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

Our client came to the United States in 2011 on an F-1 student visa from China to study in the United States. He married a U.S. Citizen in April 2013 and retained our office on December 15, 2015 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 December 23, 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 at our office. On March 31, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client as well.

However, on April 27, 2016, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client to submit his response for the reason why he did not continuously study at the school that he attended in the U.S. Our office assisted him to draft his affidavit and filed the Response to RFE on June 2, 2016.

Eventually, on November 22, 2016, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Fiancé Visa

PETITIONER: US Citizen in Cleveland Ohio

BENEFICIARY: Nigerian

PETITION FILED: April 27, 2016

PETITION APPROVED: July 22, 2016

K-1 VISA APPROVED: November 14, 2016

Our client, a US Citizen Petitioner, met her Nigerian fiancé online in 2013. They started their relationship, and she visited Nigeria.  In 2016, the beneficiary proposed and our client decided to file a fiancé petition for her fiancé.  She retained our firm to file a fiancé petition for him on April 15, 2016.

After retention, we informed our client about the necessary supporting documents to demonstrate the bona fide nature of their relationship. We helped her and her fiancé draft letters in support of the fiancé petition, and we filed the petition on April 27, 2016.

On July 22, 2016, little after three months of filing, the I-129F fiancée petition was approved. On November 14, 2016, our client’s fiancé appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria for his K-1 visa interview. The interview went well, and on November 14, 2016, the U.S. Embassy issued his K-1 visa.

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CASE: EB-3 I-140 Petition
EMPLOYER: Hydraulic Pumps and Motors Manufacturing Company in WV
BENEFICIARY: Kenyan Sales Manager in Kenya

Our client is from Kenya, who used to work in the U.S. on his H-1B status. His former employer was willing to do an immigration petition for him, third-preference. Our client has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree and has worked for the current employer as a Sales Manager. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition him as a Sales Manager. Based on our client’s educational, professional and working backgrounds, our office determined that he is clearly eligible for EB-3 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 February 5, 2016, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on July 6, 2016.  On September 27, 2016, we promptly filed PERM.  Eventually, on November 22, 2016, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Kenyan 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, ability to pay letter, and other necessary supporting documents. The I-140 petition was filed on December 9, 2016 via premium processing service. However, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) on December 21, 2016 and request our client to submit documents regarding Beneficiary’s special skills for the proposed job position and employer’s ability to pay proffered wage. Our office prepared and filed Response to RFE to USCIS on January 3, 2017.

Eventually, on January 5, 2017, the I-140 EB-3 Petition for our Kenyan client was approved. Now, our client can file his immigrant visa application in Kenya once his priority date becomes current.  

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CASE: Termination of Removal Proceedings with an Approved I-130 Petition

CLIENT: Malian
LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client is from Mali who came to the U.S. on a F-1 Student Visa in August 2010 to study. Our client currently resides in the greater Cleveland area with his current U.S. Citizen wife. They were married in January 2015, and retained our office on January 6, 2016 for representation of our client at the Cleveland Immigration Court. Our client’s wife filed an I-130 Petition for our client with their former immigration lawyer in February 2015.  While the I-130 petition was pending, our client appeared at the Cleveland Immigration Court on January 26, 2016 for his initial master calendar hearing.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office represented him at the hearing, did the pleading and sought for adjustment of status relief upon the approval of the I-130 petition.

Our client’s I-130 interview was scheduled on June 21, 2016 at Cleveland USCIS Filed Office.  Prior to the interview, our office thoroughly prepared our client and his wife for the interview at our office. Attorney Yu also accompanied them for their interview. The interview lasted two hours, but the I-130 petition was eventually approved on August 25, 2016.

Once the I-130 was approved, our office filed a request to join in a Motion to terminate proceedings with the I-485 application and supporting documents. The DHS counsel in Cleveland agreed to terminate our client’s proceedings. Ultimately, the Immigration Judge granted the Motion to terminate without prejudice on January 5, 2017.  Now, he can file his I-485 adjustment of status application to USCIS to obtain his green card.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver of the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, Exceptional Hardship

NATIONALITY:  Filipina

LOCATION: Seattle, WA

Our client came from the Philippines on a J-1 visa in 2008.  She got her J-1 status as a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship in the United States and her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. Later, she changed her status from J-1 to F-1 and maintained her non-immigrant visa status. In 2012, she married her U.S. citizen husband. She would like to file her adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition for her. However, due to her two-year foreign residency requirement, she has to get the waiver or fulfill the requirement before she files the adjustment of status application.  

Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). Our client also received government funding (Fulbright Scholarship) for her research programs which made her case tougher for the No Objection Statement or IGA waiver route. Our client, though, would like to pursue her J-1 waiver based on exceptional hardship standard. In fact, our client’s U.S. citizen husband is experiencing exceptional medical hardships.

According to 8 C.F.R. Section 212.7(c)(5), “an alien who is subject to the foreign residence requirement and who believes that compliance therewith would impose exceptional hardship upon her spouse or child who is a citizen of the United States… may apply for a waiver on Form I-612.”

Some of the factors in analyzing exceptional hardship are as follows: age of the subject, family ties in the U.S. and abroad, length and residency in the U.S., health / medical conditions, conditions in the country of removal – economic and political, financial status – business and occupation, position in / ties to the community. Matter of Anderson, 16 I&N Dec. 596 (BIA 1978).

