Poll - Are you under a petition ? - Page 2

245(i) doesn't care when you entered, only when the application was filed. If there was none filed on your behalf or behalf of spouse/parent before April 30th 2001 then you're not covered. Also the application didn't necessarily have to be family, it could have been work, or special immigrant application.

From what you're saying, you're not covered under 245(i), with order of exclusion/removal and more or less an EWI (you're only considered to be have been lawfully admitted or parole if you went through immigration, had your I-94 stamped, and were allowed to walk outside), you're more or less screwed, even marriage to citizen would be difficult (as it would require I-601 and I-212 waivers), only actual path for you is to sit down and hope for an immigration reform.

Also in regards to your sister, when exactly did she marry and when did her spouse file for her sponsorship? It's possible she utilized 245(i) without even knowing.
I know back then people never really used the name, it was along the lines of "pay 1000 dollar fine and get a green card later".

Yeah I figured it doesn't apply to me and also my lawyer never mentioned 245i. Only that if my petition was before 2001, life would be easy.

I am screwed, but this has already worked for the other two family members who were with me and my lawyer and I were pretty confident that I too could adjust my status if I were to marry a USC. There is just no room for error so the marriage has to be 100% real and things may get dicey so once we decide to file, there is no backing out. Oh and my sister did this in the 2000's. Way before the immigration marches, talks of DACA, etc. It was a scarier time.

Again, exclusion was a weird animal. Our original lawyer who was by most accounts incompetent and screwed up our asylum case managed to give us the gift of preventing us from getting an EWI as it was not our intention to come here illegally and even though physically we were present in the US, legally we were not present.

My friend I completely understand your frustration, especially with having to deal with dishonest or incompetent lawyers.

Despite all the misinformation out there, though, I can tell you with a great degree of certainty that the only choice we have is to get AP so that we can pick up our visas in our countries of birth.

Personally, after DACA, I find to reason to go through that. I'll just bide my time till CIR passes. Although it looks like petitioning for AP is easier than I thought according to what I've been reading on this forum.

Let me know what you decide to do. I'll be sure to let you know if I do decide to go that route.

If I had DACA and was still in my 20's, I'd bide my time for CIR too since I would be sure I couldn't be deported for just living my life and working. CIR will happen within an election cycle or 2....unless Obamacare turns out to be the worst thing.

I'm 27. Originally came with a tourist visa when I was 15. Also, I am a DACA beneficiary.

My mother is a US Citizen. She applied for me in 2007 under the category of F2B.
She had a greencard then. Later, she became a US Citizen and my application can now be promoted to F1.

I was over 21 at that time , therefore, not eligible for the fast track.

Yeah problem being your previous illegal presence makes you ineligible to adjust status once your priority date is reached. As things are now the only thing that could give you status would be marriage to a citizen.