Can my husband fix his immigration status if he was deported and came back? 7 Answers as of January 25, 2012

He is subject to a 10 year bar for entering after a deportation. He will have to leave and wait outside 10 years.

I would recommend that you find competent counsel to meet with so that they can properly advise you on what could be available to you. Of course the easy answer is no he cannot, but that is too simplistic. There are ways to that can allow him a better outlook on his immigration problem and a good attorney would want to know a lot more information than what you provided here in this forum. Yours is a problem for which you cannot avoid hiring an attorney. Find one and see what they tell you.

It's really unfortunate because if you petitioned for him in 1998, he would have been able to legalize his status within the US under the then current immigration law without leaving the US. You were supposed to file for everything with the USCIS and not "wait to hear from them." But since he was deported and then reentered the US unlawfully again, under the current immigration laws, he will not be able to legalize his status within the US. He would have to go back to his home country to consular process but departing the US will cause him to automatically trigger a 10 year bar to reentry, which can only be waived by a showing of extreme hardship to a US citizen spouse, and this is very difficult to do in most cases.

He falls under a section of law that means he is permanently inadmissible due to the 2nd illegal reentry (unless he was not out of status for more than 1 year.) Because of that, we must try to reopen or attack the first deportation. I need information on why he was deported and how he was deported.

If he re-entered without inspection, you can file for him, but he will need eventually to apply overseas. You need a lawyer to handle that process.

It depends upon whether he was removed or just "caught and released". He has the qualifying relatives but if you are in the US after removal, then you need to be out for 10 years before you can apply. He would not be eligible for the extreme hardship waiver of the 10 year bar.

Unfortunately, this is a very complex matter. The problem is that your husband was previously deported and re-entered the country after being deported. There may be something that could be done to reopen the prior deportation proceedings, but there is insufficient information to assess that option.