Regarding Bankruptcy. I'm a foreigner who lived in US for a long time. I have close to 20k in debt (medical, credit card, etc).

Yes, you can file a petition for relief under the bankruptcy code provided you reside or have a domicile in the U.S. There is no requirement of citizenship and there is no age requirement.

`You do not need to be US Citizen or Green Card holder to file for bankruptcy. However, if you are not here legally you do risk other consequences.

You would be able to file in the United States as you have lived here, provided that you have ITIN which is a tax processing number issued by the IRS. When you say you are confident you can pay the debt off, perhaps you mean that if you were provided with some time and free of creditor harassment, you can do that given your income. (Otherwise, you would not need to file.) A chapter 13 provides for a payment plan. A chapter 7 provides for a discharge of debts, without payment (unless you have non-exempt assets which can be sold off by the chapter 7 trustee to pay for debts. In a chapter 13 you will have needed to have filed tax returns and will need to file tax returns during the plan assuming that you income is greater than the income threshold requiring the filing of tax returns. Many of us on provide free consultations. Best of luck, Barbie D. Lieber

You can file, but you should consider other options, such as settlements, consolidation, etc. Bankruptcy damages your credit score extremely and stays on your record for up to 10 years. That is a really long time. Make sure to know all your options and understand the associated consequences. As Barbie said- plenty of lawyers offer free consultations for bankruptcy clients. Find a lawyer and he/ she will be able to help you with this situation.