CASE: Termination of Removal Proceedings with an Approved I-130 Petition

CLIENT: Malian
LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client is from Mali who came to the U.S. on a F-1 Student Visa in August 2010 to study. Our client currently resides in the greater Cleveland area with his current U.S. Citizen wife. They were married in January 2015, and retained our office on January 6, 2016 for representation of our client at the Cleveland Immigration Court. Our client’s wife filed an I-130 Petition for our client with their former immigration lawyer in February 2015.  While the I-130 petition was pending, our client appeared at the Cleveland Immigration Court on January 26, 2016 for his initial master calendar hearing.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office represented him at the hearing, did the pleading and sought for adjustment of status relief upon the approval of the I-130 petition.

Our client’s I-130 interview was scheduled on June 21, 2016 at Cleveland USCIS Filed Office.  Prior to the interview, our office thoroughly prepared our client and his wife for the interview at our office. Attorney Yu also accompanied them for their interview. The interview lasted two hours, but the I-130 petition was eventually approved on August 25, 2016.

Once the I-130 was approved, our office filed a request to join in a Motion to terminate proceedings with the I-485 application and supporting documents. The DHS counsel in Cleveland agreed to terminate our client’s proceedings. Ultimately, the Immigration Judge granted the Motion to terminate without prejudice on January 5, 2017.  Now, he can file his I-485 adjustment of status application to USCIS to obtain his green card.

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CASE: I-751 / Waiver of the Joint Waiver Requirement
APPLICANT: Ghanaian
LOCATION: Columbus, OH

Our client contacted our office in July of 2016 regarding a response to the RFE for her I-751 filing. She is from Ghana and she married a U.S. citizen in May 2013. Through her marriage with a U.S. citizen spouse, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in January of 2014. Therefore, her conditional residency terminated in January 2016. She filed the I-751 with her husband in 2015. However, she got the RFE from the USCIS in May 2016.

Unfortunately, during their marriage, our client and her ex-husband went through struggles. Therefore, immediately after they filed the I-751, they lived separately for a while and divorce proceedings was initiated. Thus, our client could not proceed with I-751 joint filing with her ex-husband. After the consultation, we advised that we can help her file the I-751 application with a waiver of the joint filing requirement. We requested a waiver because our client entered into the marriage in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment before they can file a joint petition.

On August 2, 2016, our office filed the Response to RFE with the request of I-751 application category conversion from joint filing to waiver of filing with various supporting documents (over 15 exhibits and an affidavit over 6 pages) to demonstrate our client’s bona fide marriage with her ex-husband. 

In September 2016, the USCIS scheduled an I-751 interview for our client. Prior to the interview, our office thoroughly prepared our client via conference call with potential issues at the interview. On October 27, 2016, our client was interviewed for her I-751 application at the USCIS Columbus, OH Field Office. The interview was very extensive and the officer questioned a lot of the nature of her marriage with her ex-husband.  Nevertheless, the USCIS approved his I-751 application on December 7, 2016. Now, she has her ten-year green card.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card

CLIENT: Pakistani

LOCATION: Durham, NC

Our client came to the United States from Pakistan on an F-1 student visa. She married her current husband, who is a green card holder, in December 2014.  After marriage, her husband filed an I-130 petition on behalf of our client in December 2014. This I-130 petition was approved in April 2015. Our office helped in our client’s I-130 petition process.

Our client retained our office again on September 22, 2015 for her I-485 adjustment of status application. We could file the I-485 application because the priority date for F2A category was current at the time of filing. Our office prepared and filed an I-485 adjustment of status application, together with all necessary supporting documents, on September 29, 2015. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference call. On December 7, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Durham, NC USCIS office. The interview went well, and the priority date for our client was current at the time of the interview as well. Eventually, on December 19, 2016, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Sri Lankan

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in early March this year regarding his I-751 application.

He is from Sri Lanka and married a U.S. citizen in October 2013. Through his marriage, he obtained a 2-year conditional green card in July of 2014.  His conditional residency terminated in July 2016.

To comply with immigration requirements, our client and his wife had to file an I-751 Joint Petition to Remove Conditions. He retained our office again on March 16, 2016 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On April 4, 2016, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from his friends and family members, joint tax records, joint bank statements, utility bills, insurance policies, and photos of our client and his wife to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on December 14, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received his 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Burmese

LOCATION: Fresno, CA

Our client contacted our office in early April this year regarding her I-751 application.

She is from Myanmar and married a U.S. citizen in June 2013. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in July of 2014.  Her conditional residency terminated in July 2016.

To comply with immigration requirements, our client and her husband had to file an I-751 Joint Petition to Remove Conditions. She retained our office again on April 4, 2016 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On April 25, 2016, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint tax records, joint bank statements, utility bills, insurance policies, and photos of our client and her husband to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on December 6, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received her 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Filipina                                                                                                        

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client is from the Philippines who came to the U.S. on a B-2 Visitor’s Visa in April 2011.  In September 2015, our client married her current U.S. citizen husband.  She retained our office in October 2015 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 5, 2015.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference calls as well. On December 8, 2016, our client was interviewed at Houston Texas USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on December 9, 2016, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-751 / Waiver of the Joint Waiver Requirement

APPLICANT: Belgian

LOCATION: San Francisco, CA

Our client contacted our office in early September of 2015 regarding her I-751 filing. She came to the United States from Belgium and she married a U.S. Citizen (her ex-husband) in August 2012. Through her marriage, she was able to obtain a 2-year conditional green card in December of 2013. Our office represented and assisted our client’s initial green card process. Her conditional residency terminated in December 2015. However, our client experienced a lot of difficulties in her marital life with her ex-husband. Unfortunately, their marriage ended in December 2015.  Thus, our client could not file the I-751 application jointly with her ex-husband.

