i've gone to ukraine now 3 times and lived with my g/f over there for over 2 months. We wanted to see each other here in America next and she decided that a work/study program would bring her into the states much faster than a fiance visa. She currently has a j-1 visa and was kidnapped by this campground she agreed to work for. I am from out of state and here at some crappy library desperately trying to get her released from this campground and to come home with me and work for me. Anyone have any advice or experience with this scenario or advice on a excellent lawyer? I can only stay here a few more days before i'm just going to pack her in my rental car and take off for my home state. Now that she is in america can we just do this? She has ZERO interest working for this camp, and beggs me everyday to take her the hell out of there. Really need help and i'm living the situation right now, i willstay tuned to the forum throughout the day.
I do not think they can limit her in what she does after the work. are you sayimg they do not let her outside? ask police to help you. people on work visa are not slaves:) call an immigrational lawyer they will explain her status what she can and can not do. I will email you one lawyer phone number now.
they do NOT let her out after work. She claims her contract forces her to stay at the camp and never leave. I swear its like slavery, they also do not allow me on the campgrounds, so she feels like a prisoner. Its insane shes leaves a post communist country only to enter a fascist state here in "freedom" america. I really need her available so that i can transfer paperwork and communications with a laywer to her, and they are preventing all of this. Also they restrict her phone use and have at several times threatened her with deportation and INS.... I'm here 1,400 miles away to do all i can to help her out of this situation and to bring her home and refuse to leave her side, but its not easy at 100.00 a night living in some shitty hotel by myself in the middle of nowwhere. ANY advice or kind words would really help. I'm afriad if i call the police or tlak to them, the camp might get wind of our real plans and deport her to ukraine before we can leave state
i read her supposed "contract" and it says somthing about being free for 1 hour after work (they work almost 16 hours a day) and that she gets 1 day off per session and a session is defined as 2 weeks... Olga is this even legal? If so, i'm shocked. She is an adult and i dont understand why she is treated like a prisoner in our own country.
hiii98, I am sorry to hear this, it sounds a horror story. You definitely should hire an attorney, spend your money on the attorney, not on shitty hotels, you're unlikely to reach any outcome on your own. I used for my fiancee visa John Roth, he's super! I know others used him from this site. The contact information is listed below. I also have a close friend who is a very good immigration attorney, but he only takes cases in CT and NY. If your girl is located in any of these two states, I can email you his info as well. Contact an attorney as soon as possible and good luck!
If she's some kind of summer camp councelor, that's how they work. It's shitty, but it's like that. However, I think I'd deck anyone threatening to deport my girl if I were in that same situation. Grab a justice of the peace, get married on her day off, and get her the hell outa there, flipping the bird to the camp as you drive off.
i spoke to a laywer yesterday. He told me to get married to her after she has been in America for 60 days. He also told me i have two options. Option A. i leave her at the camp, wait 60 days, then get married, and she applies for her green card. Option B. we immediatly leave the camp, her visa status goes into illegal status, we hide out from johnny law for 60 days, then get married. He said option B. has about a 90% chance everything will go as planned, 10% chance i will end up in a federal prison and she will be deported banned from entering the US again. He also said he will only represent me if i choose option B., otherwise he will refer me to another immigration laywer in my homestate if i choose option A.
Crap guys, what should I do??? This is a really hard decision for us to make... she has ZERO intentions of workign for this camp, and has told me repeatedly that she will go back to ukraine rather than work 1 more day in this camp. EVERYONE is trying to have sex with her, even the women!! I really just wanted to take off , but also i care about our long term future togther, what do you guys think we shoudl do?
Hiii..re a taxi, inform the driver in advance of the plan and ask if he's got a problem with that. Maybe also pay&tip in advance and then get inside the camp. Pick her up with her belongings (hers only, let her be out of/get rid of possible camp-clothing, no stealing in this process) and drive out. When stopped at the gate you simply walk out, and anyone trying to prevent you that you sort out like Mike above says. Then either walk or just wait for the taxi who will get out, and off you go. Swap to your car quick after that because the taxi might be questioned by the police (I doubt it) hence make sure the camp or taxi-driver does not know your car. If they do hire one and drive to the border, probably not necessary at all but a safe extra.
How difficult can it be? Your timing must be right and you have to be quick, that's all.
You're not abducting anyone, she's with you out of her free will which I'd advise she'll publicly tell (not you!) the gate-staff (with others/taxi driver/you present). She might be in breech of a contract with them but that hardly is your problem, and for them no reason to retrieve her physically let alone a right. If tried you stop those attempts, which would be a criminal offence (for them) which you could use as a lever even, however I doubt they will do silly things. Better still, IF so, and succesfully, you then can go to the police and have them getting her out of there.
In the above you will do zero crime or offence, and the only thing she does is breeching a private contract, with the cancellation of her visa as a possible consequential result only. 10% chance you to go to prison? You're joking - for what?
Nice story huh? Mind you, this whole cowboys&crooks script is not required at all. She also can walk out of there, literally walk, whilst you're waiting outside. Ever thought of that? To me that would prove she really wants to do this, and walking out is just that, walking.
All only depends on you. If you feel sure she's telling you the truth, and both of you want to do this then do it. If comm's are a problem then get her a mobile phone, which also could just be used to make only 60 days easier. Your choice Hiii....
