Us Citizenship Interview and Child Support - Attorney Robert Pascal


Us Citizenship Interview and Child Support

Us Citizenship Interview



    Today another potential client has arrived to discuss his application for US citizenship. He is well qualified: no problem with the English language; never arrested for a crime; and meets all the guidelines for eligibility, but one. He hasn’t been current with his child support obligations. Unfortunately, failure to maintain support goes to the standard of GMC or “good moral character”, which is required to become a US citizen.

In completing the N-400 “Application For Naturalization”, you are asked in Part 10 & 11, specific questions regarding marital history and children. This is followed up with a question in Part 12, 30 H as to whether you have “failed to support your dependents or pay alimony.” It will be your burden to provide sufficient documentary evidence to the examiner at the interview that you have complied with your support obligation, especially for your children. It does not matter whether the support has been court ordered or not.

Chapter 5 - Conditional Bars for Acts in the Statutory Period - of the USCIS policy guidelines state the following:

K. Failure to Support Dependents

“An applicant who willfully failed or refused to support his or her dependents during the statutory period cannot establish GMC unless the applicant establishes extenuating circumstances. The GMC determination for failure to support dependents includes consideration of whether the applicant has complied with his or her child support obligations abroad in cases where it is relevant. Even if there is no court-ordered child support, the courts have concluded that parents have a moral and legal obligation to provide support for their minor children, and a willful failure to provide such support demonstrates that the individual lacks GMC. “

The Policy manual further details that “an applicant who fails to support dependents may lack GMC if he or she:
- Deserts a minor child;
-Fails to pay any support;
-obviously pays an insufficient amount.

This section continues with the requirement the USCIS officer identify the period of non compliance by the applicant and a review of all court records regarding child support.

If the applicant has not stayed current with his support obligations, the officer can consider “extenuating circumstances” for the non-payment. For example, unemployment, financial inability, the cause of unemployment,  good faith efforts to pay, mistaken belief the support obligation had been satisfied, or a miscalculation of court ordered arrears.

It is therefore, extremely important to bring copies of all court ordered support obligations, copies of all payments made either cancelled checks, receipts, or money orders.  In addition, a certified letter from the spouse acknowledging payment of the support obligations. If you do not have this evidence, the USCIS can deny your application for US Citizenship. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jeff Sessions Attempting to Tap Down Immigration Judges

In the latest tightening of the screws to the Immigration courts, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has constrained the discretion of  Immigration Judges in showing leniency toward detainees, and restricting the ability of asylum detainees to be released. Essentially, Jeff Sessions has ruled that Immigration Judges are not allowed to use their discretion to terminate or dismiss cases. Such decisions would have to be made by the US Department of Homeland security. Although this may be a more hardline approach, it will surely add to the already backlogged court dockets and slow the flow of immigration cases through the system.  
Read more

Caution for Self-Filers with the USCIS - Make a Mistake, Lose your Filing Fees.

If you are deciding to file any USCIS petitions on your own, a word of warning. If you make a mistake , you may lose your filing fees. If you didnt read in the news last July, the USCIS released a policy memorandum that significantly affects the decision making ability of the USCIS and the potential affects on the applicant. According to this new policy, previous applications that had incorrect information or lack of required documentation were routinely issued a RFE (Request for Evidence) or a NOID (Notice of Intent to Deny). Applicants were routinely given 60-90 days to provide the necessary information or documentation before an application would be denied. Under the new policy, the adjudicators can now summarily deny an application if the required documentation or information is missing without first issuing an RFE or NOID. The effect is that innocent filers risk losing all of their filing fees for a single error and may also be faced with placement in removal proceedings.
Read more

Reunification of Separated families

According to ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security, all eligible reunification of parents and their children have been achieved. I am unsure of this assertion, but it will require an investigation by an outside governmental organization to confirm this assertion. Although the reunification of  "eligible" family members, the consequences of the Trump zero policy will have long term ramifications. First and foremost will be the traumatizing psychological impact on the young children that have been separated from their parents. There are even children who are here in the US despite their parent already being deported and back in their home country. What solution is the government going to implement to address these situations?? Currently, there is none. It is my  hopes that the reunification be completed for all families and not those deemed "eligible". each passing day of a child without their parents will only contribute to their fear and future resentmen
Read more