Overstay, Illegal Status Dating an illegal alien, please help!

[Sarah84]

My name is Sarah, and I'm 23 years old. I live in the U.S. and am a dual citizen of the U.S. and Germany.

I have been dating my Iranian boyfriend here for 8 months now.

He fled Iran years ago and settled in Germany with his mother and brother as refugees.

He came to the U.S. on a tourist visa 5 years ago using only travel documents. He didn't make it back to Germany before his U.S. visa expired, and the German consulate denied his appeal to go back to Germany and also would not give him his travel documents back.

He has been living in the U.S. illegally for two years now, and going back to Iran is not an option, for he would rather be in the U.S. illegally than be persecuted in Iran.

Marriage between us is a strong possibility. I would like to know what steps we should take for him to become legal, and what consequences he might face even if he is married to me (with him being illegal for the past two years).

Please help. Thank you.

Sarah

 

[mafioso]

Does he have his passport and I-94 which was given to him when he entered the US? I-94 is the white form attached to the passport on entry.

What exactly did the German consulate take away? I need to to know.......is it his passport or what?

 

[Sarah84]

Thank you for your reply! : )

He doesn't have a passport from Iran. He was given what German call "Auslaender Ausweis" or "Foreigner Pass" to come to the U.S. He was living in Germany with Asylum status that had to be renewed every two years, and since he missed the deadline by staying in the U.S., his asylum status in Germany became invalid, which is why they would not send the documents back.

His I-94 was sent back to Germany with his travel documents when he appealed for another visa to go back to Germany.

Also, I heard that Iranians can apply for their passport through the Swiss consulate in the U.S. Is this true? This might be a better way to get a real passport than going through the Iranian office and risking being sent back.

 

[mafioso]

If he has neither passport nor I-94, that makes it hard. I am familiar with neither Foreigner Pass" nor German law. I would suggest you contact a lawyer in Germany for advice and how he can appeal their decision and get back his status. Without addressing this, even if you married him, it would be hard to get a legal status. US immigration would want to dig into it given he has neither legal entry papers nor passport.