I seriously doubt the police will track the two of you down like Bonnie and Clyde. Get her out of there. If immigration gives you problems, hide her for 60 days. However, I seriously doubt immigration will give you problems. Keep your cool at the camp, don't get stupid, and you should have your girl by your side. Let us know how everything turns out.
hiii98, what they do at the camp is illigal I think. camp onwers can not restrict people on j1 visa where they want to go after the work. also, if you take her out from the camp, I doubt camp pwner would complaign to anybody. as you can report on them to police now too. They camp will be shut down, and all workers sent home, . ithink they all have like one month stayafetr the job. it is amazing to have something like this in usa. so take her out.
Olga, all employees of a summer camp are required to live at the camp during employment, which is usually the summer. Otherwise, the kids at the camp would be unsupervised at night. The police will not shut down the camp and send everybody home. The best bet is to leave the police out of this and run. The camp may call immigration, but that's not like being on the FBI's 10 most wanted. You can easily avoid immigration for 60 days, especially if hiii98's name is not on anything (emergency contact, letters left behind at the camp, etc.) Do what the lawyer said, get married after 60 days in country. Then let him take care of her legal issues, which could be many. She did enter on a j-1 on false pretenses, which could get her deported without possibility for re-entry. However, if your lawyer is good, and immigration where you are is as lazy as in the southern plains, you won't have any problems. But it would be a good idea to spread the word that enering on a j-1 may be a bad idea. There's a reason employers look to foreigners for this kind of work- it's too crappy for us Americans to do it at what they pay.
Actually Olga what they are doing is legal. I have spoken with a friend that works summer camps on a regular basis. The usual contract specifies that the counselors will not leave the camp except on their time off and then only with permission. The employee is free to leave anytime they wish, however their employment is terminated if they violate any terms of the contract. This applies whether the employee is an immigrant on a work visa or an American citizen. In hiii98’s case his lady is here on a visa to work for this company…if she is fired or quits, her visa is terminated. The employer however has no authority to hold her against her will…that is called unlawful detainment. So if she wishes she can in fact just walk out, she will just be in the US without a valid visa.
Yeah wtrav, it takes all types. Hiii98 seriously needs help, and all izi wants to do is whine and cry. By the way izi, just in case you don't have a dictionary, it's ADVERTISING. If you want to help us help "98", great. If you want to cry about a lawyer's info being posted, do it in another thread we can ignore. Just look up the big words before posting.
yeah i sure could use your guys help. Thanks for your posts so far. We decided it would be best if I went back home and she worked for the next 60 days, then i pick her up and get married. I'm home right now typing this and I cant help thinking this is the wrong decision to make. I honestly think we woudl be fine hiding out, however i dont want to do ANYTHING to jeapordize her future citizenship which i'm really afraid this could do if she goes "out of status" . Anyone familiar with this or have any further suggestions. She is prepared to leave the camp at a words notice if i tell her too. Also I screwed up in my previous post, the laywer will only represent me if I choose option A which is to leave the camp and wait 60 days for her (not do the bonnie and clyde bit, due to he would be participating in a potentially illegal act, and enabling it)
Also where i live, immigration police are unheard of
and yes Olga it really seems terrible how they are treating her, i think US prisoners get more freedoms than she is allowed. She is not allowed to use the internet, telephone, leave the camp, or have visitors...
Hiii,
As I read it your lady, perhaps you, took a decision to 'short-circuit' the system by her applying for a work/study visa rather than a 'fiancee/settlement' visa.
Now my knowledge of US visa's is somewhat restricted however your lady is there purely for work/study thus, by the book, if she decided to give up that work/study then she should leave the country.
Like I say my knowledge of the US system is limited but they have recently changed the marriage 'documentation required' laws in UK whereas if one does not have the appropriate settlement visa then one cannot get married.
Now should your lady leave the work camp with you and you subsequently get married on the wrong type of visa will she 'always be on the run' from the authorities, will she ever be legal or will she be deported, perhaps never allowed to return, once the authorities catch up with her?
Whilst it would be a difficult decision for me to make, given such circumstances, I think I would tell her that she needs to return to Ukraine and thereafter apply for the appropriate visa.
Obviously I don't know how much the two of you discussed this, or indeed who's decision it was to try to cheat the system, but it doesn't say a lot for her integrity. If she truly loves you then she would respect the laws of her future homeland and respect you also and do things properly, if the two of you are to have such a wonderful life together isn't it worth waiting just a little bit longer for?
Her actions to cheat the system display that she is of a less than honest character and sometimes we just have to accept, I'm referring to her or perhaps the both of you, that we have f*cked up and it's time to start again and do it properly the next time.
Like I say this would be a difficult decision for me to make but you need to ask yourself do you truly love this lady and does she truly love you, if the answer to both is yes then you'll be prepared to wait for the appropriate visa whilst you can continue to visit her in Ukraine. If one or both of you is not prepared to wait to do things properly then one or both of you does not truly love the other.
Well Martin, if we respected laws over here, we'd still be a British colony, wouldn't we?;) Fortunately the laws over here aren't like they are over there. They weren't trying to "cheat" the system, they were just being creative. The best way to look at it is that they now have a great story for the grandkids. Congrats, "98", the two of you made a wise choice. To be "out of status" probably would've left the two of you too nervous about the possibilities to be happy. I think all of us wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness. Hey, do you think you could smuggle her a cell phone so she can call you when the gestapo's not around? It would probably do her morale good to hear your voice, and to "stick it to the man". As far as attorneys go, I hope someone else has a clue. Good luck 98, let us know what happens