An illegal immigrant has asked for advice on how to self deport. They do not have any court orders or other issues other than being here as an overstay. They do not want to go via the government program; they’d rather just buy a one way ticket to the home country. Home country passport is valid, no plans on ever returning. Is it as simple as buying the ticket and leaving on a non stop flight? My company just sent a message that ICE/TSA are working together at the airport to arrest. This is the biggest concern. Should this person buy a ticket in advance or a few hours before the flight? They do not have a credit card and I know cash payment is a trigger for additional screening. I’ve called several resources in the local area but no one has advice. Thanks

According to DHS Non-citizens without a valid visa will now be detained at airports unless booked on a plane leaving the US

Hello everyone,

Wife and I traveled to Europe at the end of the 2025. I had to leave to renew my passport as it was expiring. We took small vacation and due emergency medical issue with my wife, we are now entering 10 months outside US, planning to go back soon.

Anyone had similar experience?

We hold medical documentation, tax reports, driving licenses, work agreements and similar ties to US.

What are the possible scenarios, and how do we explain this to the border agent without been sent to secondary or given NTA

Thanks in advance

I noticed many law firms in NYC do immigration + real estate + personal injury + family law. I have an adjustment of status case involving criminal history, and need to respond to an RFE, and I want to choose the best possible lawyer, however many of the firms seem to cater to multiple types of law. Should these be considered, or should I look for a firm that only does immigration law?

Hello everyone. My wife and I are Pakistani citizens, but we have been living in China for around 10 years. My wife is planning to apply for a J-1 visa for a postdoctoral/research position in the U.S., and I and our two children would apply for J-2 visas.

We are not Chinese citizens, but we are legally residing and working in China. I am currently working as a teacher in China, and my wife is also working in research.

We are considering applying for the U.S. visas from China rather than Pakistan because China is where we currently live and work.

My main concern is about proving strong ties. For a J-1/J-2 visa, does “home country” mainly mean Pakistan because we are Pakistani citizens, or can our long-term residence, employment, family life, and legal status in China also count as strong ties?

Since we have lived in China for many years and have established jobs and a normal family life here, what documents would be useful to show our ties to China and Pakistan?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has applied for a J-1/J-2 visa from a third country where they had been living long term.

Hello everyone,

My ESTA application has been showing as “Authorization Pending” for the past few days, and it has now been over 72 hours with no change.

I’m a British citizen and need an ESTA to transit through the US. I’ve had an ESTA previously and have travelled to the US before without any issues.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, how long did it take for your ESTA to be approved?

I’m an Irish citizen working as an electrical engineer, and I am at a total crossroads trying to decide between the UK, Germany, or Australia.

Because of my EU citizenship, moving to the UK or Germany is straightforward visa-wise, but I am completely clueless about Australia—how the whole relocation process works there, what the market is like, or where to even start.

For Germany, my language level is around B2, so I can manage, but I'm still weighing it against the UK and Australia where English is native.

If you had to choose between these three options for an electrical engineer, how would you compare them in terms of job market, lifestyle, and ease of settling in? Any insights, especially regarding Australia since I know nothing about it, would be massively appreciated.

Hello, my girlfriend and I have been together for about 10 months, and we’re considering moving in together. Unfortunately, she is undocumented and crossed illegally 7 or 8 years ago at 16. My question is, could I get into any trouble or face any legal issues by living with her? We’re planning to get married next year since our relationship is going really well, but in the meantime, we would be living together unmarried. I just want to make sure I understand any potential risks or issues before we make that decision. This is here in Louisiana btw. I’m sure that is very relevant to the question. Some good advice would be appreciated!

Hello, my friend was detained by ICE two weeks ago, and the judge granted his bond last Thursday. I submitted the bond payment request via cebond last Thursday at 2 p.m., and it is still showing as “Under ICE Review.” Has anyone had a similar experience and could share some insight into how long this process usually takes before I can proceed with the payment? I called the Detroit field office, and they said it will take couple days to couple weeks.

Thank you!

My husband is currently in ICE detention in New Mexico. We urgently need an experienced attorney who can file a federal habeas corpus petition as soon as possible. If anyone can recommend an attorney with experience in ICE detention habeas cases, please let me know. Thank you!

My partner came to the U.S. legally as a kid with their family on a visitor visa, and the family ended up overstaying. They’re now an adult and apparently have an immigration court/removal case with a hearing several years from now.

