CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION:Ohio

Our client came to theUnited Statesin 2010 with an F-1 student visa fromSouth Koreato study in theUnited States. He married a U.S. Citizen in December 2011 and retained our office on January 26, 2012 for his petition and adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on February 24, 2012. 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 at our office. On May 15, 2012, our client was interviewed at theCleveland,OhioUSCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client as well. On November 5, 2012, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Jamaican
LOCATION: Youngstown, OH
FILED: July 25, 2012
APPROVED: October 12, 2012

Our client came to the United States in July 2010 with a B-2 visitor’s visa from Jamaica. She was given six months but she remained in the United States and overstayed.

She met a US Citizen and fell in love. They got married in December 2011 and retained our office on May 10, 2012 for her green card application.

Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 25, 2012, together with other necessary forms and supporting documents. 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 at our office.

On October 12, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland CIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (“Glen”) Yu from our office accompanied them. On the same day, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-130 and Consular Processing (Immigrant Visa)
CLIENT: US Citizen Petitioner Daughter; Chinese Beneficiary Mother in China
LOCATION: Petitioner: Ohio; Beneficiary: China
I-130 FILED: April 8, 2011
I-130 APPROVED: July 14, 2011
IV APPROVED: September 24, 2012

Our client retained us to bring her parents over from China. She was born and raised in China, but was naturalized in the United States.

On April 8, 2011, our firm filed the I-130 Petitions to the CIS. There were no Requests for Evidence throughout the pendency of the petition. On July 14, 2011, the I-130 Petitions were approved. We then started the immigrant visa processing phase of trying to get her parents over to the United States.

Unfortunately, our client wanted to delay the process due to her father’s serious illness. Her father passed away, but our client still wanted to bring her mother to the United States.

On August 10, 2012, we filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center who in turn forwarded our client’s materials to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. An interview notice was set for our client’s mother at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, and we prepared her for her interview. On September 24, 2012, the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China approved and issued her immigrant visa.

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

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CASE: I-130 and Consular Processing (Immigrant Visa) – Marriage-Petition
CLIENT: US Citizen Petitioner; Ghanaian Beneficiary in China
LOCATION: Petitioner: Ohio; Beneficiary: Beijing, China

Our client is a U.S. citizen who married his Ghanaian boyfriend in China in 2011. Her husband is an international student in China. She contacted our office in late January 2012 and retained us to bring her husband to the States.

Our office prepared and filed the I-130 to the National Visa Center on February 3, 2012. After the I-130 was filed, everything went smoothly, there were no requests for evidence, and the receipt notices came on time. The I-130 Petition was approved by the USCIS on June 11, 2012.

After the I-130 approval, we filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center on July 26, 2012, who in turn forwarded our client’s materials to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. An interview notice was set for the client at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, and we prepared him for his interview. On September 28, 2012, the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China approved and issued his immigrant visa.

With the approved Immigrant visa, our client’s husband can come to the United States immediately, and he will get his green card within two weeks of entry.

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CASE: I-130 and Consular Processing for Petitioner’s two minor stepdaughters
LOCATION: Petitioner: New Jersey; Beneficiaries: Jamaica

Our client is a U.S. citizen who married a Jamaican in New Jersey. Through our firm, he filed an I-130 Petition for his wife and his wife eventually obtained her green card. His two minor stepdaughters though were residing in Jamaica.

After his wife got her green card, we filed the immigrant visa petitions for his stepdaughters. We also submitted the packet 3 and 4 immigrant visa packets for them on June 18, 2012.
Their immigrant visa interview was scheduled on August 3, 2012 at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica. The U.S. Embassy in Kingston eventually approved the immigrant visas for his stepdaughters on September 26, 2012.

Our client’s step-daughters can be here in the United States soon and will be reunited with their mother and step-father.

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For other consular processing success stories, please click here.

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CASE: Motion to Remand / I-130 Approval
CLIENT: Nepalese
LOCATION: Baltimore, MD

Our client came to the United States with a valid B-2 visa from Nepal in January 1998. He remained in the United States for a time longer than permitted. In November 2009, he was placed in deportation proceedings due to his overstay and a Notice to Appear was issued. His asylum application was denied by the Immigration Judge, but an appeal was timely filed.

While the BIA appeal was pending, our client’s daughter became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in January 2012. Our office immediately filed an I-130 petition for our client on February 6, 2012. After we received the I-130 receipt notice, we prepared and filed a Motion to Remand for Adjustment of Status Based on a Pending I-130 on behalf our client. You typically want the I-130 to be approved prior to filing the Motion to Remand, but by submitting the actual I-130 application itself and its supporting documents attached to the Motion, you can show that it is approvable.