After she retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through an exceptional hardship basis. On September 10, 2015 the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  Thereafter, our office prepared affidavit of our client, extensive brief in support for our client’s J-1 waiver application, and other supporting documents. Our client provided us with extensive medical documents and doctor’s reports for her U.S. citizen husband’s medical conditions.  On September 24, 2015, our office filed I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to issue and recommends this waiver based on the fact that our client’s husband would experience exceptional hardship if our client needs to go back to the Philippines for two years.

Eventually, the USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on December 15, 2016. Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, she can file her adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition.  

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Indian

LOCATION: Ohio

Our client contacted us in April 2016 to seek legal representation for his naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. He came to the United States from India and obtained his green card in September 1984.

Once retained, his N-400 application was filed on May 3, 2016 with all supporting documents. Prior to his citizenship interview, our office prepared him. On November 28, 2016, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for his naturalization interview. Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office accompanied our client as well. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed his naturalization and citizenship interview. Eventually, his application was approved on November 30, 2016. His oath taking is scheduled in which he will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: I-751 / Waiver of the Joint Waiver Requirement
APPLICANT: Ghanaian
LOCATION: Columbus, OH

Our client contacted our office in July of 2016 regarding a response to the RFE for her I-751 filing. She is from Ghana and she 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 January of 2014. Therefore, her conditional residency terminated in January 2016. She filed the I-751 with her husband in 2015. However, she got the RFE from the USCIS in May 2016.

Unfortunately, during their marriage, our client and her ex-husband went through struggles. Therefore, immediately after they filed the I-751, they lived separately for a while and divorce proceedings was initiated. Thus, our client could not proceed with I-751 joint filing with her ex-husband. After the consultation, we advised that we can help her file the 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 2, 2016, our office filed the Response to RFE with the request of I-751 application category conversion from joint filing to waiver of filing with various supporting documents (over 15 exhibits and an affidavit over 6 pages) to demonstrate our client’s bona fide marriage with her ex-husband. 

In September 2016, the USCIS scheduled an I-751 interview for our client. Prior to the interview, our office thoroughly prepared our client via conference call with potential issues at the interview. On October 27, 2016, our client was interviewed for her I-751 application at the USCIS Columbus, OH Field Office. The interview was very extensive and the officer questioned a lot of the nature of her marriage with her ex-husband.  Nevertheless, the USCIS approved his I-751 application on December 7, 2016. Now, she has her ten-year green card.

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CASE: H-1B Visa Extension Petition
PETITIONER:  Accounting Firm in Baltimore, MD
BENEFICIARY: Staff Auditor from Trinidad and Tobago

Our client is an accounting firm in Baltimore, MD.  They contacted our office in March 2016 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee’s H-1B extension.  The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in accounting and completed his MBA program in the United States. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a staff auditor which qualifies as a specialty occupation.  We argued that this position a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirement for this position is a Bachelor’s Degree in accounting or its equivalent.  Moreover, our office helped this employee’s initial H-1B case in 2013 and it was approved by the USCIS.

Once retained, our office promptly filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on May 11, 2016 via the regular processing service. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on December 22, 2016.  His H-1B is good until September 13, 2019.

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CASE: H-1B Visa Petition

PETITIONER: IT Consulting Company in Jacksonville, FL

BENEFICIARY: Indian Systems Analyst in India

Our client is an IT Consulting Company located in Jacksonville, FL.  They contacted our office in the middle of February this year to seek legal assistance for a possible H-1B petition for their foreign employee.

The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in India. Beneficiary is currently residing at India. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a Systems Analyst which we argued qualifies as a specialty occupation.

Upon retention, our office prepared and eventually filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on March 31, 2016 via regular processing. This H-1B petition was selected after the lottery.

However, on September 13, 2016, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s H-1B petition. USCIS requested Petitioner to submit additional evidence to establish that the proffered position to the beneficiary qualified as a “Specialty Occupation”, plus additional questions about the “in-house” nature of the employment.

We gathered supporting documents from both the Petitioner and Beneficiary and did research on the industry, focusing on similarly sized businesses, to demonstrate that a bachelor’s degree is commonly required for this position. We also provided in-house employment proof.

In the response brief, our office argued that the degree requirement is common to this industry in parallel positions among similar organizations.  We provided evidence that the position of Systems Analyst or Computer Systems Analyst is a common position required by similarly sized IT consulting company.  Also, we provided evidence that Petitioner’s competitors normally require degrees in a specific specialty for closely related positions like that of Systems Analyst.  Moreover, our office asserted that the nature of the specific duties is so specialized and complex that knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a baccalaureate or higher degree in a specific specialty. Other documents pertaining to an in-house project was also submitted.

Our office filed a detailed Response to RFE brief with many exhibits to the USCIS Vermont Service Center on November 23, 2016.  Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on December 12, 2016. Now, the beneficiary can apply for an H-1B visa at the U.S. Embassy in India, and upon the issuance of visa, he can work for the Petitioner.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Green Card

CLIENT: Pakistani

LOCATION: Durham, NC

Our client came to the United States from Pakistan on an F-1 student visa. She married her current husband, who is a green card holder, in December 2014.  After marriage, her husband filed an I-130 petition on behalf of our client in December 2014. This I-130 petition was approved in April 2015. Our office helped in our client’s I-130 petition process.

Our client retained our office again on September 22, 2015 for her I-485 adjustment of status application. We could file the I-485 application because the priority date for F2A category was current at the time of filing. Our office prepared and filed an I-485 adjustment of status application, together with all necessary supporting documents, on September 29, 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 via conference call. On December 7, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Durham, NC USCIS office. The interview went well, and the priority date for our client was current at the time of the interview as well. Eventually, on December 19, 2016, her green card application was approved.

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