CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Mexican

LOCATION: Cleveland Heights, OH

Our client contacted us in December 2021 to seek legal representation for her naturalization application. She came to the United States from Mexico and she obtained her green card in July 2015.

Her N-400 application was filed on December 16, 2021 with all supporting documents. On March 14, 2022, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for her naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed her naturalization interview. On March 21, 2022, her application was approved. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: I-485 / EB-2 I-140  
APPLICANT: Korean Dentist in Cleveland, OH

Our client is from South Korea, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist on H-1B status. Her current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for her, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in the United States. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-2 classification. 

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On December 6, 2019, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on March 30, 2020.  On June 4, 2020, we filed PERM.  On December 3, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Korean beneficiary. 

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents.

The I-140 Petition was filed on December 28, 2020 via regular processing service. We also filed her I-485 adjustment of status application simultaneously since her priority date was current. On April 9, 2021, our office filed a premium processing upgrade request to the USCIS upon our client’s request. On April 21, 2021, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). On March 24, 2022, her I-485 adjustment of status application was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Jordanian

LOCATION: Metairie, LA

Our client contacted us in February 2021 to seek legal representation for his naturalization application. He came to the United States from Jordan and he obtained his green card in September 2010.

His N-400 application was filed on February 9, 2021 with all supporting documents. Prior to his citizenship interview, our office prepared him via conference calls.  On March 21, 2022, our client appeared at the New Orleans, LA USCIS office for his naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed his naturalization interview. On March 23, 2022, his application was approved. His oath taking is scheduled in which he will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: French

LOCATION: Ravenna, OH

Our client contacted us in September 2021 to seek legal representation for his naturalization application. He came to the United States from France and obtained his green card in May 2014.

Shortly upon retention, his N-400 application was filed on October 7, 2021 with all supporting documents. Prior to his citizenship interview, our office prepared him via conference calls.  On March 8, 2022, our client appeared at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office for his naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed his naturalization interview. On March 9, 2022, his application was approved. His oath taking is scheduled in which he will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status    
APPLICANT: Canadian Dentist in Cleveland, OH

Our client is from Canada, who is currently working in the United States as an associate dentist on an H-1B status. His current employer was willing to do an immigration petition for him, second-preference. Our client has a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in the United States. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition him as an associate dentist. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that he is clearly eligible for EB-2 classification. 

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On December 10, 2019, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on April 1, 2020.  On June 8, 2020, we promptly filed PERM.  Eventually, on December 16, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Canadian beneficiary. 

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents.

The I-140 Petition was filed on January 14, 2021 via regular processing service. We also filed his I-485 adjustment of status application simultaneously since his priority date was current. On April 14, 2021, our office filed a premium processing upgrade request to the USCIS upon our client’s request. On April 26, 2021, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Canadian client was approved. Eventually, on March 14, 2022, his I-485 adjustment of status application was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). 

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Filipina

LOCATION: Travelers Rest, SC

Our client contacted our office in May of 2020 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from the Philippines and she married a U.S. citizen in November 2017. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in October 2018.  Her conditional residency terminated in October 2020.

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 May 18, 2020 and our office prepared the I-751 application.

On July 31, 2020, our office filed the I-751 application to the USCIS. On March 15, 2022, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application without any Request for Evidence (RFE). Our client received her 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: College Park, MD

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from South Korea and he is an exceptional scientist in the field of Condensed Matter Physics research. 

Our client’s contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. He is capable of many experimental measurement techniques such as electrical transport, thermal transport, low temperature physics, etc., and he is capable of device fabrication and computational simulations using finite element analysis. Because of his innovative research, our client’s work were highly evaluated by the reviewers of various journals, colleagues and experts in the field.

Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he was qualified for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category. Being qualified for NIW is beneficial since you would not need an employer nor family member to petition for you for green card purposes. You’d be eligible for a self-petition and unless you are from China or India, in which case you’d still have to wait for priority dates to be current, you would be eligible to apply for adjustment of status (green card) immediately without any lag in priority dates.

