CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Indian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

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

He is from India and he married a U.S. citizen in July 2018. He obtained his 2-year conditional green card in December 2018. His conditional residency terminated in December 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 October 2, 2020. On October 13, 2020, our office filed the I-751 application to the USCIS. There was no RFE. On July 8, 2021, the USCIS approved the case and he received her 10-year green card.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Indian

LOCATION: Westlake, OH

Our client came to the United States from India on a F-1 student visa. He married his U.S. Citizen wife in July 2020 and retained our office on September 15, 2020 for his green card application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 24, 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 8, 2021, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office also accompanied our clients. His green card application was approved on the same day.

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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: 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: 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: Indian
LOCATION: Mayfield Heights, OH

Our client contacted us in February 2021. She came to the United States from India and became a permanent resident in March 2016. She retained our office for her naturalization application on February 26, 2021. The main issue of her naturalization case was the one long, over six-month trip that she had within the past five years. 

According to the INA §316(b) and 8 C.F.R. §316.5.(c)(1)(i), an absence between 6 months and 1 year from the United States raises a rebuttable presumption that continuity of residence has been interrupted. That would be an issue in naturalization cases, where continuity of residence is essential. Applicants with this issue should rebut that presumption. 

Our client was out of the United States for almost a year in 2020. Our client was in India and wanted to stay there for less than 6 months, but she had to stay there more than 6 months due to the Travel Ban /Lockdown prompted by COVID. Our client wanted to rebut the presumption by arguing that her last trip was more than 6 months due to the COVID lockdown and she did intend to maintain her continuity of residency in the U.S. 

The brief and her N-400 application were filed on March 9, 2021. Our office prepared her for her interview via conference calls. Our client appeared at the USCIS Cleveland Field Office for her N-400 interview on May 13, 2021. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our client.  She answered all questions correctly and passed her citizenship interview. Eventually, her N-400 was approved on May 17, 2021. Her oath taking is scheduled soon where she will become a U.S. Citizen.

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Case: I-130/I-485
Applicant/Beneficiary – German
Location: Cleveland, OH

Our client entered the United States in August 2020 from Germany under the visa waiver program. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, she was only authorized to remain in the United States for 90 days.  She married her U.S. citizen spouse in October 2020. 

In November 2020, they contacted our office and consulted with us regarding adjustment of status. They retained our office on November 2, 2020.  One issue in her green card application through marriage was the fact that she came to the United States under the visa waiver program.   As our office wrote in our previous success story with a similar issue,  under the visa waiver program, citizens of certain countries can enter the U.S. for 90 days without a visa with the condition that the visitor waives his or her right to contest removal (other than on the basis of asylum).  The “no-contest” provision of the Visa Waiver Program is fundamental; if someone could enter under the VWP and then contest removability, it would defeat the whole purpose of the Program which is to make it easy for certain nationals to come to the United States to visit and then leave without all the red-tape involved in visa issuance.

Since our client resided in Cleveland, Ohio, her application had a better chance compared to states under the 9th Circuit (see Momeni v. Chertoff).  

Nevertheless, our office filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 12, 2020.  Our office requested the CIS to exercise favorable discretion in granting adjustment of status. 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 via conference calls. On May 14, 2021, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS Field Office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. accompanied our clients. The interview went well, and the USCIS approved her adjustment of status application on the same day of the interview.  Now, our client is a green card holder.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Korean

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted our office in August of 2020 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from South Korea and she married a U.S. citizen in August 2018. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in December of 2018.  Her conditional residency terminated in December 2020.

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 August 20, 2020.

On September 18, 2020, our office filed the I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from her friends and family members, joint bank statements, joint taxes, utility bills, insurance policies, and photos of our client and her husband to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Eventually, on May 7, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application without any Request for Evidence (RFE).  Our client received her 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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