CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status.

NATIONALITY:Burmese

LOCATION: East Lansing, MI

Our client is from Myanmar who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in September 2012.  She came to the U.S. for her research program, and her J-1 program made her subject to the two-year foreign residence requirement.

In June 2013, our client married her U.S. citizen husband. She was eligible to get a green card through her marriage to U.S. citizen; however, before we file her I-130/I-485 application simultaneously, she has to get a waiver of her two-year foreign residency requirement.

As our previous success story explained, our office worked on our client’s J-1 waiver.  Eventually, the Myanmar Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On February 27, 2014, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. The CIS has receipted the fee and issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver of the  two-year foreign residency program on March 6, 2014.

After we received the I-612 waiver, our firm prepared and filed an I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on March 24, 2014.  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 July 22, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Detroit, MI USCIS office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them as well. On the same day, her green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA

Our Korean client came to the United States on a F-1 student visa to pursue her law degree. Currently, she is working as a patent attorney in Los Angeles under her OPT program.

She married a U.S. Citizen in March 2014 and retained our office on March 18, 2014 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on April 1, 2014.  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 July 22, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Los Angeles, CA USCIS.  On the same day, her green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Marriage-Based Petition and Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Paraguayan

LOCATION: New York, NY

Our Paraguayan client came to the United States on a B-2 visitor visa in February 2008. She married a U.S. Citizen in July 2011 and retained our office on November 4, 2013 for her adjustment of status application.

Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on February 11, 2014.  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 July 18, 2014, our client was interviewed at the New York, NY USCIS office.  On the same day, her green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Marriage-Based I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Indonesian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our Indonesian client came to the United States on an H-2B visa in August 2006. Later, he married a U.S. Citizen in March 2014 and retained our office on April 8, 2014 for his adjustment of status application.

Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 18, 2014.  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 in our office.

On July 17, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS.  Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office accompanied them as well. On the same day, his green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

Case: I-130/I-485

Applicant/Beneficiary – Korean

Location: Dayton, OH

Our client entered the United States in January 2014 from South Korea under the visa waiver program. She came here to visit her U.S. citizen boyfriend (now her husband) for a couple months. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, she was only authorized to remain in the United States for 90 days.

Later, in February, our client and her U.S. citizen boyfriend married in the United States. Her husband contacted our office, and they retained us on March 21, 2014.

One main issue in her green card application through marriage was the fact that she came to the United States under the visa waiver program.   As our office wrote in our previous success story with a similar issue,  under the visa waiver program, citizens of certain countries can enter the U.S. for 90 days without a visa with the condition that the visitor waives his or her right to contest removal (other than on the basis of asylum).  The “no-contest” provision of the Visa Waiver Program is fundamental; if someone could enter under the VWP and then contest removability; it would defeat the whole purpose of the Program which is to make it easy for certain nationals to come to the United States to visit and then leave without all the red-tape involved in visa issuance.

Our office filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on March 31, 2014.  Our office requested the CIS to exercise favorable discretion in granting adjustment of status and argued that the application was filed before her authorized period of stay expired. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permit all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients. On July 17, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Cincinnati, Ohio USCIS Field Office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu accompanied them at the interview as well.  Despite the visa waiver issue, on the same day of the interview, the USCIS approved her green card application.  Now, our client is a green card holder.

{ 0 comments }

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

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH / Guangzhou, China (Visa Interview)

Our client came to the United States from China in March 2000 without inspection and admission. When she made her entry to the U.S., she was only 15 year old.

She married her U.S. citizen husband in 2006 and they have a U.S. citizen child together. Through our office, she applied for deferred action (I-821D) and the USCIS approved her application on December 13, 2012.

After her I-821D was approved, her U.S. Citizen husband filed an I-130 petition for her on February 4, 2013. This I-130 petition was approved on March 25, 2013.

However, our client cannot file for adjustment of status application due to her overstay. She thus had a ground of inadmissibility. She needed 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

Last year, 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 suffers from a great degree of psychological hardship. Also, his U.S. citizen mother (our client’s mother-in-law) has a mental disease which requires special attention from our client’s husband. 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 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 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 good employment in the United States, and that his U.S. citizen child and her husband will face extreme financial and emotional difficulties if he is removed.

On October 3, 2013, we filed the 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 January 27, 2014.

Once her I-601A waiver was approved, she retained our office again for her immigrant visa processing. Our office prepared and filed her immigrant visa application on May 1, 2014. On June 13, 2014, the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou, China informed our office that they scheduled an immigrant visa interview for our client. Our client went back to China to appear at her interview on July 15, 2014. On July 15, 2014, our client appeared at her immigrant visa interview at the Consulate, and the Consulate officer approved her immigrant visa on the same day.

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

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Sri Lankan
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our Sri Lankan client came to the United States on an F-1 student visa in January 2013. Later, he married a U.S. Citizen in October 2013 and retained our office on April 3, 2014 for his adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on April 15, 2014.  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 in our office. On July 1, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them as well. On the same day, his green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

Case: I-130/I-485

Potential Issue: Response to Notice of Intent to Deny

Client: Kenyan

Location: Dallas, Texas

Our client entered the United States in May 2001 from Kenya with an F-1 student visa.  Later, she married her U.S. citizen husband in July 2007. She retained our office on June 29, 2012 for her adjustment of status application.

Our office prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 9, 2012.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office thoroughly prepared our client via conference calls for their USCIS adjustment of status interview.

On September 21, 2012, Attorney Yu accompanied our client and her husband at the Dallas USCIS office for her adjustment interview. The interview was extensive, and at the end of the interview, the USCIS officer scheduled another interview for them. The officer was suspicious regarding the bona fideness of our client’s marriage.

