Conditional Green Card seeking In-State Tuition/Texas Residency.

Paying for College
1

<p>I was married over a year ago to a U.S. Citizen. We have been seeing each other for years but just recently got married and she applied Permanent Resident card for me. </p>

<p>We submitted documents on October 9th, 2012 and I receive my 'Conditional' Permanent Resident card on around January, 2013.</p>

<p>The problem is, when I request for in-state tuition as I have lived in Texas for over 5 years. The real problem is I was an F-1 student. I did got myself a job at school, but according to Regulation to apply for Texas Residency, I need a 'real' job for 12 months. </p>

<p>I have bills and apartment lease agreement under my name, but the adviser at the college told me my Permanent Residency Card, or notice of application, must be at least 12 months old before any documents count. </p>

<p>As far as documents go, I am pretty sure I can gather them within days.
My Question is: Is it required for Permanent Resident card to be at least one year old before qualified for Texas-Residency?</p>

2

<p>This is the scanned document:</p>

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3

<p>It seems if your wife filed the I-130 petition a year ago, and you also established a domicile in Texas, you could be a resident. See [Frequently</a> Asked Questions about Texas Residency - The University of Texas at Dallas](<a href=“http://www.utdallas.edu/residency/faq.html#14]Frequently”>http://www.utdallas.edu/residency/faq.html#14)

Also see <a href=“http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/pdf/0543.pdf[/url]”>http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/pdf/0543.pdf&lt;/a&gt;

</p>

4

<p>OP, your scanned document seems to indicate if you married to a Texas resident a year ago (and “established and maintained a domicile in Texas”), you could be a resident too.</p>

5

<p>It looks as if your school is requesting the following from the OP (circled on his/her attached form):</p>

<p>2 years of tax returns
A letter of gainful employment from From employer showing 12 months of employment (written on employer letterhead)</p>

<p>Proof of marriage to a person who is a citizen and spouse’s proof of citizenship
Spouse will have to be a texas resident for more than a year</p>

<p>either OP has this documentation or OP doesn’t have the documentation. Which one is it?
Op must meet the school’s criteria for residency and the school has informed OP as to what is needed.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/admissions/petitionResidencyReclassification.pdf[/url]”>http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/admissions/petitionResidencyReclassification.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

6

<p>Here is the problem: yes, you could be a Texas resident for any number of things. But colleges make their own rules for who gets state residency rates that have nothing to do with being a state resident. You can move in state, , get your license and registration changed, owe and pay state taxes, heck you may HAVE to get the motor vehicle and tax paying status in state to be legal, but that doesn’t mean you get state residency. Each school gets to make its own rules regarding state residency. I’ve known those who work for state universities pretty danged far up in the hierarchy who have to pay out of state rates because they don’t meet some requirement to get in state tuition (often a time period that needs to be observed) or get tuition remission. So you could be a state resident for every thing under the sun, EXCEPT for in state tuition at a given state school. Some of them have rules about graduating from an instate high school, and yes, I;ve seen this It doesn’t mean that you won’t qualify for in state tuiton elsewhere, at another Texas state univerisity or college, but that college apparently has a hang up on some provision. </p>

<p>You need to research who has power in that college to make a determination for you and present your case. If the person who already denied you is that person, and no one is going to override him/her, then you need to get your research on the matter together and make an appeal. But if the university rules for instate tuition are not met according to the one who makes that determination at that school and you cannot win on appeal then you need to come up with what is needed to get that in state status according to that person, of find another school.</p>

<p>One local college here will take anyone on in state rates as long as there is a local address used. Another wants all kinds of proof. YMMV on these things.</p>

7

<p>I cross posted with Sybbie, and want to add, yes, if the requirement is that you had to file and pay a certain number of years of taxes in state, to get residency, then you do need to come up with that proof. In fact, that was a requirement that the employee at a college did not have to get in state tuition at the school where she worked. She needed to have filed and paid state taxes for a full calendar year to get in state rates at her school. </p>

