My fiance is from Brazil. He has a 10 year visa but has overstayed. He's been in the US for 5 1/2 years. Does this mean he is an 'illegal alien'? It was difficult for him to tell me about his immigration status. We are plannng to get married but I am concerned about what this process entails. He works as a handyman but has no legal working papers. He has a drivers license which he obtained by using his passport. I guess I'd just like to know what the first step would be to get his immigration papers started. Can we get married first or does he have to straighten out his status first? I don't want to open a can of worms and cause trouble for him. What can we do, legally?

-- elizabeth (liznazrod@yahoo.com), April 05, 2004

Answers

You can certainly marry him, and it sounds like you can help him resolve his status problems, since you are a U.S. citizen and he entered with a visa. Marriage would be the first step. If you and your fiancé want to get an overview of the process and learn about our fees and the INS fees before getting married, please call our office to set up a consultation. (We charge $200 for the consulatation, which we credit against our fees if you retain us to handle the marriage case.)

-- Michael Boyle (info@immigrantcenter.com), April 06, 2004.