you on some level. 73 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:13,600 For a regular 601 waiver, if you have other grounds of inadmissibility that are not related to 74 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:18,480 unlawful presence to certain time you spent in the United States without permission, 75 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,960 if it's related to things like alien smuggling, maybe you brought your young children 76 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,840 to the United States with you when you first unlawfully entered the U.S. 77 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,120 And now you're trying to correct all that by going through the process, by going to Ciudad Juarez. 78 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:39,520 If you have an alien smuggling ground of inadmissibility, you're going to have to wait out 79 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:46,080 getting the waiver filed and approved and then rescheduling your interview while you're in Mexico. 80 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:52,880 So similarly, if you ever had any fraud or misrepresentation, you're going to have to file 81 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:59,200 the 601 waiver after your interview in Ciudad Juarez. So you basically, I'm going to give you 82 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:05,120 some examples, some real life examples. So we've had clients who they call us because they've already 83 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,720 gone to the interview and they didn't know that they were going to have to go through this. 84 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:15,840 And they got a denial. I'm going to use a woman's name. It's not her real name, 85 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:22,160 but we're going to use the woman's name as Maria. Okay. So Maria is 55 years old. She's been in 86 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:29,600 Mexico for three years and her spouse is a lawful permanent resident and he lives in the United 87 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:35,200 States. So Maria has applied for, she left voluntarily. She wasn't deported or anything 88 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:42,800 like that. She left voluntarily, but it's only been three years. So she has filed and gotten her 89 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:49,360 interview for her green card with the consulate and she goes to the interview and the consulate 90 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:55,600 finds that she is inadmissible, not only because she hasn't spent the 10 years abroad, 91 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:01,280 so she has, she needs to file a 601 waiver for unlawful presence, number one. And number two, 92 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:07,600 she admits to the consulate that she brought her daughter to the United States in the 90s. 93 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:13,840 So that's an alien smuggling ground of inadmissibility that she has. And she also admits 94 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:19,360 that when she first applied for her visa a few years ago, when she was trying to come back about a 95 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,800 year and a half ago, she put on it on there that she had never been to the United States. 96 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,600 And so she has a fraud and misrepresentation issue. So she has three grounds of inadmissibility. 97 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:35,680 A 601 waiver is going to be all she files for all three of those grounds of inadmissibility, 98 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:40,160 which is a good thing. Okay. And because she has a qualifying relative, her lawful permanent 99 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:47,280 resident spouse, she's going to be able to get a waiver. And, you know, she also in this, in real 100 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:54,800 life, she had a daughter who was like 27 years old, okay, who's a US citizen. So she has all the 101 00:09:54,800 --> 00:10:00,800 ingredients that are necessary for her to get her green card. But she has to get the denial 102 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:06,800 from the consulate first to then be able to file the waiver. The consulate basically has to say, 103 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:11,360 yeah, we see that you're eligible for your green card, except for these three things. And we see 104 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:18,000 that you're eligible to waive them. But now I need for you to go home, get the waiver together and 105 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,640 file it, and then I will adjudicate it. And then I can approve, I can make a new decision on your 106 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:29,520 green card. So Maria will have to wait in Mexico for that whole time, purely because you can't 107 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:36,800 pre adjudicate the consulate can't pre decide waivers for things like alien smuggling, 108 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:43,920 or fraud, misrepresentation, or other potential and admissibility grounds like those. Okay. 109 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:52,560 Let me give you another example. Juan entered the country when he was 18 years old, 110 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:58,480 this was a long time ago. And now he has his dad is also a lawful permanent resident now. 111 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:05,600 And Juan wants to consular process. How do I handle this? I go through every single possible 112 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:10,720 ground of an admissibility with him to make sure that the only thing he needs is the provisional 113 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:17,520 601 a waiver. I determine that he's good to go. I do his fingerprints with the FBI. I do what's 114 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:24,880 called a FOIA request, a freedom of information act request with every agency possible to make 115 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:30,000 sure that Juan doesn't have any issues. I get all these police certification official letters so that 116 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,600 when he goes to see that whores, he can show them he has absolutely positively zero criminal history. 