One Morton man is telling his story of trying to get his wife legal status here in the U.S… without much luck, hoping his journey and mistakes can help guide others in similar situations. 

Immigration law is a complicated subject, one that Steven Perez has faced head-on. He’s been trying to get his wife Aileen here from the Philippines legally. But because of bad advice and not enough money to hire a lawyer, the family has ended up in a legal mess, with his wife and daughter now stuck in the Philippines. 

It started in February when Aileen tried to re-enter the U.S.. on a tourist visa. The family thought they successful extended that visa but she was denied re-entry. Customs sent her back to the Philippines because her legal status wasn’t in tact anymore. Steven was very upset when this happened and although he understand it all happened legally, he said the reason the mistake in paperwork was made was because of how complicated immigration rules are. He also said friends of him told him to have her on a tourist visa first instead of starting the citizenship process immediately. Because of that the whole process was delayed.

“It’s complicated. It’s a lot of forms, a lot of things you have to fill out,” Perez said. 

The Perez family now sharing their journey through this complicated legal process of immigrating in hopes they can save someone else from making their same mistakes. 

Steven and Aileen met while both working abroad in Saudi Arabia. They got married and eventually the family grew to three with the birth of their daughter. But Steven hasn’t seen his wife or daughter in the last several months after Aileen was sent back to her home country. 

“We thought we were doing everything right. I felt helpless,” Perez said. 

Perez said it all came down to bad advice and the lack of money for a lawyer to help walk them through the process. Instead, they decided to try to immigrate on their own, but quickly found out immigration laws are not so simple. 

“It’s complicated and the courts would back up that up as well,” said immigration attorney David Strange with the Whittenburg Law Firm. 

Lawyers said what makes it so complicated is that every immigration process is different. 

“They say ‘well me neighbor did it like this so’…but you’re not that neighbor,” Strange said. 

Right now, the Perez’s have a lawyer and are in the middle of the citizenship process for Aileen. It’s expected to take several months or up to a year before her and their daughter can return to the U.S.. 

“I’d just say, don’t believe everything suggested to you. Get a lawyer, that’s what we should have done,” Perez said.