Once our office was retained, we requested a waiver because our client entered into the marriage in good faith, but the marriage was terminated through divorce or annulment before they can file a joint petition. We focused on the supporting documents that he can show and helped her draft an extensive affidavit about their marriage, and why it ended the way it did.

On November 20, 2015, our office filed the I-751 application with various supporting documents (including an affidavit over 3 pages) to demonstrate our client’s bona fide marriage with her ex-husband.

In October 2016, the USCIS scheduled an I-751 interview for our client. Prior to the interview, our office thoroughly prepared our client and informed her of potential issues at the interview.

On November 22, 2016, our client was interviewed for her I-751 application at the USCIS San Francisco, CA Field Office. The interview was very extensive.  Nevertheless, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application on December 1, 2016. Now, she has her ten-year green card.

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CASE: I-130 and Consular Processing (Immigrant Visa) – Marriage-Petition

Our client is a Lawful Permanent Resident (Green card holder) who married his wife in Seoul, South Korea in December 2014.  After the marriage, he came back to the United States to work and retained our office for the I-130 and immigrant visa processing for his wife. With our assistance, the I-130 (F-2A category) petition was filed for his wife in South Korea in February 2015. This I-130 Petition was approved by the USCIS in November 2015

Once her priority date became current, we filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center on July 18, 2016, who in turn forwarded our client’s materials to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. An interview notice was set for the client at the US Embassy in Seoul, and we prepared her for the interview. On December 2, 2016, the interview was conducted.  Eventually, after the interview, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea approved and issued her immigrant visa.

With the approved immigrant visa, our client’s wife can come to the United States immediately, and she will get her green card within two months of entry.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Korean

LOCATION: Dayton, OH

Our client contacted our office in early April this year regarding her I-751 application.

She is from South Korea and married a U.S. citizen in February 2014. Through her marriage she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in July of 2014.  Her conditional residency terminated in July 2016.

To comply with immigration requirements, our client and her husband had to file an I-751 Joint Petition to Remove Conditions. She retained our office again on April 25, 2016 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On April 25, 2016, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, utility bills, insurance policies, and photos of our client and her husband to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on November 10, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received her 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE:   I-601A Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States from China in March 2001 without inspection and admission. She made an illegal entry and was inadmissible. She applied for Asylum and Withholding of Removal, and she was granted Withholding of Removal. She married her U.S. citizen husband in 2006 and had U.S. citizen children together. Through our office, she applied for a Motion to Reopen and the Cleveland Immigration Court granted our Motion and reopened our client’s case in 2015. After reopening, with our office’s assistance, her removal proceeding was administratively closed in November 2015 to file a provisional waiver application.

Her U.S. Citizen husband filed an I-130 petition for our client and this I-130 petition was approved in 2009.

However, our client cannot file her adjustment of status application due to her ground of inadmissibility. She needs a waiver of inadmissibility to become a green card holder. Under current law, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who are not eligible to adjust status in the United States must travel abroad and obtain an immigrant visa. Individuals who have accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence while in the United States must obtain a waiver of inadmissibility to overcome the unlawful presence bars under section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before they can return to the United States

The USCIS announced of new policy called provisional unlawful presence waiver. Beginning March 4, 2013, certain immigrant visa applicants who are spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens (immediate relatives) can apply for provisional unlawful presence waivers before they leave the United States. The provisional unlawful presence waiver process allows individuals, who only need a waiver of inadmissibility for unlawful presence, to apply for a waiver in the United States and before they depart for their immigrant visa interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

The new process is expected to shorten the time U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives while those family members are obtaining immigrant visas to become lawful permanent residents of the United States. Thus, our client would like to apply so called I-601A provisional waiver.

INA § 212(i) provides for a discretionary waiver of the entry without inspection inadmissibility ground. To qualify for the waiver, the alien must establish that his or her US Citizen spouse would suffer extreme hardship if the alien were denied admission. INA § 212(i)(1). In addition to the equities presented, the USCIS may consider the nature of the inadmissibility ground.

There is a seminal BIA case that deals with this waiver.  In Matter of Cervantes, 22 I & N Dec. 560 (BIA 1999), the BIA identified the factors to be considered in determining whether a qualifying relative would suffer extreme hardship if the alien were denied admission.  Those factors include: the presence of LPR or USC family ties both within and outside the United States; the conditions in the country to which the qualifying relative would relocate and the extent of the qualifying relative’s ties to that country; the financial impact of departure from the United States; and significant conditions of health, particularly when tied to the unavailability of suitable medical care in the country to which the qualifying relative would relocate.

Our client’s I-601A application had a good chance since our client’s U.S. Citizen husband suffers from great degree of psychological hardship. In the I-601A brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of her husband.  We argued that if she was removed from the United States, extreme hardship to her husband is clearly foreseeable and evident.  Her husband has ongoing psychological hardship and he would not be able to take care of his own needs and the bulk of their family chores, most importantly taking care of their infant children. Also, it would be extremely difficult for him to get the same level of therapy and satisfactory access to medical services in China in case he joins our client there. 

In our brief, we also argued that our client and her husband have maintained strong family ties in the United States, that her husband will have difficulty in finding the same level of employment in China, that our client has a good employment in the United States, and that her U.S. citizen children and her husband will face extreme financial and emotional difficulties if she is removed.

On May 20, 2016, our client submitted our I-601A waiver application which included the brief in support, her husband’s extensive psychological examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to her husband if she is removed from the United States.

Eventually, her I-601A waiver was approved on November 16, 2016. Now, she can file packet 3 and 4 here in the United States, and goes to China for her immigrant visa interview.

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