Q: I have a daughter, age 21, who is based in Queens, N.Y. She had arrived on a holiday visa from Guyana and is currently living in an undocumented capacity. This presents various problems since she has to seek jobs of all sorts under minimum wages to reach her monthly rent and living cost. Lately she visited a lawyer, who told her that her papers can be legally fixed in a process that will take from six months to about 1½ years. The cost for the processing of the papers is approximately US$6 000. My question to you is whether you are aware of such a procedure and is it possible for her to get legal like that?

A: John Stahl, Immigrant Counsellor of the Emerald Isle Center in Queens, says under current laws, the only way your daughter can become a legal resident is to marry an American citizen. Once she does that she will be eligible to apply for permanent residency and adjust her status in the U.S. without penalty for overstaying her visa or working without authorisation prior to the application being processed.

Otherwise, she will have to leave the U.S. and be processed for a visa or green card back home through a U.S. Consular post. The catch is that anyone who has overstayed his or her visa here by more than 180 days (six months) and departs the U.S. is subject to a three-year bar from returning to the U.S. If one has overstayed by more than 365 days (one year), the bar is for 10 years.

You did not say how long your daughter has overstayed her visa by. If she has overstayed by less than six months, the bar would not apply to her and it may still be possible for her to apply for another visa at home. Otherwise, she may only be eligible to legalise her status in the U.S. through a genuine marriage to an American citizen.

Q: We have been hearing rumours that Canadian citizens now need to get a visa to enter the United States and a U.S. green card holder has to get a visa to enter Canada. Is this true?

A: No, it is not. According to officials at the Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration, the new rule only applies to residents of Canada, not citizens and certainly not to U.S. green card holders going into Canada.

Additionally, nationals of British Commonwealth countries and Ireland who are residents of Canada and Bermuda, and were not previously required to present a passport and non-immigrant visa to enter the United States, will now be required to present these documents for entry.

The BCIS says these new requirements are among a series of measures that have been implemented to ensure the safety of the American people by strengthening visa screening procedures and monitoring.

In addition to Ireland, nationals of the following British Commonwealth countries who reside in Canada will be required to present a valid visa and passport: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, The Bahamas, The Gambia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.