On October 24, 2012, Attorney Yu accompanied our client and her husband again at the Dallas USCIS office her second interview. The interview took two hours and the officer thoroughly asked our client and her husband about the bona fide nature of the marriage and some martial issues that the officer had suspicions on.

On January 10, 2013, the USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID).  The NOID claimed that there was substantial and probative evidence that the marital union between the Petitioner and Beneficiary is not bona fide.  Moreover, the NOID points out that the submitted documentation of Petitioner and Beneficiary does not establish a continual significant combining of financial responsibility for their marriage. Lastly, the NOID claimed there were several discrepancies in their testimonies during the interviews.

In response to the USCIS’s NOID, our office helped our clients draft an extensive affidavit. Multiple supporting documents  and a four-page affidavit from our client were all included as well as letters from their friends and neighbors, joint bank statements, joint insurance, utility bills, and several pictures of our client and his wife in several occasions with different people.  Several legal authorities were cited based on particular issues discussed, and on February 6, 2013, we filed the Response to NOID prior to the 30-day deadline.

However, for more than a year, our client and our office never received any kind of response or a decision from the USCIS Dallas Field Office. Our client had appeared for multiple Infopass appointments at the Dallas USCIS office and our office and our client had made several USCIS customer service center inquiries since it was out of processing time.

Our office also filed a written follow-up request directly to the USCIS Dallas Field Office in May 2014.

Finally, on July 2, 2014, the USCIS approved our client’s case. Both the I-130 Petition and I-485 Green Card Application were approved. Our client is now a green card holder.

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Adjustment of Status (I-485) / BIA Motion to Reopen and Termination of Removal Proceedings with an Approved I-130 Petition

CLIENT: Peruvian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client is from Peru who came to the U.S. on a B-2 visitor’s visa in July 2002 with his family. When he came to the United States, he was an only a minor.

Later, his father filed for asylum and withholding of removal, but the Immigration Judge in Cleveland denied all applications for relief in February 2010. Accordingly, our client’s asylum relief (our client was a derivate applicant of his father’s asylum application) was denied as well.

His father filed an appeal to the BIA, but in May 2012, the Board affirmed the Immigration Judge’s findings and dismissed the appeal. Unfortunately, our client’s father was deported soon after the BIA appeal was dismissed.

Our client remained in the United States despite the final order of removal. He was under order of supervision.

He married his current U.S. citizen wife in September 2012, and he inquired on whether he has any viable option for his immigration status.  After careful review, our office determined that we can file a Request to Join in a Motion to Reopen based on the I-130 approval and Bo Cooper’s May 17, 2001 Memorandum. Our client retained our office on September 11, 2012.

Once retained, our client’s wife filed the I-130 petition for our client on September 18, 2012. Our office prepared and filed the petition. The I-130 interview was scheduled and prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients at our office. On March 5, 2013, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them as well. Eventually, on April 17, 2013, the I-130 petition was approved.

While the I-130 was pending, our office also filed a Request to Join in a Motion to Reopen and Terminate to the Cleveland DHS office on October 1, 2012. Our office prepared an extensive brief along with multiple supporting documents to request a favorable exercise of DHS’s discretion on this case. We argued that DHS should consider the following factors as set forth in Bo Cooper’s May 17, 2001 Memorandum: (1) whether adjustment of status was available at the prior hearing; (2) whether the alien is statutorily eligible for adjustment of status; and (3) whether the alien merits a favorable exercise of discretion. Bo Cooper, Motions to Reopen for Consideration of Adjustment of Status (May 17, 2001). In considering these factors, as delineated in William J. Howard’s October 24, 2005, Memorandum, “Where a motion to reopen for adjustment of status… is filed on behalf of an alien with substantial equities, no serious criminal or immigration violations, and who is legally eligible to be granted relief except that the motion is beyond the 90-day limitation contained in 8 C.F.R. § 1003.23, strongly consider exercising prosecutorial discretion and join in this motion to reopen to permit the alien to pursue such relief to the immigration court.” William J. Howard, Prosecutorial Discretion (October 24, 2005).

Our office argued that if our client’s case is reopened, he will be prima facie eligible to adjust his status. Our client has been living in the United States since 2002, has no criminal record, was a minor at the time of the entry to the U.S., and has an approved I-130 petition.

As a result, the DHS office agreed to join in our Motion to Reopen and Terminate. The DHS filed the joint motion to the BIA in September 2013. Finally, the BIA ordered our client’s case to be reopened and terminated our client’s case on November 26, 2013. Once his case was terminated he retained our office again for his I-485 adjustment of status application.

Our firm prepared and filed the Adjustment of Status Application and the Employment Authorization Document on February 24, 2014.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client at our office. On June 24, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our client as well. On the same day, his green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }

CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Ghanaian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States in September 2001 with an A-2 visa (The A-2 diplomatic visa is a nonimmigrant visa which allows foreign accredited officials, not in the diplomatic category, to enter into the U.S. to engage in official activities of their government) from Ghana. Since then, she has maintained her A-2 status, finished her school, and she is currently working as a nurse in the United States.

She married a U.S. Citizen in July 2013 and retained our office on October 25, 2013 for her adjustment of status application. They were not living together but based on our conversation, the marriage was bona fide. The US Citizen lived in Ohio, the beneficiary lived in Maryland.

Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 8, 2013.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. We also requested that the interview be held in Cleveland Ohio.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients through conference calls. On June 9, 2014, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our client as well. On June 23, 2014, her green card application was approved.

{ 0 comments }