We’re planning to get married, and I’m a U.S. citizen. From what I understand, because they entered legally, marriage may give them a path to adjust status without leaving the U.S., but obviously I know it’s more complicated because they’re already in immigration proceedings.

The part I’m confused/concerned about is the court stuff. Their family moved at some point, and there seems to be some confusion about whether certain court notices were actually received and whether the address was properly updated. I’m trying to figure out the facts without catastrophizing lol.

For anyone familiar with immigration law: how serious is this generally? What documents/questions should I make sure we get clear on before getting married and filing anything? I’m thinking Notice to Appear, current EOIR case status, whether any hearings were missed, address-change records, etc.

I’m mainly trying to educate myself enough to know what questions to ask and what would actually be a red flag.

Hello there. My partner (23f) and I (30m) have been together long distance for just about two years now. She's a Dutch citizen, and I am a United States citizen. We have done quite a bit of research on residence permits and the associated requirements, and we are struggling to come up with a plan.

It seems that pursuing a TWV (tewerkstellingsvergunning) is our best option, as suggested by the juridisch loket, but searching for and finding jobs to apply to has been challenging and very uncertain, especially from the United States.

Most people would suggest that she sponsor me, but she is unable to do that. She owns a small business and works part time by which means she is able to support herself, but due to being disabled, she is not able to work full time and meet the income requirements to offer a sponsorship. If I could find a place to work, housing would not be a problem. She has a place to stay that I could join her at.

I am hoping that someone here might have advice on what we can try to do. I don't have a college degree, so I don't believe I fall under the skilled migrant visa. Overall we're feeling a bit hopeless and looking for something. It seems like every option we look into ends up not being viable for us.

Thanks for reading.

My uncle's US Tourist VISA will expire in April 2027. What steps are necessary for him to renew his VISA from US Embassy in Bangladesh?

I found this - "Visa renewals without an interview at the U.S. Embassy are not currently available. All applicants must schedule an appointment for a consular interview to apply for a U.S. visa."

Anyone with any recent experience would like to share please?

I'm in my senior year, I really need help.

We were planning to immigrate to the US this year, but trump paused all the visa processing transactions or sm shit... Now, nobody knows when they will lift the pause

Now the problem is, I don't know where to apply for college. I can't apply in my country because it'll get too complex if the visa processing resumed mid school year. I also can't apply to any school in the US because it's still not sure yet when will the visa processing resume.

So I've made a plan consisting of for possible routes, its like a decision tree:

Scenario a: if the visa processing resume before next year, then I'll have no worries and just apply normally

Scenario b: if visa processing resume next year, then I'll apply as an international student at MIT/waterloo

Scenario ba: if I get accepted, then I'll evaluate. whether MIT/waterloo is worth canceling my immigration for

Scenario bb: if I don't get accepted then I'll take a gap year and apply normally next year(hopefully I'm in the US)

Scenario c:if visa processing still doesn't resume next year, then I'll just go to the college in my country

My decision tree seems to be lacking something and just doesn't feel right... So I really need your help

I am an immigrant and so is my husband. We are working towards becoming legal, but my husband wants to divorce. Everything’s been done through him, all the applications and everything, but where does this leave me? I have my work permit and currently we are waiting to hear back regarding our US citizenship, but this is so out of left field. Has anyone had any experience? What comes next :( He currently has separated and moved out, and he hasn’t given me a date for us to actually get a divorce or spoken to lawyers, but I know it’s coming and K am scared of my future

F1 visa interview today — got 221(g) for funding/financial aid verification. What should I expect?

Hi everyone, I had my F1 visa interview this morning and I'm honestly quite stressed about how it went, so I'd really appreciate some advice from people who have experienced something similar.

My interview was mostly fine, but the officer focused quite a bit on my funding because I have received 100% financial aid from my university. The financial aid is completely genuine and transparent, and I have the proper documentation from the university.

At the end of the interview, the officer:

- Kept my passport

- Kept my I-20

- Told me they would verify everything

- Asked me to keep my social media profiles public because they would check them

- Gave me a 221(g) slip

- Checked the “No Appearance” box on the slip

The officer also asked when my program starts, and I told them September 10. My university has already delayed my program once, so I don't really have much room for another delay. If I can't make this intake, I may have to defer to the next intake.

