CASE: H-1B Visa Petition

PETITIONER:  Licensed Reference Laboratory

BENEFICIARY: Chinese Preparatory Chemist in Columbus, OH

Our client is a licensed reference laboratory located near Columbus, OH.  They contacted our office in early March of this year to seek legal assistance for a possible H-1B petition for their foreign employee.

The beneficiary obtained his Master of Science in Chemistry in the United States. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is a preparatory chemist which clearly 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 service. This H-1B petition was selected after the lottery. Our client’s H-1B application was approved on June 23, 2015.

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CASE: H-1B Extension
PETITIONER:  Culture Center
BENEFICIARY: Chinese Assistant Program Development Director

Our client is a Culture Center in Ohio that offers after-school and weekend education programs for children and young students in the Greater Cleveland area. They contacted our office in April to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee’s H-1B Extension.  The beneficiary is a Chinese who obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in China and also a MBA degree in the United States. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Assistant Program Development Director which we argued qualified as a specialty occupation.  She has been working for the Petitioner for the last three years on a valid H-1B visa.

After retention, our office filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on April 22, 2016 via premium processing. Eventually, without any RFE, our client’s H-1B application was approved on April 28, 2016. Now the Beneficiary can work for the Petitioner until 2019.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification    
EMPLOYER: Culture Center / Culture School
BENEFICIARY: Chinese
LOCATION: St. Paul, MN

Our client is from China, who is currently staying in the United States on F-2 status. She has a prospective employer who was willing to do an immigration petition for her, third-preference. Our client has a Bachelor’s degree in Arts Education. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that her employer can petition her as an Early Childhood Creative Programs Director. Based on our client’s education, professional and working background, our office determined that she is 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 April 16, 2015, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained the foreign degree evaluation report and Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on August 11, 2015.  On October 27, 2015, we promptly filed PERM.  Eventually, on March 28, 2016, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Chinese beneficiary. Now our client can file an I-140 petition.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Chinese

LOCATION:  Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in August 2015 to seek legal representation for her naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. She came to the United States from China and obtained her green card in December 2006 through her family petition. She retained our office on August 24, 2015.

The N-400 application was filed on September 17, 2015 with all supporting documents. Prior to her citizenship interview, our office prepared her in our office. On March 29, 2016, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for her naturalization interview. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client as well. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed her naturalization and citizenship interview. Eventually, her application was approved on April 11, 2016. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: Adjustment of Status (I-485) based on First Preference Approved I-130
CLIENT: US Citizen Petitioner Mother; Chinese Beneficiary Daughter in Ohio
LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client retained us to file her adjustment of status application (I-485) based on an approved I-130 petition which was filed for her by her US Citizen mother in February 2008. Our client is from China and has maintained her status in the United States. She was working as a controller under a valid H-1B status.

In October 2015, she was eligible to file her adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-485 adjustment of status application on October 23, 2015. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. There were no requests for evidence.

Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client at our office. On March 17, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our client. The interview went well, and her application was approved on March 21, 2016. Now, she is a green card holder.

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CASE: I-140 (EB-2)

EMPLOYER: Cultural Center

BENEFICIARY: Chinese Educational Services Market Research Analyst

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

The beneficiary is a Chinese lady who is currently working at a cultural center in Cleveland Ohio. The company was willing to do an immigration petition for her, second-preference. She has a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Our firm believed her employer can petition her as an Educational Services Market Research Analyst. Based on our client’s educational, professional and working background, our office determined that she may be clearly eligible for EB-2 classification.

Prior to filing the PERM labor certification application, 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 Labor Certification application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad.

On September 26, 2014, the prevailing wage request was filed.  On January 28, 2015, we filed the PERM labor certification application.  Eventually, on August 19, 2015, the PERM labor certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Chinese Educational Services Market Research Analyst.

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 February 10, 2016 via premium processing. However, on February 16, 2016, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s petition. In the RFE, the USCIS requested our client to submit any documentation that demonstrated her specific software special skills in the past. Our office promptly filed the Response to RFE on February 25, 2016 to the USCIS by submitting a letter from her employer detailing her usage and knowledge of the specific software that was required. Eventually, on March 2, 2016, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Chinese client was approved. She can file an I-485 adjustment of status application for her green card when her priority date becomes current.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in March of 2015 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from China and married a U.S. citizen in April 2012. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in June of 2013.  Her conditional residency terminated in June 2015.

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 April 1, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On April 13, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, utility bills, joint leasing documents, and photos of our client and her husband to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. However, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) to demonstrate the bona fideness of our client’s marriage with her husband. We filed an extensive Response to RFE to the USCIS with more bona fide marital documents on September 10, 2015.

Eventually, on October 29, 2015, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application.

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CASE:   I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client came to the United States from China in August 2001 without inspection and admission. She married her U.S. citizen husband in 2007. They have two U.S. citizen children together.  Her U.S. Citizen husband filed an I-130 petition for her on August 1, 2012. This I-130 petition was approved on March 29, 2013.

Our client cannot file for adjustment of status due to her ground of inadmissibility. She needs a waiver of inadmissibility to become a green card holder. Moreover, our client was placed in removal proceedings, but with our office’s assistance, her removal proceedings were administratively closed in April 2015 to file a provisional waiver application.

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.

In 2013, 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 and son suffer from a great degree of medical hardship. In the I-601A brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of her husband and her son.  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 medical 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 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 she is removed.

On October 15, 2015, we filed the I-601A waiver application which included the brief in support, her husband and son’s extensive medical examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to her husband if she is removed from the United States. Eventually, without any RFE, her I-601A waiver was approved on February 2, 2016. Now, she can file packet 3 and 4 here in the United States, and would go to China shortly to get her immigrant visa.

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CASE: Termination of Removal Proceedings with an Approved I-130 Petition / I-485 Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Chinese
LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client is a Chinese citizen who came to the U.S. on a B-2 Visitor’s visa in September 2011. She has stayed in the United States since then. Because of her overstay, the Notice to Appear was issued and our client was placed in removal proceeding.

Our client currently resides in Ohio with her current U.S. Citizen husband. They were married in October. After our office was retained, our office filed an I-130 Petition with bona fide marriage evidence on January 15, 2015.  While the I-130 petition was pending, our client appeared at the Cleveland Immigration Court for her master calendar hearing.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office represented her at the hearing, did the pleading and sought for adjustment of status relief upon the approval of the I-130 petition.

Her I-130 petition was approved by the USCIS on June 24, 2015 without any interview or RFE request.  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 in September 2015.

After her removal proceeding was terminated, our client retained us again for her I-485 adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 6, 2015. 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 January 26, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our client.  After the interview, her I-485 application was approved.  Now, our client is a green card holder.

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CASE: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce

NATIONALITY: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client is a Chinese Citizen who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in 2008. He came with his wife who held a J-1 Visa as a researcher. Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement.

Unfortunately, their marriage did not work out and he eventually got divorced from his ex-wife. He was still subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, and he would like to change his status in the United States. Until he gets a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency requirement, he cannot change his status in the United States.

He contacted our office, and our firm was retained to do his J-2 waiver on October 14, 2015.

On November 6, 2015 the J-2 Waiver Application along with the Form DS-3035 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 was divorced from the J-1 visa holder.

On November 30, 2015, the DOS sent a recommendation to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) for our client be granted a waiver. On December 23, 2015, the USCIS issued the I-612 waiver approval.

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