As a primer, NIW applicants must have a master’s or higher degree. The AAO set new standards for NIW cases in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Under this standard, the petitioner must demonstrate that the foreign national’s proposed endeavor has both substantial merit and national importance. Next, it must be shown that he or she is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor. Finally, the petitioner seeking the waiver needs to demonstrate that, on balance, it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the job offer and labor certification requirements. Id. 

Our office prepared a 24-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 6 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included his publication record, presentation record, and conference materials in the NIW application. We demonstrated that our client is one of the few elite researchers who have made significant and substantial contributions to his field of endeavor, that he is well positioned to advance the proposed endeavor, and it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the requirements of a job offer and thus of a labor certification for our client. 

Our office filed his I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on October 5, 2021. On March 15, 2022, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Request for Evidence.  When we filed his I-140, he concurrently filed his I-485 adjustment of status application. His adjustment of status application will be approved soon as well.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification

EMPLOYER: Public School District

BENEFICIARY: Filipina Special Education Teacher

LOCATION: McIntosh, SD

Our client has an employer who was filling to file an I-140 Petition for her.  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education, a valid South Dakota Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since August 2018. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition.  Our client eventually retained us in June 2020.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on February 11, 2021.  On June 17, 2021, we filed PERM. 

On November 16, 2021, the Department of Labor issued a request for audit. The DOL requested documents from the Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on December 14, 2021.   

Eventually, on March 21, 2022, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina beneficiary. Our client can file the I-140 petition at any time.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Malaysian                                                                                            

LOCATION: Lincoln, NE 

Our client is a citizen of Malaysia who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in 1990.  She came with her step-father who came on a J-1 Visa for his research program in the United States. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, meaning they had to go back to their home country for two-years before they can apply for permanent residency or some non-immigrant visa such as the H, L, and O visas.

After our client came to the United States, she has remained here. She completed her secondary schools and pursued her graduate program in the United States as well. 

He turned 21 in 1997. Nonetheless, she did not know of the waiver process, and just stayed in the United States without any legal status.

Our client married her current U.S. citizen husband in August 2015. She would like to get a waiver because she can get a green card based on her U.S. citizen husband’s I-130 petition. However, because of her two-year foreign residency requirement, our client cannot adjust her status in the United States without the fulfillment of requirement or the waiver. 

Although J-2 dependents cannot independently apply for a waiver, in cases where a J-2 child reaches 21, the Waiver Review Division may consider requests for waivers on behalf of the J-2 dependent.  The Department of State’s policy allows for that process in instances where the J-2 dependent obtains a divorce form the J-1 principal, the J-1 principal dies, or in cases where the J-2 dependent turns 21, which is our client’s case. In fact, our client turned 21 in 1997.

Our firm was retained to do her J-2 waiver in August 2016. On August 5, 2016, the J-2 Waiver application (Form DS-3035 and supporting documents) was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the DOS to be an interested government agency and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client reached the age of 21 and was not a dependent of a J-1 visa holder anymore.  Eventually, on August 26, 2016, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver.  On November 4, 2016, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver request.

In March 2021, she contacted our office for her adjustment of status application process based on the approved I-130 petition. She retained our office on March 30, 2021 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 23, 2021.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients at via conference calls. On March 18, 2022, our client was interviewed at the Omaha, NE USCIS office. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-140 (EB-3)

EMPLOYER: Online IT Service Petitioner 

BENEFICIARY: Kyrgyz Network and Computer Systems Administrator in Chicago, IL

Our client has a prospective employer that was willing to file and I-140 for her.  Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and worked for IT consulting companies in the past. Based on our client’s education work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition.  

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the PW determination, the job order was filed on April 9, 2021.  On July 16, 2021, we filed PERM. On January 5, 2022, the PERM Labor Certification was approved without the audit. 

We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s most recent tax return copy, and other necessary supporting documents.

The I-140 Petition was filed on February 24, 2022 via regular processing service. On March 10, 2022, we filed the I-907 premium processing upgrade request. Eventually, on March 21, 2022, the I-140 EB3 Petition for our Kyrgyz client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). 

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