CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Irish

LOCATION: Parma, OH

Our client contacted our office in April 2020 regarding his I-751 application.

He is from Ireland and he married a U.S. citizen in January 2018. Through his marriage, he obtained his 2-year conditional green card in August 2018.  His conditional residency terminated in August 2020.

To comply with immigration requirements, our client and his wife had to file an I-751 Joint Petition to Remove Conditions. He retained our office on April 13, 2020. 

On May 7, 2020, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with several bona fide evidence. 

Eventually, USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE). We filed an extensive Response to RFE to the USCIS with more bona fide marital documents on May 14, 2021.  

On June 1, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received his 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Thai

LOCATION: Shaker Heights, OH

Our client contacted our office in August 2019 regarding his I-751 application.

He is from Thailand and he married a U.S. citizen in September 2016. Through his marriage, he obtained a 2-year conditional green card in October 2017.  His conditional residency terminated in October 2019.

To comply with immigration requirements, our client and his wife had to file an I-751 Joint Petition to Remove Conditions. He retained our office on August 30, 2019, and our office prepared and filed the I-751 application on September 27, 2019

On June 2, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received his 10-year green card.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Filipina                                                                                                   

LOCATION: Elyria, OH 

Our Filipina client came to the U.S. on a B-1 visitor’s visa in July 2010. She remained in the United States since then. In September 2010, our client married her current U.S. citizen husband.  She retained our office on September 9, 2020 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 25, 2020.  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 June 4, 2021, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on the same day of her interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Filipina                                                                                                   

LOCATION: Falmouth, MA

Our client is from the Philippines who came to the U.S. on a B-1 visitor’s visa in July 2015. Since then, she has remained in the United States. In July 2020, our client married her U.S. citizen husband.  She retained our office on January 7, 2020 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on August 21, 2020.  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 via conference calls. On April 2, 2021, our client was interviewed at the Boston, MA USCIS office. On May 28, 2021, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Filipina                                                                                                   

LOCATION: Solon, OH 

Our client is from the Philippines who came to the U.S. on a J-1 exchange visitor’s visa in January 2018. Her J-1 program was not subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. In July 2019, our client married her current U.S. citizen husband.  Once she got married, she retained our office on September 19, 2019 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 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 at our office. On March 2, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on May 28, 2021, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification    
EMPLOYER: Seafood & Steak Restaurant
BENEFICIARY: Canadian
LOCATION: Naples, FL

Our client is a Seafood & Steak restaurant in Naples, FL. They had a prospective employee from Canada and they were willing to petition him for a skilled worker, third-preference petition (I-140). Their prospective employee has more than 2 years of experience as a Mediterranean Specialty Cook. We were retained on March 3, 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 PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On March 18, 2020, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we got the PW determination, our office filed the job order on August 19, 2020.  On November 20, 2020, we promptly filed PERM.  Eventually, on May 27, 2021, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Canadian beneficiary. Now our client can file the I-140 petition.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Turkish

LOCATION: Reno, NV

Our client is from Turkey who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in August 2016 as an exchange student. In October 2019, she married her U.S. citizen spouse. She wished 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.  

She retained our office on January 13, 2020. Thereafter, our office prepared for the waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Turkish Embassy. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures with regard to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver.  Our office 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 February 5, 2020, 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 a 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 June 15, 2020, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On July 13, 2020, 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 I-485Adjustment of Status Application on July 3, 2020.  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 May 14, 2021, our client was interviewed at the Reno, Nevada USCIS office.  The interview went well, and eventually, on May 28, 2021, her green card application was approved.

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

 NATIONALITY:  Lebanese

 LOCATION: Cleveland Heights, OH

Our client came from Lebanon in June 2016 on a valid J-1 visa.  He got his J-1 status as a research scholar and received government funding for his research.  His J-1 status made him subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement. 

Later, he married his current U.S. citizen wife and became a father of a U.S. citizen child. Our client would like to file his adjustment of status application along with his wife’s I-130 petition; however, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first.

Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue his waiver under the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). That’s because he received government funding for his research program. 

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 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). 

On May 7, 2019, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  Thereafter, our office prepared an affidavit for our client, an 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 his U.S. citizen wife’s medical conditions.  On May 8, 2019, our office filed the I-612 application to the USCIS.

On February 5, 2020, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s I-612 case. The USCIS asked our client to submit more hardship evidence. On February 25, 2020, our office filed the Response to RFE to the USCIS.

Eventually, the USCIS approved his I-612 waiver on May 25, 2021. Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, he can file his adjustment of status application along with his wife’s I-130 petition in the United States. 

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us about the possibility of doing a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is a researcher from South Korea in the field of Biomedical Engineering. 

Our client’s significant contributions have placed him at the pinnacle of his field. Throughout his career, our client has made important and innovative contributions to the field of biomedical engineering. He successfully demonstrated the development of an oral gene delivery for liver cancer treatment based on gene therapy. He also developed novel Polysaccharide-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for imaging and gene therapy. Because of his research, our client’s publications were highly evaluated by reviewers of various journals and by colleagues and experts in the field.

Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he was definitely 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. While we prepared his case, the AAO set the new standards for NIW cases in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016). Under the new 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 27-page brief for our client’s NIW filing. Our client also obtained 7 letters of recommendation from his colleagues and internationally-recognized researchers. Our office also included his publication records, presentation records, 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 Nebraska Service Center on September 29, 2020. Eventually, on May 28, 2021, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Requests 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: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Filipina

LOCATION: Kailua, HI

Our client contacted us in June 2020 to seek legal representation for her naturalization. She came to the United States from the Philippines and obtained her green card in October 2015.

We filed her N-400 application on July 20, 2020. Prior to her citizenship interview, our office prepared her via conference calls.  On March 9, 2021, our client appeared at the Honolulu, HI USCIS office for her naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed her naturalization interview. On May 14, 2021, her application was approved. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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