Immigration Question
 

Not sure if I've posted this in the correct area, couldn't find the immigration area...but my son who is in the Army recently married a young girl who is not legal, I believe she has her green card, but not sure....we will be traveling from California to Texas to see my son off to Iraq, and we will be bringing my new daughter in law back with us, would anyone happen to know if there are any checkpoints along the way from Texas to California? Thanks!

Huh?
 

Texas to California? That is like going from your bed room to the living room. NO check points. As far immigrations are concerned, try this site (just click below).

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...0045f3d6a1RCRD

I would imagine no checkpoints as well. You will be crossing from state to state. Not country to country.

If she has her Green-card she may be legal.
If illegal she should not leave the country until she adjusts her status.

Ramius said it best

Where is your son stationed in Texas? In some border towns, there can be border patrols at the security checkpoints in the airports.

I was stopped once in BRO when I was flying BRO-SAV. They asked if I was American when I was carrying work permit at the time.

It would be good to check what is the status of your in-law. Good luck.

drew

Ah, but there are plenty of examples of interior immigration checkpoints, especially along interstate highways within 100 miles of the border.

There are checkpoints inside the country away from the border. In Texas all major highways coming North have them 30-40 miles inland usually.

There is a checkpoint on IH-10 before El Paso but it is only in one direction and I don't recall now if it is East or West bound.

There are state Agriculture inspection stations in Arizona and California but they do not ask immigration status and are not 24/7.

Ciao,
FH

If she has a green-card there is no reason to be concerned. She should just bring her passport and green-card along.

Don't take serious mode on:

Check-Points between states. I think the DHS should think about such a great security feature. Think of all the bad terrorists you could catch.

Don't take serious mode off.

I'm sure they have thought about it.

Thanks!
 

Yeah, I'm not sure if she has her green card, or not...from what my son told me, she is not supposed to leave Texas, for whatever reason, but since she is married to my son, shouldn't she now be considered an American citizen, by the way, I've told my son to please take care of her marital status prior to us coming out there....so I'm hoping he will...he can be be quite the procrastinator, unfortunately! But thanks again for all our feedback, I really do appreciate it, and if anyone else has any further info that might be helpful, please chime in! ^

i think marriage makes her legal, it certainly does not make her a citizen. one must take a test, and pledge alliagance to george bush and dick chaney. immigration is a country thing. texas is a state thing. does not compute. if for some reason ins wanted to contain her, they would say "do not leave houston" or do not leave harlan county. texas is really big.

if her status is questionable, spend the money and talk to an attorney. don't ask me. there should be an attorney within the army that he can ask, no charge. even texas attorneys can give decent advice (on occasion).

Nothing is automatic. While it's much easier to become a US Citizen once you married an American, it's not something that just automatically happens in some computer somewhere within the depths of government.

Also, it shouldn't be hard to answer the question of her having a green card or not. It's a lengthy process to get a green card and she would def. know whether she has one or not.

How does she come to be in the US to begin with? When a foreigner gets married with an American, he/she can apply for a status change (into greencard). After 5 yrs with greencard, your in-law can apply for citizenship.

Depending on how far she is on her greencard application, she may need to rely on her status before getting married. First thing to do is to check what status she has right now.

She certainly does not want to travel into a border state without a legal status.

rgds,
drew

Marrying a US citizen does not grant you anything not even residence.

One can apply for a K-1/2 Visa, enter the country, then file for status, and wait in the States (locked in) for several months for processing. You can file for work status at that same time.
But as I noted above, there are checkpoints internally, from the border, and there is one on IH-10. I just don't recall if it is east or westbound.

Ciao,
FH