Immigration Corner | Do I qualify for a US visa?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

When I was about 13, the lady who raised me was migrating and wanted to adopt me so that she could file for me. My birth mother was not in agreement with it, so the filing was stopped. Her filing came through a few years later and she migrated in 2005. She got her citizenship about four years ago.

In 2016, I applied for a visa but was denied. One of the questions asked in the interview was, “Have you ever been filed for before?” to which I answered no. They then asked about her husband, who it turns out, she was going to file for at that time, too. I was not aware about the attempted filing back in 2003. I was only made aware when I went home and was relaying the questions asked, and my responses, to my ­family. That’s when they shared the filing details with me.

I want to try again for a US visa now that I am fully aware of what happened in 2003, but I don’t know how to explain it to the consular doing the interview. I want to make it right. Since it was not a lie, I just honestly had no idea until after the fact that I was ever filed for. Outside of that, I travelled twice on the Summer Work Program in 2010 and 2011. I did not overstay and they did look in my passport and confirmed same.

SH

Dear SH,

The first order of business is to determine whether you were ever legally adopted. If you were not legally adopted by the lady who raised you, she could not have legally included you as a dependent in a filing or filed for you directly. It could be that if the lady who was filed for you may have listed you as her child, but when it could not be proven that you were in fact legally her child, they could not proceed. You should have this conversation with her and your birth mother, or seek determination of your legal status as to whether you were adopted.

Once that is clarified, you can then proceed with an application for a non-immigrant US visa. If at the visa interview, the consular officer will not permit you to explain the confusion, you will need to reapply a third time with a Non-Immigrant Waiver (NIW). With the NIW application, you will be able to produce documents, including affidavits from all concerned, as to what the situation was surrounding the previous attempted immigrant visa application. When there are inconsistencies in a visa application or in answers given during an interview, the consular officer treats the answer as fraudulent and that stain remains on your file. It is now up to you to clarify the situation to the US Embassy as best as you are permitted and are able.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq, is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises Immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal & International law in Florida. She is a mediator and special magistrate in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com