<p>Now if you did not work, did not owe taxes, did not file taxes, you can ask what the provisions are for someone who was in state but didn’t fit into a category where that was the case. Some illegal immigrants have that problem. They are here getting money under the table, or in the case of some students, their parents have been so they have not filed taxes though were in state. And yes, that can be an issue if that there is no documentation as to how a living was being made, how the bills are being paid The school might not care about legal/illegal status, but they will not confer in state rates at times if the person was not paying into the state system unless there is a paper trail showing that they did not need to do so. You can’t come as tourist and sit there on your assets and family money, and then say you are in state for tuition, for example. That does happen too, and different schools handle this in different ways.</p>

8

<p>Update: My real question is does Conditional Permanent Resident card has to be one year of age as a requirement?
Can I have some restaurant I know write me an employment letter? How dangerous is it? I know the owner of the restaurant…</p>

<p>As far as documentation goes, I am already covered most of the area. The only thing preventing me right now is - The advisor claimed I need to wait one year after I have receive Notice from the USCIS. </p>

<p>I do realized each school has different system and regulations. For example, Richland College won’t permit my Texas Residency claim, but I already got Texas tuition-rate for nearby College/University that I am concurrent enrollment with.</p>

<p>What I cannot found is a quote stating “YOU MUST HAVE YOUR GREEN CARD AT LEAST A MINIMAL ONE YEAR BEFORE REQUESTING RESIDENCY CHANGE” <<<
At the other college, they didn’t ask me much. They ask for my I-511 (Green Card) and billing statements and active driver license…and done in 5-10 minutes. </p>

<p>As far as establishing domicile goes, since I have always work in-school and enjoying doing so…so, I have ZERO solid ground to establish domicile. I did some delivery job out of school, which is pretty much illegal, but it is just 5-10 hours/week(*one day) for local Chinese restaurant, but it won’t count. </p>

<p>However, I may possible ask the Chinese restaurant if they willing to write me an employee letter. Is there a risk doing so? I have SSN and Green card for almost a year (3-4 months to go). I don’t want to risk putting them out of business.</p>

<p>ps. Thank you everyone for helping out. I really appreciate every replies posted here. I was expecting something short like…go talk to the dean. or such. but every replies are very knowledgeable. </p>

<p>ps.2. Special thanks to sybbie719 for founding that form. I am a student there and I didn’t realize we have such form. Will give it a try</p>

9

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<p>DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT do this!!!</p>

<p>Nothing good will come of it. Yes, you will get the restaurant owner in trouble. Yes, you will get you in trouble and you will risk getting deported for Fraud.</p>

<p>If you have to wait a year, then wait a year. School is not going anyplace. Keep in mind, that chinese restaurant will have to show proof that he legally paid you, providing W-2 forms, which you must use to file taxes. You will have to file taxes and do the IRS data retrieval tool in order to receive any federal aid (if your wife is filing jointly, she will have to attest that your information is true and correct).</p>

<p>The college expects you to be truthful in your dealings with them. Willful misrepresentation (lying) will be grounds for getting you thrown out of school, fines, having to repay any and all monies that you fraudulently received, jail (and in your case deportation).</p>

<p>If you have to get a job, establish residency in order to get in-state tuition, do it the legal and correct way.</p>

10

<p>Find out from your advisor who the person is who makes the determination as to who gets in state tuiton and find out exactly what is required to get it. If you have or can get the items legally, then get them and present them to that department. I would not take the word of anyone who is reading the university requirements and following the rules as written since there may be some leeway, some changes, or they may be mistaken I’ve seen that happen too many times. </p>

<p>I agree with Sybbie that getting letters like you are contemplating will lead to nothing but trouble because you need proof and a letter from who knows who is not proof. If you worked, you need 1099s, w-2s, something and your employer could get into trouble if he does not provide them. And that is big trouble.</p>

11

<p>hoogoo87 -</p>

<p>If you can’t afford to attend college at out-of-state rates this fall semester, take a leave of absence and wait until you do fully qualify for in-state rates. You won’t lose much by waiting one semester, and you will have time to find a real paying job that will give more credibility to your residence claim.</p>

12

<p>Thankyou everyone for your help.</p>

<p>As per happymomof1 was saying, I do not have problem paying for tuition fee, just prefer to pay it less for living cost reasoning. </p>

<p>Still, What I want to know is: Does it really matter for Green Card to be at least one year? I asked couple of students around and all of them receive the same replies (from multiple community colleges) that they have to wait one FULL year before even submitting application for residency change. However, the only place where this info came from was from the advisors. Every advorsors from my local colleges said the same thing, which is weird because I cannot find such requirement online. </p>

