CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Chinese

LOCATION: Mechanicsburg, OH

Our client came to the United States from China with a B-2 visitor’s visa in May 2015. After her authorized stay period expired, she remained in the United States.  She married a U.S. Citizen in November 2018 and retained our office for her green card application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 19, 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 March 9, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Cincinnati, Ohio USCIS office. Eventually, on the same day of her interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Filipina
LOCATION: Arlington, TX 

Our client came to the United States in May 2018 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 18, 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 24, 2019.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, 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 March 13, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Dallas, Texas USCIS Field Office.  Eventually, on the same day of her interview, her green card application was approved. 

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CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A / Premium Processing

EMPLOYER: Physicians’ Office

BENEFICIARY: Canadian Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: St. Louis, MO

Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her prospective employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she is a certified nurse practitioner, she is eligible for “Schedule A” classification.

The Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a schedule of occupations in its regulations, Schedule A included, for which the individual permanent labor certification procedure is not required. The schedule of pre-certified occupations is referred to as Schedule A, and is included in DOL regulations at 20 CFR 656.10. Based on an occupation’s inclusion on Schedule A, an employer may file an immigrant visa petition (I-140) directly with the (USCIS) without first going to the DOL for a labor certification. Usually, prior to filing I-140 petitions (EB-2 or EB-3 category), the employer must file a Labor Certification to the Department of Labor. However, for Schedule A cases, the employer does not have to go through the labor certification process. The position of Nurse Practitioner is included in Schedule A.

Our client has a Bachelors and Masters degree in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Our office was retained on August 12, 2019 and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on January 28, 2020 via premium processing. We included the job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other necessary supporting documents.

In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why nurse practitioners must fall under the Schedule A designation.  However, on February 5, 2020, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued Request for Evidence and requested the Petitioner to submit its business existence documents such as IRS FEIN issuance letter, articles of incorporation, and business license. Our office filed Response to RFE to the USCIS along with supporting documents on February 13, 2020. Eventually, on February 25, 2020, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for Canadian national is current for the EB-2 category, she is eligible to file her adjustment of status application now.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Filipino
LOCATION: Elmhurst, NY 

Our client came to the United States in September 2013 with a J-1 Exchange Visitor visa from the Philippines.  His J-1 visa was not subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, so he could apply for adjustment of status in the United States without a waiver.  He married a U.S. Citizen in July 2019 and retained our office on August 21, 2019 for his adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on August 26, 2019.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, 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 March 6, 2020, our client was interviewed at the New York, NY USCIS Field Office.  Eventually, on the same day of his interview, his green card application was approved. 

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CASE: H-1B Extension

PETITIONER: Waste Management Company

BENEFICIARY: Indian Chief Financial Officer

LOCATION: Hudson, MA

Our client is a wastewater treatment and management company in Hudson, MA. They contacted our office in early December 2019 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee. The beneficiary is from India and obtained her Master’s degree in Business Administration. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a Chief Financial Officer which qualifies as a specialty occupation. This proffered position is clearly a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirements for this position are a Master’s Degree in Business Administration or its equivalent.  

The foreign beneficiary in this case already had her H-1B visa from our client (her current employer).  She wanted to extend her H-1B status. 

Once retained, our office promptly filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on January 17, 2020. Since this petition was based on the extension, this petition was exempted from the annual cap of the H-1B.  Thus, we could file prior to the April 1. On January 30, 2020, our office sent premium processing upgrade request to the USCIS for this H-1B petition.

However, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence for our client’s H-1B case on February 14, 2020. The USCIS argued that proffered CFO position is not a “specialty occupation.” Our office filed an extensive RFE response to the USCIS on February 27, 2020.  Eventually, our client’s H-1B Petition was approved on March 12, 2020. Now the Beneficiary can work for her Petitioner-Employer as an H-1B visa holder and she can work there for next three years.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Filipina
LOCATION: Austin, TX 

Our client came to the United States in July 2018 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 July 2019 and retained our office on August 26, 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 3, 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 March 5, 2020, our client was interviewed at the San Antonio, Texas USCIS Field Office.  Eventually, on the same day of her interview, her green card application was approved. 

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CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement / Over 21-year-old dependent child

NATIONALITY: Chinese

LOCATION: Bloomington, IN

Our client was a citizen of China who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in August 2008.  She came with her mother who came on a J-1 Visa for her research work 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.

She turned 21 in August 2017.  She has a prospective employer that was willing to file an H-1B petition for her. However, because of her two-year foreign residency requirement, our client cannot change 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 August 2017.

Our firm was retained to do her J-2 waiver, and on January 3, 2020, 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 February 5, 2020, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. On March 2, 2020, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for our client’s waiver request.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Chinese

LOCATION: Lakewood, OH

Our client came to the United States from China and worked in the United States on her H-1B status. She married a U.S. Citizen in October 2019 and retained our office on November 8, 2019 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 21, 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, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our clients. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement 

NATIONALITY: Indonesian                                                                                                     

LOCATION: Van Buren, AR

Our client is from Indonesia who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in February 2001.  He came to the U.S. for work training, but his J-1 program is subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement.  After his J-1 program was completed, he remained in the United States. In October 2019, our client married his U.S. Citizen wife. He is eligible to get a green card through his marriage to a U.S. citizen; however, before we file his I-130/I-485 application simultaneously, he has to get a waiver of his two-year foreign residency requirement. In order to get a waiver of his two-year foreign residency requirement, he consulted with our office and later decided to retain our office on November 6, 2019. 

Once retained, our office promptly prepared for filing a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Indonesian Embassy in the United States.  Our office and our client promptly contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Washington D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client.  The Embassy requested nine different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the applicant’s resume, a copy of valid Indonesian passport, and a copy of Form DS-3035 application.  

On November 19, 2019, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  We also sent a request to the Indonesian Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to file marriage based adjustment of status. 

The Indonesian Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On January 8, 2020, 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 two-year foreign residency program on February 26, 2020.  Now, our client can file his adjustment of status application along with I-130 petition.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Korean

LOCATION: Streetsboro, OH

Our client came to the United States from South Korea on a F-1 student’s visa. He married a U.S. Citizen in August 2017 and retained our office on September 4, 2019 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 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 as well. On February 28, 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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