Adjusting my status.

[steve65]

What is the name of your state? Texas

I originally came to the US in April 2000 on a visitors visa from the UK to meet my girlfriend at the time. We planned on getting married so i was going to return to the UK to get this done legally. Unfortunately we couldn't bare to be parted for so long and got married here in the US. This was almost 5 years ago and we now have 2 kids.

We just can't continue like this, it's very depressing. Do i have the option to adjust my status? Will it mean returning to the UK first? We were going to do this so long ago then 9/11 and it just scared us off. I'd really appreciate any advice.

 

[cogitoergodoleo]

Okay, I am not a lawyer, but I have been dealing with immigration a lot because I'm German and married to an American. I used to work with someone in a similar situation, and this is what they did (I am assuming that your wife is a U.S. citizen - otherwise this might not be possible): your wife has to file an I-130 petition for alien relative. At the same time you can file an I-485 application for adjustment of status (and an application for a work permit I-765 I think, but you better look that up). The problem is that you are 'out of status' right now, and they might try to cause you problems. If you are really married and living together in the same house, there is a fairly good chance that they will not, though. You might want to hire an attorney and have them do the paperwork for you, because if there is a problem them might be able to help you out. It will still take several years for you to become a permanent resident (I've been waiting for my green card for 3 years now, and I've done everything by the book), but you will be legal from the time they received your application - which means you can get a SSN and a work permit - until they make a decision.
As I said, I am not a lawyer. You can also find a lot of useful information on the official immigration website: www.bcis.gov