Immigration Corner | I was deported but ...

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I had filed for adjustment of status through spousal support back in 2007 during which time I also got arrested and served time in Federal Prison. After my federal sentence was completed, I was transferred to ICE custody and I resumed my adjustment of status petition which is still moving forward.

While in ICE custody, I found out that my immigration number was invalid and an immigration judge could not see me because there was nothing in their system for me. I brought this to ICE attention along with the fact that my petition was still processing and they still deported me to Jamaica.

After being deported, the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) sent me a letter requesting my finger prints. I did it at the office on Duke Street and sent to them.

The issue I have now is that they sent me a I693 Medical Form to complete by September 2018 and there is no medical institution in Jamaica authorised to use that form.

I am requesting assistance as to how to get USCIS to get the embassy to set an appointment for me to do the medical at Andrew's Memorial.

KC

Dear KC,

It appears that you may have two alien ('A') numbers and that might have been why you were not seen by an immigration judge under the number you had in your possession. Nevertheless, you should have been seen by an immigration judge or had a hearing in order to be deported to Jamaica. If you were not present at the hearing, the judge would have ordered you deported 'in absentia'. I wonder if you had an attorney representing you with your immigration case or if you were representing yourself at that time because your final deportation orders should have been investigated.

Whatever crime you committed that resulted in your serving a sentence in Federal Prison, would also make you inadmissible to the United States. For some crimes, you may have been eligible for a waiver and if you had a pending adjustment of status application, the court should have been made aware of this fact.

Your deportation makes your adjustment of status redundant because you cannot adjust your status to a permanent resident from outside of the United States. This is why there are no approved medical facilities outside of the US to conduct the examination on the I693 Medical Form. It appears that USCIS is unaware that you are no longer in the United States and I am surprised that the same adjustment application from 2007 would still be valid and pending in 2018.

You need the services of a US immigration lawyer to review your US immigration file(s) to determine if you were improperly deported and if so, to file the necessary pleadings to have you returned. If your deportation was legal, then your spouse would have to file a new petition for you to Consular process through the US Embassy in Kingston to return to the United States. The approval of that visa would depend on whether you and your spouse would be eligible to apply for a waiver and if that waiver is granted.

- Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States and family, criminal, international and personal-injury law in Florida. She is a mediator, arbitrator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com