We're Canadian. Cousin did semester in Hawaii a few years ago, fell in love with a boy. A few months ago they got married, hoping to ease the green card situation so she could work there legally & they could continue to be together while he finishes school. But now she can't leave and doesn't have a viable sponsor, so she's stuck in limbo.
She can't leave the US until the application is processed, so she can't come home to work, because I get the sense that if she leaves then she can't re-enter the US, or that she'll be barred from entering the US for a period of X years, something like that.
He's a student, third year university, with minimal income, so he can't sponsor her. His parents and parents' friends won't sponsor them - they all make money in a variety of ways probably-not-completely-disclosed-on-their-tax-forms, and they're understandably concerned about their financial situations being investigated by the government. And his parents recently put an illegal addition on their house, and this is a problem because in that area of Hawaii there are strict planning controls or somesuch, and they don't want to give themselves away. (I'm not sure why an immigration officer would care that you'd put an extra room on your house, but this is his parents' biggest worry.)
The cousin is working, doing three different under-the-table jobs, is able to support herself and the boy. But there is the ongoing obvious desire to be working legally, get a legit career path going, put down some roots with her husband and really start living. And with no sponsor her application is in complete limbo.
The obvious answer might seem to be that she find a job where the employer will sponsor her. Unfortunately the area of Hawaii where she lives is a bit depressed and there are no big employers. Not much of a tourist economy. She's there because the boy is there, and he'll be there for another 1.5 - 2 years finishing school. And further, most people make their living in some portion through barter or work they don't declare on their taxes. She's been working at finding someone (anyone, at this point) to sponsor her via employment for the last eight months and has come up with a big zero. Most local people would love to have a solid full-time job, and they're few and far between, so she's basically at the back of the line for anything like that.
I get the sense that the sponsor's role is to kind of take responsibility for bailing her out if she were ever to get in trouble financially. To kind of assure the government of the US that as someone working in the country she won't be a burden - but if she does need help, the sponsor will step in. Realistically, if she ever got into unexpected financial trouble she'd be able to call the family here in Canada, so she knows she has a safety net, but that means zip to the American government.
Basically she's a bit trapped. Can't really come home to work or wait out the process. Obviously doesn't want to tank her marriage by leaving, either. The application can't go forward until she gets a sponsor. People of Hawaii, what would you suggest she do? Is there an NGO that helps with this kind of thing? ("We'll sponsor your green card application because you look like a nice person"?)
I am quite aware that there are a great many people wanting to bum around on the beach in Hawaii for a few years. She's not in this category. And of course there are the thousands and thousands and thousands of illegal workers who come to the US and live in horrendous limbo and have no rights and toil away for a few dollars a day. I am really cognizant that my cousin has it really great by comparison. I get all that.
But we're still looking for a solution to her limbo. What options haven't we thought of?
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posted by The World Famous at 12:18 PM on July 6, 2007