A Call for Help.

The decision to become private will wait for a while. For now, we are hoping that many will see our family's blog and hopefully our fate can be changed.

Through unforeseen circumstances, we are looking at a probable deportation within the next month. We are now trying to do all that we can to repair the dismal situation that we are facing. I've been quietly reminded all week that through God, anything is possible. Although it may be a long shot, I am hoping that with His help, one of you may know someone or something that can help us. We hope that the more people who know about our situation, it could fall into the laps of someone who has the power to do something. Please forward to anyone you would like to. In any event, we would be grateful for your prayers.

Here are the details:

Our H1B visa expired in December 2009, while we were waiting for our Labor Certification (which allows us to apply for our Green Card) to be processed. We have been working diligently on this for several years, seeking out the expertise from both lawyers, and an immigration specialist, in order to stay and work in the country legally. Our Labor Certification was finally received by the government in March of 2009, but because of backlogs and law changes, governmental elections and new policies surrounding immigration, it has not been processed as of yet. Once the process (on our side) has begun, there is a certain ‘window’ in which all of the information must be submitted from the lawyer, the employer and employee, if it goes beyond that time frame, the application has to be started over. It is a complicated procedure. We started the process a couple of times with an immigration lawyer, and unfortunately, these deadlines elapsed a couple of time due to circumstances beyond our control. We then changed to an Immigration specialist who has worked hard to assist us. We have just been informed, however, that we were given incorrect advice. We had to file an extension already knowing that the government had our paperwork 'in queue'. In order to file an extension to our H1B visa (which is only renewable up to 6 years), we followed the advice of our immigration specialist, and gathered together evidence of any time I missed work, unpaid, during the past 6 years, and this could be added on to the end of our current visa, taking us to the completion of our Labor Certification. We counted every day we could substantiate, in an effort to afford us enough of an extension to have our labor certification be processed and approved. The incorrect advice was that only time *out of the country* can be counted. In our case, we can't claim but a small fraction of what we'd requested, and are being told by the immigration lawyers that we've been able to contact this weekend that we will be receiving notice of an imminent deportation. Being deported will be financially devastating to our family. We will have no other choice but to file bankruptcy, which will not only negatively impact us, and the economy, but also will decrease our chances of ever coming back to this country, and once again be productive, contributing members of society.