117 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:42,640 I do all of that homework before I have Juan leave and go to see that whores. I grill him as an 118 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:47,520 attorney to make sure that he doesn't have any other issues because I don't want him to get stuck 119 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,800 there without realizing that he's going to get stuck. It's a totally different experience, I 120 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:57,280 believe. If someone knows that they're going to go to see you. Horace for a while, but that they're 121 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,360 going to eventually, you know, be able to file the waiver and go through all this. What you don't 122 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:06,080 want is the surprise. And I think that that's probably the most painful thing for people is the 123 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:11,440 surprise of, Hey, you have a ground of it and miss ability and you need to file this waiver. And oh, 124 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,160 by the way, it's going to take a long time. You're going to have to wait here a long time. 125 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:20,800 No one wants that surprise. So in Juan's case, we would do the 601a and we would wait, we would 126 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,760 file that while he's in the US and we would wait, we would not send him to see it out whores for 127 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,960 his appointment. We would let the consulate know that we have this waiver pending, hold on to his 128 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:36,160 case, don't schedule it just yet. And then after it's approved, then we get the party started and 129 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:41,120 we can kickstart all of his consular processing stuff. So we get him in the line to be able to 130 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:46,080 go to see you at whores and then, you know, God willing, everything goes correctly there. And he 131 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:54,000 comes back, you know, about two weeks later. Okay. So that is the difference between, you know, if 132 00:12:54,000 --> 00:13:00,800 one also let's just add some facts to his case. If one also had a fraud and misrepresentation 133 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:07,840 issue, I would tell Juan, you can file your 601a for your unlawful presence issue now, which is 134 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,840 good. I'm so happy you can do that now and you can wait and live in the United States 135 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,960 while that's pending because right now these are taking like almost four years to adjudicate. 136 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:23,280 You do not want to be waiting in Mexico for four years when your family is here in the US, right? 137 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:28,000 No one wants that situation. You want to be able to live your life like normal. And that's why it's 138 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:34,560 called a provisional waiver. They're giving you this provision to be able to file this for unlawful 139 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:40,640 presence while you're in the US. And then you can go deal with the rest of your issues from Mexico. 140 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:45,120 But those, those 601s do not take that long while you're pending in Mexico. They don't take four 141 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:49,200 years. They're unlawful presence ones do take that long, but thank God you're able to do them in the 142 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:54,720 US. So in that situation where Juan, I'm like making up a new case for you to follow me on, 143 00:13:54,720 --> 00:14:02,480 just as an example, I learned through examples, I'm sure you do too, is if Juan has two issues, 144 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,760 two grounds of an immiscibility, two reasons that the government's going to say, you can't come in, 145 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:12,160 like you, you can't do this. You can't get your green card. We're just not allowed to grant it to 146 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:19,040 you without waivers. The first being unlawful presence. And the second being fraud and misrepresentation. 147 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:26,160 So what he would do is we file the 601a while he's in the US that gets approved. And then we 148 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:32,640 send him to see you. Juarez and we tell him, we've got your 601 your waiver for the fraud and 149 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,760 misrepresentation. We've got it already. Because frankly, we just did it for the, for the 601a, 150 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:42,080 they're like going to be the same waiver, right? We just have to file it on a new form. We got to 151 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:50,000 pay a new filing fee and it has to get readjudicated. The likelihood of see you. Juarez not approving 152 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:56,240 a 601 after they've already, after the US government, the same US government has already 153 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:01,520 approved a 601a is like not going to happen unless they find out like that the circumstances have 154 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:07,440 changed somehow. But if you got a 601a approved and then six months later, you're in Mexico and now 155 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:13,520 it's time to get your 601 approved. It's on the same basis. It's the same reasons. They are very, 156 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:18,320 very likely to