CASE: I-751 / Waiver of the Joint Waiver Requirement
APPLICANT: Filipina
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in late June of 2015 regarding her potential I-751 filing. She was from the Philippines and 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 October of 2013. Therefore, her conditional residency terminated in October 2015.

Unfortunately, during their marriage, our client and her ex-husband went through struggles. They lived separately for a while and their divorce was finalized in July 2015. Thus, our client could not file I-751 application jointly with her ex-husband. After consultation, we advised that we can help her file an 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 25, 2015, our office filed the I-751 application with various supporting documents (over 20 exhibits and an affidavit over 4 pages) to demonstrate our client’s bona fide marriage with her ex-husband.  Eventually, on March 14, 2016, the USCIS approved our request for the removal of conditions on her permanent resident status without even an interview nor a request for evidence. Now, she has her ten-year green card.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Filipina

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client contacted our office in May of 2015 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from the Philippines and she married a U.S. citizen in March 2013. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in September of 2013. Our office helped her in the green card process.  Her conditional residency terminated in September 2015.

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 on June 1, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with supporting documents.

On June 15, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, utility bills, joint leasing documents, 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 weeksr. However, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) to demonstrate the bona fideness of our client’s marriage with her husband. We filed an extensive Response to RFE to the USCIS with more bona fide marital documents on January 29, 2016.

Eventually, on February 22, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application.

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CASE: I-130 (Petition for Father) and Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Filipino

LOCATION: California

Our client retained us to petition her father for his green card. Our client was born and raised in the Philippines, but was naturalized in the United States in February 2015 through our firm’s legal assistance. She contacted our office in June of 2015 and discussed with us the green card process for his father. After consultation, she retained our office again on June 22, 2015.

Once retained, our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on June 24, 2015 for her father.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permit all came on time. On November 17, 2015, our client (the father) appeared at his I-485 adjustment of status interview at Santa Ana, California USCIS Field Office. Prior to the interview, our office prepared him with possible interview questions via conference calls. Eventually, on February 23, 2016, our client’s  adjustment of status application was approved. Now, he is a green card holder.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Jamaican

LOCATION: Pittsburgh, PA

Our client came to the United States in November 2013 with a B-2 visitor’s visa from Jamaica. Later, she married a U.S. Citizen in May 2015 and retained our office for her petition and adjustment of status application. She also asked us to file her son’s (Petitioner’s step-son) adjustment of status application.

Once retained, our firm prepared and filed the I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on September 28, 2015. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. There were no requests for evidence.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference calls. On February 24, 2016, our clients were interviewed at the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them at their interview as well. After the interview, our client and her son’s green card applications were approved.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Iranian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in July of 2015 regarding his I-751 application.

He is from Iran and he married a U.S. citizen in July 2013. Through his marriage, he obtained a 2-year conditional green card in October of 2013. Our office helped him with his green card. His conditional residency terminated in October 2015.

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 on July 29, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with supporting documents.

On August 11, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from his friends and family members, joint bank statements, joint tax records, utility bills, joint leasing documents, 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. Everything went smoothly and eventually, on February 12, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in March of 2015 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from China and married a U.S. citizen in April 2012. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in June of 2013.  Her conditional residency terminated in June 2015.

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 on April 1, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On April 13, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, utility bills, joint leasing documents, 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. However, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) to demonstrate the bona fideness of our client’s marriage with her husband. We filed an extensive Response to RFE to the USCIS with more bona fide marital documents on September 10, 2015.

Eventually, on October 29, 2015, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Brazilian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in January of 2015 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from Brazil and married a U.S. citizen in November 2011. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in April of 2013. Our office helped her in the green card process.  Her conditional residency terminated in April 2015.

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 on January 12, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with supporting documents.

On February 4, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, utility bills, joint lease, 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. However, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) to demonstrate the bona fideness of our client’s marriage with her husband. We filed an extensive Response to RFE to the USCIS with more bona fide marital documents on September 25, 2015.

Eventually, on October 16, 2015, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application.

