I am an Irish citizen currently residing in Ireland.

I have been residing in the U.S. for 15 years 1997 – 2012.

I married a US citizen in 1997 and obtained a green card. i was married for 8 years and have two children, they reside in San Antonio with their mother and stepfather.

I was in N Virginia for 6 years, Hawaii for 4 and San Antonio for 5.

Unfortunately I got divorced in Hawaii, and it has been a struggle since.

While in San Antonio, where I moved to be near my children, I spent one year 2010 homeless with the last 7 months of that year in a homeless shelter in San Antonio which was a harrowing experience. I tried harder than ever to get back on my feet and employed from doing menial work for minimum wage while in the shelter, until eventually after much effort and perseverance I managed to secure a good job with CPS Energy in San Antonio as a Business Analyst.

In June 2012 however, my mother in Ireland took ill with cancer, and since I hadn’t seen her in 7 years, I decided I would go spend some time with her. I was unaware of how long it would take, without careful forethought, resigned my job in CPS Energy and went back to Ireland.

While there, after a few months, my mother passed away.

I had returned back to Texas in October and again in December 2012 for two weeks each time to try and get work again without success, and my financial savings would not afford me accommodation for long in the motel and so I returned again to Ireland. My only other option was to return back to the homeless shelter but that was a daunting prospect.

When I went back to the US the first time last October after 5 months, the immigration officer immediately took special attention after asking me how long I had been out and I informed him it was about 5 months, and he exclaimed “five months!?”

I told him about my mother being unwell and passing away and he then said it was ok and let me through.

When I went back the second time, one month later in December I went straight through.

I have been trying desperately since last year to find employment again in the US so as I can be in the same country, preferably city and state, where my children reside.

I am concerned now, after some research, that it will be more difficult for me to get back to the US having been away so long, and I know that returning for a week or two here or there will not cut it with immigration, and that I need to be there as a resident, and minimally for the most part of a year at any time.

As time goes on I am afraid that I will lose my green card and not be able to return at all. I received a replacement green card last year that is good through September 2021.

I have been looking at the failte32 site that i found in my research online, I went through the registration on the webpage and am waiting for confirmation / acceptance.

If you could help me in my endeavor to find a company that would have potential opportunities, or direct me to some Irish organizations etc or as to where I can find assistance on all of this, I would be so grateful.

I have found this email address on the failte32 site under your blog and am seeking your assistance in getting back to working in the US and being near my children as soon as possible I am open to working in any state.

I have also attached my resume for your review and records, please feel free to share it. I am willing to work in any state to begin with, and any line of work to at least get myself established there again as a permanent resident.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

For those of you looking for jobs in the tech area, although the events below have passed, it’s worth your while getting in touch with these types of organizations and seeing if you can volunteer on one of their committees.

1.

2.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve added a new member to the Queens Tech Family —Frank Denbow will be leading Queens Tech Meetup this year! Frank has been heavily involved in the NYC tech scene, from being the Lead Organizer of Startup Weekend NYC, Curator for Startup Digest NYC, Founder of Music Startup Meetup, and Co-Founder of the Mobile App Meetup. Frank is also an accomplished entrepreneur and engineer, having founded Startup Threads and Songiscle. If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, feel free to email him at frank@coalitionforqueens.org. We look forward to seeing you at our event tonight:Queens Tech Meetup 6 will be hosted tonight, Thursday, Feb. 21st at 7pm, at Hunter’s Point Plaza, 10th Floor Event Space (47-40 21st Street, Long Island City, NY). Following the demo portion, we’ll have time for networking and some complimentary refreshments. Get tickets for QTM6 now at http://bit.ly/qtm06. Our lineup:Wiley Cerilli: Wiley is the CEO and Founder of SinglePlatform, a company he just sold to Constant Contact last June for a deal worth over $100M. Prior to SinglePlatform, Wiley was the Executive Vice President of Sales at SeamlessWeb and was on the Executive Team for 8 years. Wiley has been named as one of the Top 25 CEOs in NY and Top 100 Most Influential People in NY. Backspaces: The best way to create & share stories with friends. Create beautiful stories using words, pictures, and places. Share your stories with a simple web link. Discover other stories and follow your favorite storytellers. Yog: Yog connects you with runners around the world so you’ll never have to jog alone again. Fiestah: Fiestah helps you plan your event by taking the hassle out of finding, contacting, and managing multiple vendors. Support #QueensTech and forward this e-mail to your friends and tweet @Coalition4QNS. Interested in demoing or sponsorship? Contact frank (at) coalitionforqueens (dot) org. Queens Tech News Innovate Health Tech NYC Innovators & software/hardware developers in New York City are invited to submit a functioning prototype of a commercially-viable health care technology. Winners will receive one of 10 spots to pitch leading health tech investors and entrepreneurs. NYC Schools Gap App Challenge The New York City Department of Education iZone project is inviting U.S. software developers to submit new and existing apps and games that enhance teaching, learning, and engagement for NYC middle schools. Apps can run on iPads, Mac/PC computers, or web browsers. NYCEDC is seeking applications for Competition THRIVE! NYCEDC has launched Competition THRIVE which seeks to develop innovative strategies and programs that help immigrant entrepreneurs succeed in business and solve challenges that may face, which commonly include access to credit, financial management, language barriers, and access to business. For more information, please visit www.nycedc.com/thrive Open Source Conference: Powering NYC Tech Queens Tech Member Meghan Gil is co-organizing an open source conference in Long Island City on March 30th, focusing on the connection between open source and the growth of the NYC tech scene. If you would like to learn more about the conference please visit: http://opentech2013.org/ or e-mail [email protected] We hope to see you soon, The C4Q Team ————– Queens Tech Meetup is made possible by:

Follow:    Copyright © 2013 Coalition For Queens, All rights reserved. You’re receiving this email because you are a friend or supporter of Coalition for Queens.

_______________________________________