approve it as well. But still, you got to wait it out while you're in Mexico. So Juan 157 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:24,720 would know leaving Arizona where I'm at. He would know going to see Juarez. I'm going to be here 158 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:29,520 for a little while because I know that they're going to tell me I need to file this waiver for 159 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:36,880 my fraud and misrepresentation issue. That is a very good position to be in. There's no element of 160 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:43,440 surprise there, which is awesome. Okay. So you have your inadmissibility grounds where you can't get 161 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,800 a waiver ahead of time. That's one reason people, number one, get surprised in Mexico, but number 162 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,440 two, that's one reason they get stuck in pseudo Juarez. And there really is no other way around 163 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:59,680 it unless you can find a way to fix all of these issues in the United States. Let me tell you how 164 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,400 what those options are and you can listen to other podcasts, watch other YouTube videos. 165 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:09,680 You can call my office to learn more about them. But those would be through things like 245i, 166 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:18,080 through things like a UVSA, TVSA, or through VAWA. Also possibly through asylum, if you have a fear, 167 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:25,360 a very, very strong asylum case to be able to file for. That would be, I'm only mentioning that, 168 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:31,040 kind of as a very, very, very last option. We always talk to you before you leave the country 169 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,720 to make sure that you don't have a fear. So I'm not sending you back somewhere where you might be 170 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,360 harmed, potentially by your own government, because you got to go talk to the government while you're 171 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:46,480 there. Okay. So we've now covered the first of the three issues we're going to talk about today. 172 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:51,760 The first reason that a lot of people get stuck in pseudo Juarez is they have a ground of an 173 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:58,480 immiscibility that you have to file a waiver for. And I will caveat that by saying, if you don't have 174 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:05,440 a family member who can help you with this waiver, you're stuck there long term. There's no time limit 175 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:10,480 on things like fraud and misrepresentation. There's no amount of time you can just wait it out. 176 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:16,480 And it goes away. Unlike unlawful presence, you can just wait out unlawful presence. 177 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,760 And it will eventually just dissipate. And it's no longer on your record, essentially. But things 178 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:30,000 like fraud and misrepresentation, alien smuggling, certain criminal issues, those are with you forever. 179 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,880 And so if you don't have a basis for getting them waived, my advice would be you have to make a 180 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:43,200 really big, you have to make a very informed decision before you go because you may not be 181 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,520 coming back. And frankly, in those, in some of those circumstances, you wouldn't be coming back, 182 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:54,400 not lawfully. Okay. So grounds of an immiscibility. The second issue is criminal issues that the 183 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:59,280 consulate finds out about or criminal or other issues that the consulate finds out about during 184 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:06,080 the interview. And the third is medical exam issues, things that come up during the medical exam. 185 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:10,880 So we've covered in immiscibility. Let's talk about criminal issues briefly, because this is 186 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:17,520 like a whole body of law. And I want to just start this by saying this is the highlights. 187 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:23,200 This is the trailer for the movie. This is not the whole story. Okay. But a lot of clients will go, 188 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:29,840 and I have actually a really recent case where I told the client, do not go. I am not comfortable 189 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:37,200 advising you as your attorney to go to your appointment. So this was a gentleman who he 190 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:44,960 had with a notario filed for his I-130 through his US citizen wife. And now it was time for him 191 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:51,040 to, he had illegally entered to begin with. So he needed to file a 601A waiver. And then he needed 192 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:57,920 to go to his consulate appointment in C.O.D. Juarez. And he called us right before his appointment. 