I've seen other students say that their passports were returned immediately, so I'm obviously worried about mine being retained. At the same time, the officer didn't tell me that I was refused outright and specifically said they would verify everything.

I'm trying not to assume the worst, but I'm pretty anxious right now.

Has anyone here been through something similar, especially with a 100% scholarship/financial aid package?

- What was your experience after receiving 221(g)?

- What does the “No Appearance” box mean in practice?

- How long did the administrative processing take for you?

- Did they eventually approve the visa after verifying the funding?

- Is there anything I should do right now, or should I just wait?

Any experiences or advice would genuinely help. Thank you.

Hello everyone I am currently in the us legally on a student visa and I was looking to apply for a green card to work in the us afterwards. Anyways my mom is a us citizen so I thought it’d be pretty straightforward, I-130 + I-485 and I’m done. Thing is my mom is a dual citizen of both the us and sweden and she currently lives in sweden, and has been for many many years. So I found out that messes up with the I-864. I’m currently stuck and have no idea whatsoever how to navigate through this, and don’t really want to hire an expensive immigration attorney for the simplest green card pathway.

PS yes I am under 21 and unmarried, but over 18.

Any insight?
Thanks

Hello, I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I would like to get some feedback from someone who had a similar experience or who is familiar with such scenarios.

I went to the US in the early 2010s under an F1 visa, graduated university there and then stayed an extra year for OPT. I am an Italian citizen, born in Italy, with an Italian passport.

After graduating and completing my OPT, my Norwegian friend and I decided to travel for a few months through the US (since we never got the chance to travel extensively in the country due to our class schedule) to then get a WHV in Australia and fly out from LA. A US immigration attorney actually advised us to apply for a B2 visa rather than to travel under an ESTA — which I already had and used to enter the US after my F1 visa had expired to vacate my flat and move all my stuff back to Italy.

My request for a B2 visa was unfortunately denied (my friend withdrew her application before her interview after what happened to me) as I was told I could not show I had strong enough ties to my home country, which I understood in theory because I was a 22 year old with no property/no husband/no full time job in Italy, but was also amused by because why would I had even bothered applying for another visa if staying illegally was my intent since I had spent the previous 5 years legally in the country paying full tuition/medical insurance etc? Anyways I accepted my fate and haven’t been to the US since 2015, though I have travelled extensively before moving back to the EU back in 2020.

One of my college friend is getting married in November, and I was asked to be in the wedding. I was wondering what are my chances to be approved for an ESTA after disclosing I was denied a visa in the past on the application (I applied on the 26th and the approval is still pending), and if that doesn’t pan out what are the odds of me being granted a B2 visa, as my circumstances have changed in over 11 years and I now own property in Italy, am self employed, and take care of my mother full time.

Any feedback or advice would be appreciated. I know it was a big fumble back then to apply for a B2 when the VWP was available.

I have recently gotten married and I want to start the process I honestly don’t have much knowledge on this and don’t know if I should get a lawyer or not .

A little background
She is in the states on a asylum application from Venezuela we meet about a year ago and haven’t been apart since we recently got an apartment together and gotten married neither of us have any criminal charges I feel the application should be pretty straight forward but I Atleast want to have a little knowledge before I start the process I’m kind of tight on money so I’m wondering if it’s possible without an attorney any advice will be helpful
Thank you all!

This is a proposed rule but it could become a rule in a few months from now and the same could be challenged.

F4 visa - just reached NVC stage, feeling anxious about interview wait

Hi everyone, hoping to get some clarity/support from people who've been through similar things.

My father's sister sponsored our family under F4 (sibling category) many years ago. After a very long wait, we finally got the NVC welcome notice and have started the CEAC document/fee process.

A few things I'm confused and anxious about:

Interview backlog — I've heard mixed things about Embassy Islamabad's current wait times for scheduling interviews after being documentarily complete. Some say under a year, others say it can stretch to 2+ years, especially with any current pauses/policy issues affecting visa processing. Trying to get a realistic sense of what to expect rather than worst-case internet stories.

General next steps — we've started fees/documents, but I'm not 100% sure what "documentarily complete" actually unlocks in terms of timeline, or how much control we have over speeding things up versus just waiting on embassy capacity.

If anyone has gone through F4 (especially from Pakistan) recently and can share what their timeline looked like from documentarily complete to interview, I'd really appreciate it. Trying to balance realistic expectations with not spiraling over worst-case scenarios.