CASE: I-130/I-485

NATIONALITY: Turkish                                                                                                        

LOCATION: Bryan, TX

Our client is from Turkey who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in January 2012 as a research scholar. In June 2019, she married her U.S. citizen spouse. She wishes to apply for a waiver of the two year foreign residency requirement so that she can file her adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition.  

Once she retained our office, we promptly prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Turkish 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 promptly contacted the Turkish Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client.  The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver and Turkish National ID.

On June 17, 2019, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  We also sent a request to the Turkish Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client wants to adjust her status based on her marriage to U.S. citizen spouse. 

Eventually, the Turkish Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On July 25, 2019, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On August 13, 2019, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement. 

Once her J-1 waiver was approved, our client retained our office again for her adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on September 30, 2019.  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 February 20, 2020, our client was interviewed at the San Antonio, Texas USCIS office.  The interview went well, and eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Filipina

LOCATION: Costa Mesa, CA

Our client came to the United States from the Philippines with a B-2 visitor’s visa in November 2016. Since then, she has remained in the United States. She married a U.S. Citizen in February 2019 and retained our office on March 15, 2019 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on May 3, 2019. 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. On February 19, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Santa Ana, California USCIS office. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Filipina
LOCATION: Springfield, GA 

Our client came to the United States in March 2019 with a J-1 Exchange Visitor visa from the Philippines.  Her J-1 visa was not subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, so she could apply for adjustment of status in the United States without a waiver.  She married a U.S. Citizen in June 2019 and retained our office on July 23, 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 9, 2019.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, the fingerprint appointment, and the work permit all came on time. There was no Request for Evidence.  Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients via conference calls. On February 18, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Charleston, South Carolina USCIS Field Office.  On the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved. 

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Houston, TX

Our client came to the United States from South Korea on a F-1 student visa to pursue her undergraduate degree. She married a U.S. Citizen in February 2019 and retained our office on April 1, 2019 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on May 2, 2019. 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. On February 14, 2020, our client was interviewed at Houston, Texas USCIS office. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card 

CLIENT: Filipino

LOCATION: Kenosha, WI

Our client came to the United States from the Philippines with a B-2 visitor’s visa. He married his current wife, who was a green card holder, in June 2016.  After the marriage, his wife filed an I-130 petition on behalf of our client in November 2016. This I-130 petition was approved in March 2018. While this I-130 petition was pending, our client overstayed his B-2 authorized stay period. Nevertheless, his wife became a naturalized U.S. citizen in August 2019.

Our client retained our office for his I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office prepared and filed an I-485 adjustment of status application, together with all necessary supporting documents on September 25, 2019. 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. On February 12, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Milwaukee, WI USCIS office. Eventually, on the same day, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: British

LOCATION: Moreland Hills, OH

Our client came to the United States from the United Kingdom on a B-2 visitor’s visa. Though he had his permanent residency in the U.S. before, he abandoned itt. He married a U.S. Citizen in April 2019 and retained our office on May 3, 2019 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 11, 2019. 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 as well. On February 10, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on February 11, 2020, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Killeen, TX

Our client came to the United States from South Korea with a F-1 student visa. She married a U.S. Citizen in November 2015 and retained our office on March 5, 2019 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 10, 2019. 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. On February 10, 2020, our client was interviewed at the San Antonio, Texas USCIS office. On the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Nigerian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States from Nigeria on a F-1 student’s visa in May 2018. He married a U.S. Citizen in June 2019 and retained our office on September 5, 2019 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 17, 2019. 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 as well. On February 6, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, his green card application was approved.

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CASE:   Immigrant Visa / I-601A Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Mexican

LOCATION: Dayton, Ohio / Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (Visa Interview)

Our client came to the United States from Mexico in 2009 without inspection and admission. He married his U.S. citizen wife in November 2011. With our firm’s legal assistance, his U.S. Citizen wife filed an I-130 petition for him in April 2016. This I-130 petition was approved on August 11, 2016.

However, our client cannot file for adjustment of status application due to his ground of inadmissibility (entry without inspection and admission). He 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

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 wife suffers from a great degree of medical hardship. In the I-601A brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of his wife.  We argued that if he was removed from the United States, extreme hardship to his wife is clearly foreseeable and evident. His wife has ongoing medical hardships and she would not be able to take care of her own needs and the bulk of their family chores, most importantly taking care of their child. Also, it would be extremely difficult for her to get the same level of therapy and satisfactory access to medical services in Mexico in case she joins our client there.

In our brief, we also argued that our client and his wife have maintained strong family ties in the United States, that his wife will have difficulty in finding the same level of employment in Mexico, and that his U.S. citizen child and his wife will face extreme emotional difficulties if he is removed.

On October 17, 2016, we filed the I-601A waiver application which included the brief in support, his wife’s extensive medical examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to his wife if he is removed from the United States. Eventually, his I-601A waiver was approved on March 14, 2017. 

Once his I-601A waiver was approved, he retained our office again for his immigrant visa processing. Our office prepared and filed his immigrant visa application on January 15, 2019. In January 2020, the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico informed our office that they scheduled an immigrant visa interview for our client. Our client went back to Mexico to appear at his interview on January 29, 2020. On January 29, 2020, our client appeared at his immigrant visa interview at the Consulate, and the Consulate officer approved his immigrant visa on the same day.

Now, our client successfully came back to the United States with an approved immigrant visa and he will get his green card in a mail within two months. 

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Indian

LOCATION: Canal Fulton, OH

Our client came to the United States from India. Currently, he is working as a physician under an H-1B visa.  Though he married a U.S. Citizen in June 2013, he could not file his adjustment of status application due to his 2-year foreign residency requirement. He could only get his J-1 waiver in 2019.

He retained our office on August 26, 2019 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 11, 2019.  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 as well. On February 4, 2020, our client was interviewed at Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on February 5, 2020, his green card application was approved.

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