193 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:03,520 He was about to leave and he was like, I just want to talk to an actual lawyer who can tell me whether 194 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,560 all this is okay or not. And we said, well, we cannot advise you on whether this is okay or not 195 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:14,320 without doing a full kind of criminal scope and making sure that you don't have any criminal history 196 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:19,440 and you don't have any other grounds of any immiscibility. Because just like I told you with 197 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:24,640 the last example, what we don't want is to send you out of the country and you have a bunch of 198 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:31,920 surprises. I don't like surprises. You definitely don't like surprises. And so what did we do? 199 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:38,960 We did a full FOIA background check for him. I did his FBI background check as well. And I had him 200 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:44,000 go to any of the local police departments that are necessary for him and get letters saying 201 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,920 certified that he had no criminal history. Well, in his FBI, everybody, all the police records came 202 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:56,240 back clean. But in his FBI fingerprint background check, it showed that a long, long time ago, 203 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:03,440 he had been charged with statutory rape of having sex with a minor. In Arizona, I think that's 204 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:08,480 someone who's 16 or younger. Don't quote me. I'm not a criminal lawyer. We asked him about, 205 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:15,440 hey, what is this? And he said, well, I got into trouble for having sex with my wife. I was 206 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,880 barely a couple years older than her and she was younger and I got into trouble for having sex 207 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:26,720 with her. But we're married and she's the basis of my waiver and they ended up throwing the case 208 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:33,200 out. The case was dismissed, but I was initially arrested and charged even though the case was 209 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:39,920 later dismissed. I did not feel comfortable sending this gentleman to C.Rod Juarez with that 210 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:47,600 explanation. And here's why. With any green card application, you need to show that you're 211 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:56,720 a person who's deserving of the discretion of the adjudicator to get the green card. So in 212 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:04,480 their discretion, they think you're a good enough person to grant a green card. A lot of things go 213 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:11,760 wonky with the consulate in C.Rod Juarez. This is not a dig on C.Rod Juarez. This is not anything 214 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:18,240 disparaging, but I say wonky because one day it'll be one thing and another day it might be another. 215 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:24,720 And as attorneys, we learn about this and we gather data one case at a time. 216 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:31,360 And that can be very frightening for individuals, for immigrants who want to go just get their green 217 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:37,840 card. So my concern was that he would answer the question at the consulate and explain exactly 218 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,440 what happened because the consulate is going to see that charge was made and the case was dismissed. 219 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,440 You would think this would be open and closed, but because it had to do with having sex with a 220 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:54,640 minor and he's admitting to having sex with a minor when he was of age, he was very much 221 00:21:54,640 --> 00:22:02,160 over the age of 18. That made me very concerned that on the ground of discretion, the consulate 222 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:07,280 could deny him. And so I had to give him my legal advice. And then of course, he makes his own 223 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:12,240 decision. I said, sir, I'm really concerned that this is going to be an issue for you. 224 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:18,960 I told him the pros and cons of what may or may not happen. I may just be being very 225 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:26,880 very apprehensive or too risk adverse. But if the way I look at these cases is like, 226 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:32,160 if this were my dad and my mom and dad have been married for like freaking forever, 227 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:38,480 they got married when they were 17. My mom was 17. My dad was 18. My mom's parents had to sign 228 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,680 consent letter to let her get married because her birthday was like three days later when she 229 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,840 turned 18, but they wanted to get married on a Saturday. Didn't want to wait until the following 230 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:53,840 Saturday. I guess I don't know. I wasn't there. My parents had been married for 45 years though. 231 00:22:53,840 --> 00:23:01,040 That's so crazy to think of. If my dad needed to go to Mexico, I kind of get emotional to 232 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:05,680 thinking about it. My parents are total. I love them, but they're kind of rednecks. Like, they're 233 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:10,880 not immigrants at all. Not that immigrants can't be rednecks. But the idea of my dad having to 234 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:17,200 leave the country and leave my mom, I'm impossibly not ever get to come back. And my mom needing to 235 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:25,360 like sell their home here all by herself and up and move to a country she's not familiar with and 236 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:30,720 in a language that she's not familiar with, it would terrify my mom and they're in their 60s. 237 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:36,080 You know, this would, this is truly not a feasible option for people like my parents. 