Family Separated
Glenn Keith Madden- This is what happened to my family starting in 2001.
My wife Teti, daughter Tiara and myself in Myrtle Beach SC shortly before they banned my wife from returning to the USA.
My wife now for 20 years plus is Indonesian. When she was pregnant in the US with our daughter I filed for her a green card before her 6 month visa was up so she would remain legal when it expired. We lived in Greenwood SC which had no local INS office. So per the instructions that went with the documents I mailed the packet by FedEx to Texas…since we had no local INS office. It took INS 6 months to return all the packet with hundreds of little yellow sticky notes, very unprofessional all saying that “This Is The Wrong Office, please file with your local office.” which we did not have.
Per the law my wife was not allowed to leave the country after we filed the green card. She was legal as long as we had the application on file even after her visa expired.
BUT Due to someone at INS letting this packet sit on their desk for 6 months then returning it to us after my wife’s visa had expired made her illegal overstay. I had to go to Indonesia on business so we decided my wife and my new daughter would go with me and wait until we return to the USA to refile.
But when my wife was returning to the US they noticed her previous overstay while waiting for a green card application to be processed and cancelled her visa. She was banned from returning to the USA or from refiling for a visa for 10 years.
Our Family Separated by US Immigration Services – My Indonesian wife married to me in the USA and the mother of our 2 month old daughter whom was born in America was exiled from the USA for 10 years because of some confusion over where to file her immigration documents.
Initially my wife traveled with me on my business trips regularly. Then in 1999 she became pregnant with our daughter. We decided it would be best for our child to be born in the USA. My wife had entered the USA legally on a 5 year multiple entry Tourist visa allowing her to say for 6 months at a time. After a few months we realized she could not continue traveling with me me during the pregnancy. In order for her to remain legal in the USA I applied a form I-485 on her behalf so she could remain in the USA permanently
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE GREENVILLE NEWS
The I 485 for immigration of my wife was applied through the immigration office in Texas by mail as per instructions I read in the documents as where to file if you did not have a local immigration office. Small town Greenwood South Carolina does not have an immigration office in 2001 and I doubt now it does either. INS https://www.uscis.gov/i-485-addresses
It took 6 months for the office in Texas to tell us the I-485 was not accepted by the immigration office in Texas. They sent all of my documents back covered in many yellow sticky notes saying saying that Texas was the wrong office and I should re-file with my local immigration office.
My home in Small town Greenwood South Carolina did not have an immigration office in 2001 and I doubt now it does either.
My wife was not allowed to leave the USA once I filed the documents and was legal until they rejected the documents. Once they rejected the documents she was then illegal on overstay of a visa.
By this time our daughter had been born and I had been asked by my company to make a 2 month business trip back to Indonesia. My wife wanted to go and show off our new born daughter. So we decided to make the trip together and find out where to re-file the immigration documents when we returned to the USA.
We left the USA to Indonesia without any problems or mention of a tourist visa overstay by the airline or US immigration on leaving.
After 2 months in Indonesia I had completed my work. My wife wanted to say a while longer visiting with family before returning to the USA. I went back to the USA first expecting my wife and new born daughter to follow in another month.
The embassy saw where she had overstayed her previous visit to the USA on a tourist visa by a few months.
They scratched big lines in her passport though her 5 year multiple entry visa and said she could not return to the USA for 10 years due to the previous what they called an illegal over-stay.
She asked the immigration officer what about our daughter whom was an American citizen and could not remain in Indonesia for very long. They told her “get a divorce from your husband and we will send the child back to the USA for free.”
After more than 2 years of filing waivers, begging for help from our state representative I ended having to leave the USA myself so our family could be together.
We have been living here in Indonesia since that time.
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The USA holds no respect of a mother giving birth in the USA. I had to move to Indonesia after our baby was born in the USA. My Indonesian wife married in the USA to me in 1998 was in the USA on a tourist visa. She was 6 months pregnant and could not travel. Since if she stayed in the USA it would overstay her visa SO I filed for a green card so she would be legal.
I spent more than week studying every detail how to file and complete the forms. I was living in Greenwood SC at the time and Greenwood SC had no immigration then, probably still does not. The forms instruction which I read at least 15 times said … IF YOU DO NOT HAVE LOCAL OFFICE MAIL THE APPLICATION TO , and it gave an address in Texas. I completed the forms and sent the forms first class express mail to the address it instructed.
It is normal for the process to take some time. Our baby was born and we still did not have the response from INS. My wife’s Visa time had expired BUT it was supposed to be OK because LEGALLY she could not leave the USA once we had filed for the green card. IT TOOK 6 MONTHS for the office in Texas to return the entire package I filed to me with hundreds of little yellow sticky notes through out all the pages saying, THIS IS THE WRONG OFFICE, PLEASE FILE WITH YOUR LOCAL OFFICE. still do not have a local office ??? …
We left the USA to visit family in Indonesia with plans to refile when we got back to the USA. When she was preparing to return to the USA her visa was flagged for the previous overstay in the USA and completely destroyed by an embassy employee. THIS overstay was due to the negligence of INS in Texas. IT DID not matter whose fault it was they said my wife broke the law by overstaying her visa. They told her that if she divorced me they could send the infant baby back to the USA for free.
I spent the next two years filing waivers, seeking help from Lindsey Graham’s office, sent letters to Washington, even had to file a waiver to an office in Singapore … all to no avail with the same response my wife broke the law. After two years I had to move to Indonesia where I have lived for the past 16 years to be with my wife and daughter. My daughter a US citizen has never seen the USA since she was 3 months old, now 19 years old.