CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Korean

LOCATION: Newark, NJ

Our client is from South Korea who came to the U.S. on an H-1B visa. In April 2015, our client married his current U.S. citizen wife.  He retained our office for his green card application in April 2017. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on May 11, 2017.  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 April 17, 2018, our client was interviewed at the Newark NJ USCIS office.  Eventually, on the same day of the interview, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-130 and Consular Processing (Immigrant Visa) – Marriage-Petition

Our client is a Lawful Permanent Resident (Green card holder) from the Philippines. He got his green card through family petition; however, his wife and children did not get the green cards back then. In August 2015, he retained our office to bring his wife and two children to the States via consular processing. Once retained, our office filed the I-130 petition on October 22, 2015 and this petition was approved by the USCIS on August 5, 2016.

Once the priority date became current, we filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center on March 7, 2017, who in turn forwarded our clients’ materials to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. An interview notice was set for the client at the US Embassy in Manila, and we prepared them for the interview. On November 20, 2017, the interview was conducted.  Eventually, after the interview, the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines approved and issued their immigrant visas.

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CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / Schedule A

EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office

APPLICANT: Polish Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her current employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she was a certified nurse practitioner, she was 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 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Once our office was retained, we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on August 1, 2016 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 August 15, 2016, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit the missing copy of prevailing wage determination document. Our office immediately responded back to USCIS.  Eventually, on August 29, 2016, the USCIS approved her EB-2 I-140 petition.

Once the I-140 petition was approved, our client retained our office again for her I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client on October 4, 2016. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.

Eventually, on December 5, 2016, the USCIS approved our client’s adjustment of status application. Now, she finally becomes a green card holder.

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

NATIONALITY:  Indonesia

LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client came from Indonesia in 2007 with a valid J-1 visa.  She got her J-1 status as a student for her graduate studies, and she was a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship for her studies.  Her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Once her J-1 program was completed, she remained in the United States and pursued her Ph.D. program under F-1 status. Later, she married her current U.S. citizen husband and became a mother of a U.S. citizen child. Our client would like to file her adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition; however, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.

Unlike our other J-1 clients, our client could not pursue her waiver under No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). As mentioned above, our client also received government funding (Fulbright Scholarship) for her studies 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 daughter 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 extreme 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 November 24, 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 daughter’s medical conditions.  On December 17, 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 daughter would experience exceptional hardship if our client needs to go back to Indonesia for two years.

Eventually, the USCIS approved her I-612 waiver on November 28, 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 in the United States.  

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

EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office

BENEFICIARY: Polish Nurse Practitioner

LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her current employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she was a certified nurse practitioner, she was 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 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Once our office was retained, we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on August 1, 2016 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 August 15, 2016, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence (RFE) and requested our client to submit the missing copy of prevailing wage determination document. Our office immediately responded back to USCIS.  Eventually, on August 29, 2016, the USCIS approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. She is eligible to file her adjustment of status application once her priority date becomes current.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification    
EMPLOYER: Consulting Company in New Jersey
BENEFICIARY: Indian Bioinformaticist
LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client is from India, who is currently working in the United States as a post doctorate researcher under H-1B status. He has a prospective employer who was willing to do an immigration petition for him, second-preference. Our client has a Master’s degree in Science (Plant Genetics). After talking to our client, our firm concluded that his employer can petition her as a Bioinformaticist. Based on our client’s educational, professional and working 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 August 7, 2015, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we obtained foreign degree evaluation report and Prevailing Wage determination, our office filed the job order on October 19, 2015.  On February 3, 2016, we filed PERM.  Eventually, on June 3, 2016, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Indian beneficiary. Now our client can file the I-140 petition.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Indian

LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client contacted our office in May of 2015 regarding his I-751 application.

He is from India and he married a U.S. citizen in September 2012. Through his marriage, he obtained a 2-year conditional green card in August of 2013.  His conditional residency was terminated in August 2015.

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 May 4, 2015 and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with bona fide marriage evidence.

On June 3, 2015, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from his friends and family members, joint bank statements, joint tax returns, utility bills, joint lease, and photos of our client and his wife to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on April 20, 2016, 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

CLIENT: Filipino

LOCATION: Newark, NJ

Our client came to the United States in January 2007 on a B-2 visitor’s visa from the Philippines. He remained in US past the expiration of his I-94. Later, he married a U.S. Citizen in May 2015 and retained our office for his petition and adjustment of status application.

Once retained, our firm prepared and filed the I-130 petition and I-485 adjustment of status application on July 20, 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 clients via conference calls. On April 7, 2016, our clients were interviewed at the Newark, New Jersey USCIS office. After the interview, our client’s green card application was approved.

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CASE: B-2 Visa Extension / I-539
NATIONALITY: Filipina
LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client is from the Philippines who came to the U.S. on a B-2 visitor visa to see her sister and her sister’s family. She consulted with our firm a few weeks before the expiration of her B-2 status. She wanted to continue her stay in the United States for six more months to spend more time with her sister.  We explained to her that CIS has been more stringent on visitor status extensions.

Upon retention, we prepared a statement based on the information she provide about her plans if her extension is granted. We asked her to provide as much detail as possible. We made sure all addresses, contact information, and dates on her statements were complete and accurate. We made sure all her plans were supported by corroborating evidence as exhibits to the application to avoid a possible Request for Evidence by the CIS.  Our office submitted letters from family member in the United States, an employment verification letter for her sister and brother-in-law, as well as financial documents from her sister. We filed the I-539 Extension Application on September 15, 2015 and her B-2 status extension was approved on February 8, 2016 with no Requests for Evidence.

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

NATIONALITY: Kenyan                                                                                                        

LOCATION: New Jersey

Our client is from Kenya who came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in June 2014 to work as a camp counselor.  After she finished her J-1 program, she remained in the United States. In June 2015, our client married her current U.S. Citizen husband.  However, she won’t be able to adjust her status unless she gets a waiver of the 2-year foreign residency program.  When she came to the United States in 2014, her program clearly made her subject to the 2-year foreign residency program.

Thereafter, our office prepared a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Kenyan Embassy in the United States. Every country’s Embassy maintains different procedures and policies with regards to the J-1 No Objection Statement waiver.  Our office contacted the Kenyan Embassy in D.C. to pursue the waiver for our client.  The Embassy requested several documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the clearance letter from the J-1 program sponsor, Clearance certificate from HELB and KSCE in Kenya, and a letter of reason for obtaining the J-1 waiver. 

On July 6, 2015, the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State.  We also sent a request to the Kenyan Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust based on her marriage to her spouse.

Eventually, the Kenyan Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On October 21, 2015, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. On February 8, 2016, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver of our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement. Now, our client can file an I-485 adjustment of status application along with her husband’s I-130 petition.

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