Citizenship questions? Call in

Get free immigration law advice next week through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the Daily News/CUNY Citizenship Now! Call-in. Just call - 1-212-330-6505 for English or 212-330-6506 for Spanish.
To get you ready for the call-in, here are more answers to some of the most common questions.

High price of overstaying
Q. I came here legally two years ago on a visitor’s visa, but stayed longer than authorized. A business wants to sponsor me for permanent residence. Can I get my green card that way?
A. Unless you qualify to interview here under the 245i rule discussed below, getting permanent residence will be tough. That’s true even if the business can prove it can’t find a qualified U.S. worker to fill your position.
The problem stems from your having overstayed so long. Most visitors who overstay must return home for their final immigrant visa interview. (I list the exceptions below.) If you go home for your interview after having overstayed more than 365 days, the law bars you from returning for 10 years.
The law provides for a waiver, but you’d need to prove hardship to a U.S. citizen, or permanent resident spouse or parent.
Even if you had the qualifying relationship, that’s no guarantee that the USCIS would grant you the waiver.

Employer sponsorship
Q. My employer filed papers with the U.S. Department of Labor before April 30, 2001, to qualify me for permanent residence. That case did not work out, but now I have a new employer willing to sponsor for me. Can I interview here for permanent residence?
A. Assuming you were in the U.S. on Dec. 21, 2000, you can interview here under the 245i rules described below. An applicant can earn the right to interview here based on a petition or employment-based application, and then qualify for residence based on a different one.
So, because your employer filed for you by April 30, 2001, you have a permanent right to interview here no matter how you qualify for permanent residence – through a new employer or even a spouse or other relative.
Here is a list of employment and family applicants who can interview in the U.S.:

You are an employment-based immigrant visa applicant, you entered the U.S. lawfully and you were not out of status for more than 180 days since your last lawful nonimmigrant entry.

An immigration officer inspected you when you entered the U.S., you were never out of status, and you never worked without permission.

An immigration officer inspected you upon entry (even if you are now unlawfully in the U.S.) and you are the spouse of a U.S. citizen, an unmarried child younger than 21 of a U.S. citizen, or a parent of a U.S. citizen over age 21. Also eligible are certain widows and widowers of U.S. citizens.

You are qualifying as a self-petitioning victim of domestic violence.
Note that C and D non-immigrants, individuals in transit without a visa (TROVs) and K fianc/(e)s who marry someone other than the U.S. citizen who petitioned to bring them to the U.S. can’t benefit from the above rules.

Under what some call the 245i law, you can interview here if:

A relative or employer filed for you on or before Jan. 14, 1998;

A relative or employer filed for you by on or before April 30, 2001, AND you were in the U.S. on Dec. 21, 2000;

You are the spouse or unmarried child younger than 21 of a 245i individual who was applying for residence in a preference visa category.

Allan Wernick is a lawyer and chair of the City University of New York Citizenship and Immigration Project. He is the author of “U.S. Immigration and Citizenship - Your Complete Guide, Revised 4th Edition.” Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, Daily News, 450 West 33rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10001. Professor Wernick’s web site is www.allanwernick.com.

Allan Wernick’s Immigration column is reprinted from Thursday, April 24 editions of The New York Daily News.