In Matter of Coelho, 20 I&N Dec. 464, 473 (BIA 1992), the BIA found that a motion to remand must conform to the same standards as a motion to reopen, where the respondent presents new evidence which would likely change the result of the case. In a Motion to Reopen before the BIA, the Applicant must show that the evidence is material, unavailable at time of original hearing, and could not have been discovered or presented at the original hearing. 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(c)(1). In this case, the adjustment of status relief was not available for our client at his previous hearing since his daughter has not become a naturalized U.S. citizen yet.

Our office filed a Motion to Remand for Adjustment of Status based on a pending I-130 to the BIA on February 24, 2012. We argued that our client will be eligible for adjustment of status once the I-130 is approved since he had a legal entry to the U.S., has no criminal records, and has no other grounds of inadmissibility. Eventually, on July 10, 2012, the BIA granted our motion, reopened our client’s case, and the record was remanded for further proceedings.

While we were waiting for adjudication of the I-130 petition, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) regarding the paternal relationship of our client. Apparently, the birth certificate submitted from Nepal was not enough. So we scheduled a DNA test for our client and this resulted to a 99.99% likelihood of paternity. On September 14, 2012, the USCIS approved the I-130 petition for our client. Now, he can apply for the adjustment of status before Immigration Judge or USCIS upon termination of his proceedings.

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CASE: Reentry Permit for LPRs (I-131)
CLIENT: South African
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in the middle of June and sought legal assistance for him and his family’s re-entry permit applications. They are South African nationals and lawful permanent residents (LPR) since 2008. Our client needed to get a re-entry permit because they were planning to stay in the Philippines for next two years. Our client has a business in Ohio which does substantial business in the Philippines. He has a wife and three kids, and they will not likely be able to come back to the United States within six months. The kids go to school in the Philippines, and they were concerned because they got their reentry permits before. They were only going to be in States for 3 weeks. We met 2 days after they arrived.

Generally, being a Permanent Resident of the U.S., you can travel without restraint outside of the U.S. But if the trip duration is greater than one year, but less than two years, then a reentry permit is needed to enter the U.S. Even if the trip is between six months and one year, it is still advisable to get a reentry permit, to avoid the rebuttable presumption that residency is disrupted.

Our client was planning to be in the Philippines for the next twenty months, so the reentry permit is clearly needed when he comes back to the United States. He has been in the Philippines most of the time that he was a permanent resident, so he was concerned his case will be denied.

Our office filed Form I-131 with other supporting documents to the USCIS on June 13, 2012. Despite the I-131 being a seemingly simple form and application, we attached a substantial brief to the form, explaining his maintenance of residence in the United States through his address, bank statements, and business (registered in Ohio), and that it so happens that the business does a lot of work in the Philippines. A lot of supporting documents were also attached. We demonstrated that our client and his family members do not intend to abandon their permanent residency in the United States.

They had to go back to the Philippines as the children were about to go to school. You can apply and get a reentry permit even though you need to travel immediately as long as you get fingerprinted before your departure. So we advised them to leave only after they get fingerprinted. Even though there was a set fingerprint date on their notices, we were able to have them take prints before the set date.

On August 23, 2012 and on September 17, 2012, the USCIS issued re-entry permits for our client and his family members.

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CASE: Immigrant Visa Application
ISSUES: Overage, Patriot Act
NATIONALITY: Filipino
LOCATION: California / Philippines

Our Filipina client came to the United States in December 2001 on a tourist visa. Her son was left back in the Philippines. Our client was on her way to permanent residency. Her U.S. Citizen father filed an I-130 petition for her back in 1987, and it was approved in the same year. So priority dates were getting current, and with the law on her side, she was on her way to getting a green card and bringing her son as a derivative.

However in May 2004, the petitioner father died. Our client already overstayed for over a year, and so coming back to the Philippines would give her a ten year bar. She went through several lawyers and was placed in deportation proceedings in Chicago and Los Angeles. She was losing hope.

She retained our firm in November 2010 and through INA 204(l) and Public Law 204(l), after representing her in Chicago and Los Angeles for interviews and court, she finally got her green card on February 15, 2012. Her case was complex, and it was indeed a success story. (Please click here for the success story). So after she got her green card, it was time to bring her son over here. Her son whom she has not seen in over eleven years.

There was a big problem though. Consular processing in Manila takes time. The filing parts are easy. We do those all the time. Other lawyers too. It’s the waiting that takes time – how long Manila schedules an interview. Our client’s son was born July 23, 1991, which meant that he was going to turn 21 in July 23, 2012. He would get a visa soon if immigration still considered him a “child” (under 21 years old). If he was over 21, then the preference category would change, and thus delay the process by a good seven years. So at that point we had to hurry, or come up with a novel argument.

