A brief breakdown of the tiniest portion from immigration

- I got a question for you. What do people mean when they say that immigrants should do it legally? - Listen what they actually mean. When other people tell immigrants to do it legally, what they're referring to is how they enter the country. So let's talk about entering legally. So let's say that you entered on a visa, right? Let's say that your visa is not expired. So that means that you are still in legal status. You're good, you're still legal, right? So let's say that you're going to adjust status to a green card through an employer. Well, it depends. Are you with an employer who will actually petition for you for a green card? Then possible you did the entire thing legally. But let's say that you are on a visa that might transition into a green card, but you're on a lottery system. So a lot of visas like an H1B, you have to be selected. Meaning the government only gives out a certain amount of year, right? Let's say you're lucky to be selected. And if you win the lottery, then you adjust status. But then you're going down to the visa bulletin. It doesn't mean that you will immediately get a green card just because you're lucky enough to win the lottery, right? Because then when you're in the visa bulletin, depending on what country you're from, it could take you up to like 25 years to get your green card. So yeah, you did the entire thing legally. You won, you got the lottery. But oh, no, you have to wait another like 25 years and be undocumented in the United States in order to get your green card. Okay, now let's say you're still on the employment-based route, but you're an employment-based temporary visa and you could not be eligible for the lottery. You're in a temporary visa, meaning that you were supposed to return or expired. Now you are in the expired status part. You were not here no longer doing it legally, although you did enter the legally, which is so weird. So now you need to look at other options because if you are in expired status, you're not old longer going through an employer. So now let's look at family-based immigration. So you can either have an immediate relative petition for you or somebody else. An immediate relative is having a US citizen spouse, having a US citizen parent petition for you if you're under 21, or if you're a parent, you have a US citizen child that's over 21 petition for you. If you fall into those three categories and they can adjust status for you for your green card. So you're lucky even though you're expired status and you're somewhat undocumented, you technically enter legally, but then you weren't doing it legally, but eventually you got your green card, you are in those lucky three categories. Let's see, you're not in those three categories. If you have anybody else in the visa bulletin petition for you, like a sibling petition for you, then you're down to the visa bulletin. The visa bulletin will show you exactly how long you have to wait for a green card. For example, if you have a US citizen sibling petition for you, even if they are a US citizen and you enter legally and you're from Mexico, you're waiting up to about 25 years to get your green card. So yes, you enter legally, but you lost status and you fell into an unlucky category and you're from a country with a high immigration rate. Oh, you're waiting about 25 years where you are literally undocumented in the United States before you're getting a green card. Okay, so let's say that you're not eligible for family-based immigration. Neither are you eligible for employment-based immigration. Now we go into humanitarian visas. So let's go into a T or a U visa. So U visas when you've been a victim of a crime, a T visa is when you've been trafficked into the country, either by a person, entity, organization, or an employer. Now you have to go down to the visa bulletin to begin, these visas are capped. So if you just to apply for this visa, which is not a green card, by the way, the government only gives about a certain amount a year per country. So you're waiting, you could wake up to 20 years and then eventually you can adjust as for the entire 20 year period, you are undocumented in the United States. Therefore, you are not doing it legally per mega standards. Remember, you still enter legally. You're still doing it legally. Let's say that none of these areas apply to you that limits you to asylum if you're eligible or you want to pursue it. Good luck because you have one year to apply. And if you don't apply within one year, it's very likely you'll get denied, unless you have a very good legal excuse. However, let's say you even do apply on time, it's about a 95% denial rate. You're more likely than not to get denied for asylum, even if you have the best argument in the world with the best lawyer. Now, if you get denied, this is the riskiest application because you will automatically be referred to court unless you have some kind of legal status. Most people applying for asylum don't have legal status as the whole purpose of it. So now when you're in court, you're not getting a fair shot in front of a judge and they are actively trying to deport you. When you're in court in immigration, you're in removal for shootings. And if you're gonna lose at USCIS, it's more likely than not that you are gonna lose in court, especially under this administration, where you don't have a fair shot in hell. So then you get deported. So good for you. You did it legally to only eventually get deported.