Filing Bankruptcy in US from Outside the US

[skp]

Please Help!
I lived in the US for 6 years, and due to the recession lost my Job and I got my work visa cancelled and had to return back to India. I was jobless for over a year and now I am not in a position to repay my credit cards. I got into a Debt management program through Consumer Credit Counselling Service in Aug 2009 and since then I promptly made the payments to date. I exhausted my savings and exhausted the money I borrowed from friends and family for making these monthly payments. My life has become more miserable because of this and now I am completely broke and decided to go for Bankruptcy. I contacted a Bankruptcy Attorney in Texas and he said I cannot file Bankruptcy in the US since I was out of the country for more than 6 months and I had no chance of coming back to the US.
Now My question is how do go for filing Bankruptcy. My whole point of filing for Bankruptcy is to inform my creditors(All Credit Cards) that they should not expect any payments from me as I do not have anything to pay and close the accounts and not add any more penalties and not waste their money and time any further in trying to contact me or send statements. I understand they report this information to Credit bureaus and will effect my credit score, but I can't help.

Please advise what should I do....Thanks in advance

[scorpion35]

Please Help!
I lived in the US for 6 years, and due to the recession lost my Job and I got my work visa cancelled and had to return back to India. I was jobless for over a year and now I am not in a position to repay my credit cards. I got into a Debt management program through Consumer Credit Counselling Service in Aug 2009 and since then I promptly made the payments to date. I exhausted my savings and exhausted the money I borrowed from friends and family for making these monthly payments. My life has become more miserable because of this and now I am completely broke and decided to go for Bankruptcy. I contacted a Bankruptcy Attorney in Texas and he said I cannot file Bankruptcy in the US since I was out of the country for more than 6 months and I had no chance of coming back to the US.
Now My question is how do go for filing Bankruptcy. My whole point of filing for Bankruptcy is to inform my creditors(All Credit Cards) that they should not expect any payments from me as I do not have anything to pay and close the accounts and not add any more penalties and not waste their money and time any further in trying to contact me or send statements. I understand they report this information to Credit bureaus and will effect my credit score, but I can't help.

Please advise what should I do....Thanks in advance

nothing u can do
u can't file for BK

[HHM]

I am not sure about that 6 months, rule, but if you don't live in the U.S. and no longer have the right to live or work here, I don't see how you can file BK here.

If you are in India, and planning on staying, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Pandora]

question - and I honestly am asking out of curiosity here..but if you were here on a work visa, that means you arent a US citizen - so how did you manage to get credit cards, loans, and possibly even a checking account - with no social security number and/or credit check that is required to obtain those loans/cards/accounts exactly?

Thanks.

[newbie2]

question - and I honestly am asking out of curiosity here..but if you were here on a work visa, that means you arent a US citizen - so how did you manage to get credit cards, loans, and possibly even a checking account - with no social security number and/or credit check that is required to obtain those loans/cards/accounts exactly?

Thanks.

A social security card is issued (required) for those with work visas. See this link to an article by the SS Administration: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10002.html

[ando]

Newbie, you can file in any U.S city as long as you have a U.S mail forwarding address or any checking or saving account in the U.S in your name , in other words ,if you have kept a trace in your name in U.S soil.

[newbie2]

Newbie, you can file in any U.S city as long as you have a U.S mail forwarding address or any checking or saving account in the U.S in your name , in other words ,if you have kept a trace in your name in U.S soil.

I didn't ask the question about filing and not being in the country. Another poster did, and it has been answered by several people here that if they are not in the US now, haven't been for over 6 months, that they cannot file.

[skp]

I had the SSN, you need to have SSN to work in the US. Any one who comes on Work or Student Visa will get the SSN

[skp]

Thanks for the response...but is there a way that I can stop creditors from making efforts to send statements and collection notices etc. etc.. as this would be of waste of time and money for them since I am not in the US and it makes no sense.

[newbie2]

Thanks for the response...but is there a way that I can stop creditors from making efforts to send statements and collection notices etc. etc.. as this would be of waste of time and money for them since I am not in the US and it makes no sense.

Frankly, I wouldn't be a bit concerned about the waste of time & money it is for them. As for you, that is what a shredder is for. Fire it up on incoming mail days.

[ben1381]

You might also look into filing in India and see if they have procedures for creditors outside the country. I also believe Article 15 of the US bankruptcy code deals with foreign bankruptcy proceedings.

[Pandora]

A social security card is issued (required) for those with work visas. See this link to an article by the SS Administration: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10002.html

See, now I learned something new today