238 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:41,600 And this client I was working with, he's very close to my parents age. And I just thought, 239 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:47,600 if he goes and he gets a denial based on discretion, there's no real appeal of this. 240 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:54,960 Like it is, it's not an appealable thing. And what will we do? We could reapply 241 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:01,440 and we could reapply and reapply and reapply. But if they just keep saying no, 242 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:07,200 then this gentleman is stuck outside the US. And I did not feel comfortable advising him to go for 243 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:14,000 it. So I told him, I don't think that you should do this, sir. And, you know, let's look for other 244 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,560 options. And we were able to find other options that allow him to fix here in the US without 245 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:24,560 leaving. But I share that with you to say, there are there are some issues that the consulate can 246 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:30,160 look at that even if your case was dismissed, it can still kind of haunt you. And there's no 247 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,840 removing it from your record. Because you have to, there's a question on the DS260 on your green card 248 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:41,440 application that specifically asks, have you ever been arrested for anything, even if you were not 249 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,800 charged, even if the case was dismissed? Have you ever been arrested? You have to answer that. 250 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:51,200 Otherwise, you're lying and now you're creating a fraud and misrepresentation issue. So you have 251 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:56,080 to answer that honestly. And so this is going to come out one way or the other, it's going to come 252 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:01,200 out in your interview. And you can't take your lawyer with you. Like I can't go explain this on 253 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:09,200 your behalf and try to wordsmith this to make it sound not as bad as perhaps it is or to make it sound 254 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:14,240 as accurate as it is. So you're really on your own and have to advocate for yourself. And 255 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,680 you need to talk to a lawyer before. And that's why I'm so thankful that he called us. 256 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,760 Because we were able to do these extensive background checks and then have a conversation 257 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:30,880 with him before he left, because all of us just felt truly like he had dodged a bullet. 258 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,800 He's disappointed because he thought he was so close all these years. He's been waiting to get 259 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:40,960 his green card. And now he has to start a different process. But truly, like I look into my figurative 260 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:47,120 immigration crystal ball and I shake it. And I look and say, this is such a better option than 261 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:53,760 rolling the dice and possibly getting stuck there forever. Because that's what would happen. 262 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,920 It freaks me out. Okay, so that's criminal issues that may come up 263 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:03,920 with the consulate. And granted, the consulate may be like, okay, yeah, I'm glad I get it. You 264 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,480 guys shouldn't have done that. But if the police didn't want to charge you with it, 265 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:12,880 then who am I to make this something that haunts you for the rest of your life? Off you go. But 266 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,400 not every consulate's like that. So there we are. Number three, and then we're going to close this 267 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:25,040 episode out. The three reasons that you, the people may get stuck in C.J. Juarez. One is grounds 268 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:31,520 of inamissibility. Two is criminal issues that may come up that even though they should be not a 269 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,400 big deal, become a big deal because you have to have the discretion of the consulate to grant 270 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,800 you the green card. You have to be a person they deem as a good person. Number three is issues that 271 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:47,280 come up with a medical exam. So when you fix in the United States, you go to do your medical exam 272 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:52,880 here in the US. No problem. We can actually get them to give us two copies of it and we can look at 273 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,520 it before we even go into your interview, which is something I really love to do. So we get your 274 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:03,120 copy, we keep it sealed and we give that to USCIS. We get my copy, I open it and look at it to make 275 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:08,720 sure that there are no surprises before your interview and before we submit it. Now, issues that 276 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:14,720 have come up, not for my clients, but for other people who have gone to Mexico and they've called 277 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:22,560 me and said, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. I just did my interview and this is what they told me 278 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,800 because of my medical exam. I'm going to talk about two things here that can come up on the 279 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:32,320 medical exam. Well, really, I'll talk about three things. One is in this day and age, it's 2024 280 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:37,280 when I'm recording this, you have to get the COVID vaccine. So some people get really bothered by 281 