I have a hearing for removal proceedings soon. Can it be won without having any legal counsel/representation?

Question

I am currently an alien in the United States that has overstayed their visa for many years. I came to the country with a tourist visa when I was 12 with my mom, but she had passed away three years ago. Now 21, all I've done in the country all this time is go to school and I've now been admitted to the University of California, Davis for this coming fall quarter. I have not committed any crimes and am overall a good citizen.

My stepfather and I cannot afford legal help. As such, is it still feasible for us to make a good case, win, and be granted permanent residency (or some other favorable outcome)?

Answer 1

You better get a lawyer. Look into free legal services where you live. Doing the legal stuff yourself, you will find yourself deported. Either way you maybe deported.

Answer 2

Get UC Davis to accept  you as a foreign student. They with give you an I-20 certificate. With proper financial support, you can then apply for a student F-1 visa to stay in this country to go to school.

It would be much easier if you do this with the help of a lawyer.

Answer 3

Is your step-father a US citizen?  If yes, at what age (your age) did he get married to your mother?

***********Okay, the step-parent relationship was established while you were a minor.  Your step-father should have, and can still, file an I-130 petition for you and you should have, an can still, file an I-485 "adjustment of status" package.  

The $1,000,000 question is this..... Can you prove you came here, legally, with a tourist visa, at the age of 12?  

If so, you could have had a green card as far back as age 17.

If you cannot afford an attorney, and believe me YOU NEED ONE, your best chance is to bring evidence of your mom's marriage to a US citizen, when you were 17, and the evidence that you had a visa when you arrived at age 12.  Bring evidence that the step-parent relationship continues after your mother's death and that you still live with your step-father.

Tell the judge that your step-father is filing a petition for you and that you are concurrently filing an adjustment of status request.

Your step-father needs to file I-130, I-864 and G-325A with the USCIS.

You need to file I-485, I-131, I-765 and G-325A with the USCIS.

You need to file these all at the same time, in the same envelope.  The total cost to file is going to be $1,365.  You need to file and pay even if you have to borrow the money from a Mafia loan-shark.

You can find the forms here.....

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/m...

Please try Catholic Social Services and Legal Aid for assistance in Immigration Court.  You can easily adjust your status if you have the right assistance.

***********Try the agencies I posted.  If the judge will not let you stay and adjust your status then it's time for you to attempt to get a voluntary departure as opposed to being taken into custody and deported.

Dress in a manner that makes you look REAL young.  No make-up, no jewlrey.

Your step-father can continue to file for you with an I-130, but you'll need a Waiver of Inadmissibility (I-601), based on hardship, before you can get a visa to come back.

http://www.aila.org/

Let me know, by email, how you make out.  I'm going to talk to some people in the morning and get some more ideas.

Answer 4

how can you consider yourself a citizen if you are not even a US citizen.. You broke the law. Why don't you just come here legally and not illegally.