<p>If anyone has any lead on whether Conditional Green card holder has to wait ONE FULL YEAR before submitting applicatin for residency change would be a ton of help. Thank you</p>

13

<p>OP, we went through this process to get in-state tuition at UT-Austin for my OOS son in 2011 (we are American citizens, though). They have tightened up the rules since then.</p>

<p>NONE OF US can answer the question for you. Whatever the residency people at the school tells you is what governs. I used to call the school and ask for the residency person (I can’t remember her name, and it could be somebody different by this point). I was impressed with the lady I spoke to - she was NOT trying to put up roadblocks. I asked lots of questions. Then I typed up her answers in an email and sent it IMMEDIATELY to her with the statement, “If any of these items are not correct, please contact me as soon as possible.”</p>

<p>Again, I think you are wasting your time by asking people on a website questions that only the school can answer. And asking the same questions repeatedly won’t make a difference, either.</p>

14

<p>It doesn’t matter if the ONE FULL YEAR rule is universal or not. It’s what the colleges rules are that counts. Really, the rules don’t always matter as some colleges, in practice, won’t even follow them, which means you can make out if you fall in a gap that they are letting slide. If your college is not addressing this issue officially, you need to find the deparntment in charge of making these determinations, the ones with the authority in these cases, and present the queston and your situation to those who are there. </p>

<p>You are welcome to any number of state resident benefits and taxes the minute you set foot on state soil, but some have minimum waiting periods, require some proof, some you HAVE to do after a maximum time period. Nothing consistent about any of them, the rules are all over the place, and some are strictly enforced with penalties for non compliance and others are let go. You have to wade thorugh the requirement and if you want something that isn’t addressed directly, you need to find out how it works I live sort of between to municipalities, and there is always confusion on what benefits on gets and doesn’t at the one we are deemed not officially part of. One is stingly about offering anything to non residents, the other very generous. But then there are quirky things like the fact that we live on a street that runs through both, so we get benefits like use of a pool and discounts just because the system hasn’t been set up to distinguish house numbers yet. Maybe someday, we’ll lose those benefits when that happens. It’s not addressed anywhere, by the way. IT’s just the way things work for now. </p>

<p>Our local college has all kinds of rules for foreign students, non residents, county members, etc, but in reality if you have a local address you use, you can get residential rates for any course that is not in a program that leads to a degree or certificate. You can take single courses but the minute you apply for a program, you undergo additional scrutiny. My neighbors have enrolled their aupaars from all over the world, none of the citizens or green card holds on the cheap, for years. So that 's a real life example of what the rules say and how something operates. One sees this alot. </p>

<p>Really, if you think it can benefit you, find the ones at your college that truly determine the policy. It is a possibility that the person might say, hmmm, that’s the way we’ve been doing this, but there is no such set policy or rule, so maybe we’ll set the policy for our school so it’s clear., or maybe even say, it’s go since it’s not the rule. </p>

<p>I ran into some situations like this, by the way, and was able to get some things done because there was no rule against what I wanted to do and the authority in charge decided to let me do so. I’ve also been told that it’s the way things are done at a place, and that’s the final word whether they have to be done that way or not.</p>

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<p>You said that you had an F-1 visa previously. Were you attending a high school in Texas during that time? If so, there is a Texas law that allows an international student who resides in Texas for at least 3 years and graduate from a Texas high school be considered a resident for tuition purposes to a public school in Texas.</p>

<p>My oldest daughter qualified under this law. She is attending University of Houston with instate tuition and she is classified as an international student. (she has not applied to be a permanent resident).</p>

<p>If this applies to you, please send me a private message and I can get you all the details.</p>

<p>P.S. This was originally written to cover those undocumented residents from the South, but it does apply to those with visas also.</p>

16

<p>Thank you everyone for your help. After reading all your comments, I concluded I will wait 5 more months before attempting to change residency. As I have said before, I have no problem paying the high fees. This Green Card already allow me to take less than Full time student credit hours which is already more than I can ask for. I simply trying to clarified what I do not understand, and I did came to the right place for such question. </p>

<p>Anyhow, I will be attending full time 17 credit hours this Falls, so… wish me luck =]</p>

<p>again, Thank you very much!</p>