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:42,000 the idea of getting the COVID vaccine, but it is a requirement in order for you to get your green 282 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:48,480 card in this day and age. It may not be at some point in the future, but I sincerely believe 283 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:54,080 it's going to be for the foreseeable future. I bet it'll be another 10 years before you're not 284 00:27:54,080 --> 00:28:01,200 required to get it. Some people, even though they feel like it's a religious issue, even though they 285 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:06,800 feel like it's a morality issue, no one should make me do this. I feel very, very bothered by 286 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:17,040 getting the COVID vaccine. The waivers for getting the vaccines based on religious or other freedom 287 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:25,120 of religion type purposes are just not getting approved. So it's not impossible, but it's nearly 288 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:30,720 impossible. So I would say that if you don't want to get the COVID vaccine, you should not get your 289 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:37,360 green card right now. There you go. You have a choice to make and you should choose to get the 290 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:42,240 vaccine if you want to get your green card and know that if you're going to Mexico, you're going to 291 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:48,480 have to get the vaccine while you're in Mexico in order to proceed with your green card interview. 292 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:53,440 So if you're someone who's like, absolutely, heck no, I'm not doing this and you're already in Mexico, 293 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,680 then we have a big problem and you can get stuck in Mexico for that. The more common 294 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:06,640 things that come up though with your medical exam are tattoos and alcohol use issues. 295 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:12,720 So with tattoos, one of the questions on the green card application is, have you ever basically 296 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:18,320 been affiliated with any essentially gang organizations? And if you have any tattoos that 297 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:23,920 can look like you were part of a gang or you were affiliating yourself somehow with a gang, 298 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:29,200 that can be a really big problem and you should talk to us before you go. So anything like, you 299 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:35,040 know, gosh, I'm so not a gangster. 16th Street, I think is a gang. There are and there are other 300 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:40,080 gangs like if you get teardrop tattoos and those sorts of things, they're going to, they're going 301 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:45,360 to check your body out at the medical exam. So those are going to become very visible. 302 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:51,520 Talk to a lawyer before you go, send text to picture to your lawyer, obviously with their 303 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,680 consent. So they know what they're looking at before, before he or she opens up the picture, 304 00:29:55,680 --> 00:30:00,320 especially depending on where it's at on your body. But you're going to want to have legal advice 305 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:06,240 on whether this tattoo is an issue. And if it is, we got to have a conversation before you go to 306 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:11,760 Mexico. You do not want to be at the doctor's office in Mexico and being like, oh, crap. Now I 307 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:17,520 got to explain what this is and hope that they believe me. We don't want that. The most common 308 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:23,840 medical related issue though is alcohol use. So one of the questions on the green card application is, 309 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:29,120 are you, are you a habitual drunkard? Are you someone who regularly gets drunk? There's not a 310 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:34,720 lot of case law and a lot of input on what habitual drunkard is. But what I will say is that 311 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:43,280 you want to be really thoughtful about how you answer the doctor's questions with how much do 312 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:49,040 you drink? Because even getting drunk every single Friday night, maybe it's just one night a week, 313 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:56,240 could be considered being a habitual drunkard. Having three or more drinks per day, 314 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:02,640 even if they are spread out over the course of the entire day, could be considered to be a habitual 315 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:08,720 drunkard. So you can get, it's a really gray area and it's a, it's frankly kind of a booby trap, 316 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:17,200 in my opinion, where if you admit to regularly using alcohol, you can, you can be found to be a 317 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:22,000 habitual drunkard and that can be a really big problem because then you have to show you're 318 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,000 going to get a denial at the interview and then you have to go back in and show that you have 319 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:32,560 rehabilitated yourself. So while you're in Mexico, you would need to go to like AA meetings and maybe, 320 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:39,040 maybe rehab. And if you're like, I don't have an alcohol abuse problem, I just answered honestly 321 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:45,840 that I drink three beers a day when I get off work. That could be a really big problem for you. 322 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:51,040 So again, this is something to talk to an immigration