New Here

My son is dating a beautiful girl who was brought here at the age of three. I am ashamed to say I never even thought of immigration before or of the consequences to the children brought here under age. She graduated from High School and has dreams of becoming a Clinical Psychologist. She is a very bright girl, unfortunately, even though she can go to college in our state, she cannot afford to pay for it and cannot get a job.

My eyes have been opened to the plight of those who cannot take advantage of the opportunities afforded by our great country. I promise to do my part to encourage our gov. to sign the Dream Act into law. In the meantime, are there things the my son's girlfriend should be doing to gain residency? I am exploring the boards, and am sure I will find the answers I need, but for expediency sake any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi

First of all thank you for joining this great cause.

We would need additional information on your son's gf.

Does she have any citizen siblings?
Did she come here legally?
What country is she from?

She has two siblings that are citizens younger than her,
No her parents came illegally when she was 3.
Her parents are from Mexico.
My son would love to marry her, but at 19 I think they are a bit young. I want them to finish college first.

I'm guessing that she came with her parents illegally?

Unfortunately there are little options for people who came over illegally.

http://dreamact.info/students/legalization-glossary/ewi

This page might answer some of your questions.

First of all, let me say how glad I am that you are a very supportive mother.
I've known of cases where the parents of their citizen son/daughter do not approve of their child's relationship solely on the fact that the other person is undocumented.

What she should be doing to qualify for the Dream Act, which is the only piece of legislation by which undocumented students like us can become legalized, is to stay away from any legal/civil problems and be a contributing member of society (pay taxes if possible, volunteer, be of "good, moral character"). Based on what you have written I am sure she would be a prime candidate for the Dream Act.

Marriage to your son would be the fastest way for her to become legalized, but as you say 19 is a bit too young. Although you may take into consideration their maturity level and how long they have been in a relationship to determine if marriage is a good option for them at this point.

:]

Ditto to quingshu. If she came Illegally there really are no good options..Unless the Dream Act passes!! Thank you for your support on this cause..And as you've experienced first hand, Dream Act would help the thousands of students like your son's gf...So support on this Act would benefit the very deserving young people of America.

How old is your son's gf? If she is under 18 she may have other options available to her/

Ladyj, there is really nothing she can do in the US to gain residency. The best she can do is to stay out of trouble.

They would have to get married in order for her to be able to gain residency. Your son would then file a petition for her plus a waiver for her illegal presence. Nineteen is a young age to get married, but my husband and I got married at 19 and we're very happy. We're still pursuing college, but we're doing it together.

Anyway, thanks for your support for the DREAM Act and supporting your son's gf. I'm sure it means the world to her to have you and your son by her side.

The reason why I asked where the young woman came from is because if its a country under a state of oppression, you can seek political asylum.

Very slim chances still exist that Mexico might have a human disaster scenario and such pardon would be accepted.

Not jinxing anything... just saying

About the whole marriage thing, though, the complicated part would be if she crossed the border & had no passport, visa, etc, basically a EWI (Entered Without Inspection).
Then the marriage plan might not be the best idea, cuz if she's an EWI that would require her to leave the country before she can get residency through a marriage, and the process is VERY complex and VERY long.
Your son would have to have a "proof of hardship", basically something that proves WHY he needs her back in the country & why he can't go live with her instead. <-- very hard to do.
If by chance he is successful in his proof of hardship, she'll still have to wait until the whole process is approved until she can come back, & that might take up to a year or god knows how many more.

Good proofs of hardship would be things such as...
- He's got a sick family member that only HE can care for, & therefore cannot leave the country to stay with his wife.
- He's got children with his wife that would somehow suffer in their growing process if they left the country (i.e. if her country lacks good education, etc)
- He's got children that are emotionally attached to her & also cannot leave the country
- He himself is too sick or has some sort of illness or disability that would make him unable to travel, or she's the only one that can care for him, etc

Well, you get the gist. Those are EXCELLENT proofs of hardships, but there are others that are more realistic for your case, too. There's a thread here somewhere that lists a bunch of them...

Anywho, if she's an EWI, you might wanna reconsider the whole marriage idea, cuz she might end up not being able to come back. =/