CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Canadian
LOCATION: Garrettsville, Ohio

Our client came to the United States in December 2018 as a visitor from Canada.  She married her U.S. Citizen husband in March 2019 and retained our office in April 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485Adjustment of Status Application on May 6, 2019.  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 at our office.  On October 3, 2019, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. accompanied them at the interview as well.  Eventually, on October 8, 2019, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Indian

LOCATION: New Philadelphia, OH

Our client contacted our office in March of 2018 regarding his I-751 application.

He is from India and he married a U.S. citizen in June 2015. Through his marriage, he obtained a 2-year conditional green card in August of 2016.  His conditional residency terminated in August 2018.

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 March 20, 2018, and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with other supplemental exhibits.

On July 5, 2018, our office filed an I-751 application to the USCIS with multiple affidavits from his friends and family members, joint bank statements, joint taxes, utility bills, insurance policies, and photos of our client and his wife to demonstrate the bona fideness of their marriage.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on October 3, 2019, 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: Adjustment of Status Based on Approved K-1 Visa

CLIENT: Dominican

LOCATION: Youngstown, OH

Our client came to the United States in April 2017 as a K-1 visa entrant from the Dominican Republic.  Our client is the beneficiary of an approved I-129F petition. He came to the United States as a K-1 Fiancé of a U.S. Citizen whom he married within 90 days of his entry. By law, if you married your petitioner-fiancé within 90 days of your K-1 visa entry, you are eligible to apply for adjustment of status (green card) in the United States. He married in June of 2017. 

Our client contacted our office initially and consulted with us for his adjustment of status application. He retained our office on July 31, 2018. After the retention, our firm prepared and filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 2, 2019.  Things went smoothly and the receipt notices, and the fingerprint appointment all came on time.  

Thereafter, the USCIS scheduled an interview for our client’s adjustment of status application.  Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients in our office. On September 6, 2019, our clients were interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. also accompanied them. Eventually, on September 25, 2019, his green card application was approved.

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Case: I-130/I-485
Applicant/Beneficiary – Dutch
Location: Medina, OH

Our client entered the United States in January 2019 from the Netherlands under the visa program. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, she was only authorized to remain in the United States only for 90 days. In December 2018, our client and his U.S. citizen girlfriend married in the Netherlands. 

In March 2019, they contacted our office and consulted with us regarding the adjustment of status. After consultation, they retained our office on March 19, 2019.  One main issue in his green card application through marriage was the fact that he 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 Medina, OH, her application had a better chance compared to states under the 9th Circuit (see Momeni v. Chertoff).  However, it was quite foreseeable that the USCIS field office will exercise its discretion to deny his application because of his visa waiver entry.  

Nevertheless, our office filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 10, 2019.  Our office requested the CIS to exercise favorable discretion in granting adjustment of status. 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 them at our office. On September 26, 2019, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS Field Office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu also accompanied our clients. Despite the visa waiver issue, the USCIS officer approved his green card application on September 27, 2019.  Now, our client becomes a green card holder.

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CASE: H-1B Visa Extension Petition
PETITIONER:  Architecture Company in Cleveland, OH
BENEFICIARY: Architectural Designer from China

Our client is a leading company in Architecture, Urban Design, Interior Design and Planning in Cleveland, OH. They contacted our office in April 2019 to seek legal assistance from our office for their foreign employee’s H-1B extension.  The beneficiary obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture. The proffered position for the Beneficiary is an Architectural Designer which qualifies as a specialty occupation. We argued that this proffered position is clearly a “specialty occupation” because the minimum requirements for this position are a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture or its equivalent. Moreover, our office helped this employer’s I-140 case in 2018 and it was approved by the USCIS. 

Once retained, our office promptly filed the H-1B visa petition with various supporting documents on May 13, 2019 via the regular processing service. Eventually, our client’s H-1B application was approved on September 17, 2019.  His H-1B is good until September 2, 2022.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Turkish
LOCATION: Parma, OH

Our client came to the United States on her F-1 student visa from Turkey.  She married a U.S. Citizen in December 2015 and retained our office on April 22, 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on May 30, 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. On September 19, 2019, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS.  Attorney JP Sarmiento, Esq. accompanied them at the interview as well.  Eventually, on September 20, 2019, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Filipina

LOCATION: Columbia Station, OH

Our client contacted us in June 2019 to seek legal representation for her naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. She came to the United States from the Philippines and obtained her green card in August 2016 through her marriage to her current U.S. citizen husband. 

After retention, her N-400 application was filed on June 17, 2019 with all supporting documents. Prior to her citizenship interview, our office prepared her at our office.  On September 10, 2019, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for her naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed her naturalization and citizenship interview. Eventually, her application was approved on September 19, 2019. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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

 NATIONALITY: Venezuelan

 LOCATION: Lakewood, OH

Our client came from Venezuela and came to the U.S. as a J-1 researcher. Her J-1 status made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement. Our client would like to file her adjustment of status application along with her U.S. Citizen 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 his waiver under No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). Our client also received government funding for her studying programs which made her case pretty much impossible 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 husband 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 March 15, 2018, 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 husband’s medical conditions.  On March 20, 2018, 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 husband would experience exceptional hardship if our client needs to go back to Venezuela for two years. 

Eventually, the USCIS approved his I-612 waiver on August 19, 2019. 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-751

APPLICANT: Chinese

LOCATION: Findlay, OH

Our client contacted our office in December of 2017 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from China and she married a U.S. citizen in October 2014. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in January of 2016.  Her conditional residency terminated in January 2018.

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

On January 3, 2018, our office filed an 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.

Once the application was filed, the fingerprint notice was issued two weeks later. However, the USCIS issued the 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 August 12, 2019.  

As a result, on September 9, 2019, the USCIS approved our client’s I-751 application and our client received her 10-year green card which removed the conditions.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Ukrainian
LOCATION: Sandusky, OH

Our client came to the United States in May 2015 on a J-1 exchange visitor visa from Ukraine.  She married a U.S. Citizen in February 2019 and retained our office on February 12, 2019 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 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. On September 9, 2019, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. accompanied them at the interview as well.  Eventually, on September 11, 2019, her green card application was approved.

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