We filed everything that could be filed as quickly as possible. From the I-824, to the immigrant visa payment process, to the immigrant visa application. We called the embassy for interview scheduling, but he was scheduled for August14, 2012. At that point he would be over 21.

So we had to brief the consul about one of the provisions of the Patriot Act, a provision that would still make our client’s son a “child” despite being over 21. This was different from the Child Status Protection Act. Under Section 424 of the Patriot Act, an alien whose 21st birthday occurred after September 2001, and who is the beneficiary of a petition or application filed on or before September 11, 2001, will be considered a “child” for 45 days after the alien”s 21st birthday. Thus, immigrant visa applicants who would otherwise lose status upon attaining 21 but who meet the conditions of section 424 may be issued visas up to 45 days after their 21st birthday.

August 14, 2012 was within 45 days of our client’s son’s 21st birthday, so he was in. We sent a brief to the consul to inform them of our client’s eligibility despite being over 21. We also sent a brief to our client. Unfortunately due to a delay in St. Luke’s processing of his medicals, they had to reschedule his interview. This was frustrating because he was already within the Patriot Act. A rescheduled date past September 6, 2012 (45 day mark) would delay the process by over seven years.

We did everything we can to urge the Consul to schedule an interview before September 6. We called and emailed, even though we knew this was not the how it’s done. We mailed them another packet, explaining the Patriot Act. Finally after about a week, they scheduled the interview on September 4, 2012. He made it by two days.

But his case wasn’t over. He went to his interview the morning of September 4, 2012, and unfortunately was assigned to an officer who had no idea what the Patriot Act is. Fortunately we told our client’s son to bring a copy of the brief, supplementing his supporting documents. The officer said he was not eligible, but took the brief we prepared. He was asked to come back in the afternoon.

We knew he should be in. We knew he should have gotten it. But that’s what you get in consular processing cases, it really depends on which officer you get.

I would not know first hand if he got approved. It was him who will find out once he got back to the consul that afternoon.

I got a call early that morning from his mother. She was so thankful for our work. Her son’s immigrant visa was approved. After eleven years, she’ll finally see her son.

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For other consular processing success stories, please click here.

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CASE: Visa Waiver Overstay Marriage Green Card
ISSUES: Visa Waiver Overstay, Age Gap, Previous Divorces
CLIENT: Hungarian
LOCATION: Cleveland Ohio

Our client came to the United States in November 2009 as a visa waiver entrant from Hungary.  He married a U.S. Citizen in January 2012 and retained our office on February 21, 2012 for his adjustment of status application They were hesitant at first because he was a visa waiver overstay, and cases they’ve seen on the internet on visa waiver overstays were not too good. Both of them also have previous divorces. They also have a big age gap. So they were concerned about their chances of winning.

We reviewed their supporting documents and listened to their story, of how they met and fell in love. We also explained and showed a recent CIS memorandum on visa waiver overstays, more of a FAQ memo, stating that adjustment applications based on marriage to a US Citizen for visa waiver overstays should be adjudicated. Prior to this memorandum the CIS were split, granting some visa waiver overstay adjustments while some issue denials resulting to deportation without a removal hearing (for visa waiver, you waiver your right to contest removability in Court).

Our firm then prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 27, 2012.  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 at our office. On July 20, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland Ohio USCIS office accompanied by Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu. The visa waiver memorandum was once again presented to avoid any possible issues. Supporting documents of their bona fide relationship were also submitted. On September 6, 2012, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status.
NATIONALITY: Chinese
LOCATION: Oklahoma

The marriage-based green card approval we got recently was for an Indonesian client who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in 2001. He came with his father who was on a J-1 visa. Years later, our client changed his status from J-2 to F-1 student through the U.S. Consulate in Mexico to pursue his undergraduate program. After he graduated, he married his current U.S. citizen wife in October 2009 and his wife filed an I-130 petition on behalf of our client. The I-130 petition was approved in February 2011.

As explained in a previous success story, our office worked on our client’s J-2 visa waiver through the Interested Government Agency (IGA) route.  The CIS issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver of the two-year foreign residency requirement on March 16, 2012.

He retained us again and sought legal assistance for his I-485 adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-485 adjustment of status application on May 3, 2012. 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 September 6, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Oklahoma USCIS office. On the same day, his green card application was approved.

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For other marriage-based green card success stories, please click here.

For other success stories, please click here.

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