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CASE:   Immigrant Visa / I-601A Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility / I-212 Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission Into the United States After Deportation or Removal

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Ecuadorian

LOCATION: Quito, Ecuador (Visa Interview)

Our client came to the United States from Ecuador in March 1999 without inspection and admission. Later, he married his U.S. citizen wife in 2006. However, removal proceedings were initiated against him in March 2009 as an alien present in the United States without having been admitted or paroled. With our assistance and representation, our client went to all of his court hearings and applied for Cancellation of Removal for Non-LPR. However, the Immigration Judge in the Cleveland Immigration Court denied our client’s application for relief.

After his case was denied, our client’s U.S. Citizen Wife filed an I-130 petition for him and this I-130 petition was approved on January 27, 2014. However, needed a waiver of inadmissibility to become a green card holder.

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.

Before the I-130 was approved, our client took voluntary departure from the United States in November 2013 as he tried to get an immigrant visa through consular processing with an I-601 waiver. He went back to Ecuador. Once he returned there, with our legal assistance, we filed his immigrant visa package to the National Visa Center on June 27, 2014.

Our client’s I-601 application had a good chance since our client’s U.S. Citizen wife suffers from a great degree of medical and psychological hardship. In the I-601 brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of his wife.  We argued that it would be extremely difficult for our client’s wife to get the same level of therapy and satisfactory access to medical services in Ecuador in case she joins our client there.

In our brief, we also argued that his wife will have difficulty in finding the same level of employment in Ecuador, and that his wife will face extreme financial and emotional difficulties if she joins him in Ecuador.

On February 12, 2015, we filed the I-601 waiver application which included the brief in support, his wife’s extensive medical and psychological examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to his wife if she joins our client in Ecuador. Later, on November 25, 2015, our office also filed the  I-212 Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States after Deportation or Removal.

Eventually, his I-601 waiver and I-212 were approved on January 4, 2016. The U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador informed our office that they scheduled an immigrant visa interview for our client. On January 26, 2016, our client appeared at his immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in Quito, and the Consulate officer approved his immigrant visa on the same day.

Now, our client can come back to the United States with an approved immigrant visa and he will get his green card in the mail within two months of his entry to the United States.  

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CASE:   I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client came to the United States from China in August 2001 without inspection and admission. She married her U.S. citizen husband in 2007. They have two U.S. citizen children together.  Her U.S. Citizen husband filed an I-130 petition for her on August 1, 2012. This I-130 petition was approved on March 29, 2013.

Our client cannot file for adjustment of status due to her ground of inadmissibility. She needs a waiver of inadmissibility to become a green card holder. Moreover, our client was placed in removal proceedings, but with our office’s assistance, her removal proceedings were administratively closed in April 2015 to file a provisional waiver application.

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.

In 2013, the USCIS announced of new policy called the 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.

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.

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 and son suffer from a great degree of medical hardship. In the I-601A brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of her husband and her son.  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 medical hardships 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 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 good employment in the United States, and that his U.S. citizen child and her husband will face extreme financial and emotional difficulties if she is removed.

On October 15, 2015, we filed the I-601A waiver application which included the brief in support, her husband and son’s extensive medical examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to her husband if she is removed from the United States. Eventually, without any RFE, her I-601A waiver was approved on February 2, 2016. Now, she can file packet 3 and 4 here in the United States, and would go to China shortly to get her immigrant visa.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Kenyan

LOCATION: Atlanta, GA

Our client is from Kenya who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in August 1998 to pursue his master’s degree.  After he finished his J-1 program, he remained in the United States.

In October 2013, our client married his current U.S. citizen wife. He could not adjust his status at that time unless he got a waiver of his 2-year foreign residency requirement. When he came to the United States in 1998, his program made him subject to the 2-year foreign residency requirement.

Thereafter, our office filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Kenyan Embassy in the United States. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures and policies with regard to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver.  Our office contacted the Kenyan Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client.  The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, a clearance letter from the J-1 program sponsor, clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining J-1 waiver.

On March 13, 2015, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  We also sent a request to the Kenyan Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust based on his marriage to U.S. citizen spouse.

Eventually, the Kenyan Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On May 13, 2015, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On June 4, 2015, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement.

Once his J-1 waiver was approved, our client retained our office again for his green card application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on September 17, 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 through conference calls. On January 28, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Atlanta USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client as well. On the same day, his green card application was approved.

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