lawyer, especially who practices a lot at your 323 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:57,280 specific consulate to figure out, you know, what's the best legal advice and how can we prepare you 324 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,680 best before your interview? And let me tell you what that would be if I were talking to you. I 325 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:09,040 would say quit drinking or drink one drink a day for an extended period of time before you go to 326 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:13,760 your consulate interview. That way you can honestly tell the doctor when they ask how many 327 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:20,160 drinks do you have per week, you can say seven or less, rather than saying what's seven times three, 328 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:27,840 21 or less. Okay, because 21 drinks a week sounds like a lot if I'm a medical doctor who's assessing 329 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:32,720 whether you abuse alcohol and you are habitual drunkard. So I just want to give you that heads 330 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:37,200 up. And I also want to share because like being sober has been the best thing in the whole world 331 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,840 for me. I'm just passing 1000 days of being alcohol free and it's been amazing. So to the 332 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:48,160 extent that that's helpful for you, I used to be a habitual drunkard. Even as an immigration lawyer, 333 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:54,320 I abused alcohol, I drank way too much every single freaking day. It was the way I managed my stress. 334 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,760 So I have a lot of empathy for you. If you're someone who that's your stress management, because 335 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:06,960 hey, it is really hard just being an immigration lawyer, I frankly cannot imagine what it would 336 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:11,920 be like actually being the immigrant who has to go through this process because I'm just advising 337 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:19,200 about it. I'm not walking in these shoes. So I have a ton of empathy for you, zero judgment 338 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:24,880 about how you're processing stress or relaxing or just having a good time. But what I will say is 339 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:29,680 that can have very detrimental consequences for you. And I don't want you to get screwed 340 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:34,800 by getting to see you. Hora is answering honestly, which we do, we need to answer honestly. But 341 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:39,280 let's go in with an honest answer that's not going to get us into trouble, right? Get us into 342 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:45,280 having problems. As we end here today, I'm going to wrap it up and say, there are three main reasons 343 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:51,200 I see clients get stuck in pseudo horrors. The first is grounds of inadmissibility that they 344 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:56,160 either knew about or didn't know about. But the consulate has said, you can't get your green card 345 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:01,600 because of this issue. And now we have to solve it while you're in Mexico rather than while you're 346 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:09,280 in the United States. The second is criminal issues that the consulate either finds out about 347 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:16,960 or just is an issue that becomes more of a problem than initially anticipated. And the third is 348 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:25,360 things that come up during your medical exam, most of the time relating to alcohol or drug use. So 349 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:30,800 anytime we talk about those two things, if you have that happening in your life, please call 350 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:36,240 me. Please contact an immigration lawyer. You can call me before you go to your interview because, 351 00:34:36,240 --> 00:34:39,520 especially before you go to your medical exam, because you're going to want to know 352 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,800 what's the honest way for me to answer this question so that number one, I'm always telling 353 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,800 the truth. But number two, I'm not getting myself in trouble. Like, I don't want to, 354 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:55,280 I don't want to make life harder for myself by being honest. And we can help you with that. My 355 00:34:55,280 --> 00:35:00,480 philosophy is there's always a way to be transparent and to be honest and to do all of this, 356 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:05,760 the right way. Because what's the point in getting your papers if you still have to look over your 357 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:12,800 shoulder, right? My friend have a wonderful day. Keep fighting the good fight and tune in for 358 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:17,280 another episode. If this is helpful for you, please share it with a friend. And I'll see you around. 359 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:28,160 My friend, I'm so glad you joined me today. If you have a friend or family member who may need 360 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:34,400 some immigration law guidance or even just day to day encouragement, please send them a text or email 361 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:40,480 or a DM on social media and say, Hey, I think this podcast is going to help you. I sure wish 362 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,960 someone had given me the tips I'm sharing here years and years ago when I was starting out as 363 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:51,120 an immigration lawyer. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next week. Same time, same place. 364 00:35:51,120 --> 00:36:01,120 Adios.