Called a lawyer friend who put me touch with a immig. lawyer in Miami. He said they use the term "intending immigrant" for people who try to circumvent the laws and basically live here. Its done on a case-by-case basis. Its up to the visa holder to prove to the immig. officer the need for his quick return to the U.S. The attorney also said staying the full 180days on a regular basis with short stays home will red-flag you and you better have really good explanation for why you need back in so quick. He said that there is no set-in-stone % like the 65% mentioned earlier but that a lot of immig. officers use that as a rough guide. Said until 9/11 this hardly came-up but after that things changed big-time. I agree 100% that this is beyond vague. If they want you stay home a certain amount of time between stays it should be clearly stated.
Statement from Dennis Orcollo
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
Given that he left school at the age of 8 and effectively went into an apprentiship to be a top-notch pool player, I wouldn't expect his written English to be much better than the statement he made the other day. It made perfect sense to me despite the spelling and grammar.
While English is the language of education in the Philippines, I'm sure he is a native speaker of the other national language (Tagalog/Filipino) and possibly another regional language. The fact that Filipinos are more often than not bilingual to a native speaker level and, at least trilingual to a conversational level puts many of us from English speaking countries in the shade. Engage in a conversation with Filipinos and they will switch en masse to English to accomodate foreigners.
Anyway, it's good that Dennis has the support of so many friends who will do all they can to make a legal case for him regardless of any misunderstandings (including his own) on visa issues.
Not in the USA. It depends on your political affiliation. Some people are more equal than others.
Dennis and his attorney worked together on his statement. That is obvious. But the thoughts are all his! He shared how he felt with his attorney and she put it into a more clearly understood form. I have talked to him several times during the last week and he shows no animosity toward anyone, not even the agent(s) who sent him back. He is thankful for all the support he is getting and is truly glad that he has a team of people working to get his status changed. He just wants to play pool again and he loves playing in America! He has told me several times how much he loves all the tournaments here and that he can play constantly. That is not the case for him in the Philippines, where there are few tournaments and it is very hard for him to get a game without giving up a big handicap.Jay did you correct the grammar and spelling?
Good news, I’m certain it will be sorted sooner than later. I’m still betting the under on this. I hope it’s very soon!
Thx for the update
Fatboy
I’d expect he will be fine and get a entry data sooner than 2027. That’s seems excessive. It’s for his lively hood not a vacation.
Of course he can’t be mad at anyone, he be foolish to be and it also wouldn’t help his cause in the event he is. Some things are best left unspoken in matters like this. It’s not the right approach to point fingers when the problem resulted from your own personal negligence. But that’s another topic.
I wish him the very best. He’ll get it sorted.
Thx again jay
Fatboy
I wonder if he's thought about going to Europe to keep in action.
He can make more $ staying home. Europe from what i hear is not a hot-bed of pool action. He could play the UK9ball or the Euro tour but neither pay much. They gamble 24/7 in the Philipines. I watch a lot streamed action on-line.
Except in the Philippines he said he has to give up too much weight to get a game.
True. There's just not a big gambling culture on pool in Europe. I know guys(some were with the MC team few yrs ago) that told me that there is very little action to speak of. Dennis might still have to give up a spot but the $'s played for may not be worth the trip/hassle. He's not gonna find the big matches/tournaments/calcutta's that go on here.
We now have an excellent Immigration Attorney working on Dennis' case. She will be applying for an O-1 visa for Dennis first. If she is successful we will then apply for a waiver of his five year ban. The total in legal fees will be 15K or possibly a little more. We have raised about 10K so far. Five of us have put in between $1,000 and $2,500 each. If anyone else would like to help Dennis they can go to the site on FB set up by Roy Francisco. He named it "Free Dennis!! He is America's pool." All the money is going into a fund managed by Mike Hoang the owner of Omega Billiards. Dennis is being informed of all the people who are helping him out this way. Thank you, Jay Helfert
What was misunderstood?
Hope to see him on this soil soon.
#FREEDENNIS
#FREEDENNIS
I'm not familiar with how visas work but one thing that caught my attention at Turning Stone was when Shaw defeated El Yousef the commentator Upstate Al said Shaw resides in the USA. He should be on our team. Shaw isn't the only European pool player residing in the US.
Is there a different kind of visa those guys are on?
Is there a different kind of visa those guys are on?
I think if he is an American citizen then he should be on our team.
My question is about the kind of visa he has that allows him to reside in America. Did he marry an American woman?
I think Shaw is married to an American and has a kid with her too
Is Dennis married? Plenty of American women would marry Dennis. Maybe that's the answer. Seems like Hohmann and Immonen spend a lot of time in the US also.