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

NATIONALITY: Indonesian

LOCATION: Ohio

Our Indonesian client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in May 2016.  She came to the U.S. for an internship, and her J-1 visa made her subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement.  In March 2017 our client married his U.S. Citizen husband and she wanted to apply for permanent residency. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, she had to obtain a waiver first.

After she retained our firm, we prepared and filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Indonesian Embassy in the United States.  Our office contacted the Indonesian Embassy in Washington D.C. to make sure we knew all the requirements needed for their office to issue a no objection statement.  The Embassy requested nine different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the applicant’s resume, a copy of her valid Indonesian passport, and a copy of Form DS-3035.

On March 22, 2017, 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 would have been eligible to file a marriage based adjustment of status application but for the waiver.

The Indonesian Embassy eventually issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  On August 7, 2017, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. The CIS then issued a receipt and an I-612 approval notice on October 20, 2017. Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, she can file adjustment of status application with her husband I-130 petition.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Thai                                                                                                    

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client is from Thailand who came to the U.S. on a B-2 visitor’s visa in October 2006. After his authorized stay period expired, he remained in the United States. In September 2016, our client married his current U.S. citizen wife.  He retained our office on January 31, 2017 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on April 24, 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 at our office as well. On October 20, 2017, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office also accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, his green card application was approved.

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

Our client came to the United States as a visitor from Canada.  She married a U.S. Citizen husband in May 2017 and retained our office on June 6, 2017 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 10, 2017.  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 16, 2017, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS. Attorney JP Sarmiento accompanied them at the interview as well.  On October 18, 2017, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Chinese

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in August 2017 to seek legal representation for his naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. He came to the United States from China and obtained his green card in July 2005.

After retention, his N-400 application was filed on August 15, 2017 with all supporting documents. Prior to his citizenship interview, our office prepared him via conference calls.  On October 12, 2017, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for his naturalization interview. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed his naturalization and citizenship interview. Eventually, his application was approved on October 13, 2017. His oath taking is scheduled in which he will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE:   Immigrant Visa / I-601A Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Mexican

LOCATION: Ohio / Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (Visa Interview)

Our client came to the United States from Mexico in 2009 without inspection and admission. He married his U.S. citizen wife in November 2011. With our firm’s legal assistance, his U.S. Citizen wife filed an I-130 petition for him. This I-130 petition was approved on August 11, 2016.

Our client could not file for adjustment of status application due to his ground of inadmissibility (entry without inspection and admission). He needed a waiver of inadmissibility to become a green card holder.

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 wife suffers from a great degree of medical hardship. In the I-601A brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of his wife.  We argued that if he was removed from the United States, extreme hardship to his wife is clearly foreseeable and evident.  His wife has ongoing medical hardships and she would not be able to take care of her own needs and the bulk of their family chores, most importantly taking care of their child. Also, it would be extremely difficult for her to get the same level of therapy and satisfactory access to medical services in Mexico in case she joins our client there.

In our brief, we also argued that our client and his wife have maintained strong family ties in the United States, that his wife will have difficulty in finding the same level of employment in Mexico, and that his U.S. citizen child and his wife will face extreme emotional difficulties if he is removed.

On October 17, 2016, we filed the I-601A waiver application which included the brief in support, his wife’s extensive medical examination records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to his wife if he is removed from the United States. Eventually, his I-601A waiver was approved on March 14, 2017.

Once his I-601A waiver was approved, he retained our office again for his immigrant visa processing. Our office prepared and filed his immigrant visa application on May 25, 2017. In September 2017, the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico informed our office that they scheduled an immigrant visa interview for our client. Our client went back to Mexico to appear at his interview on October 2, 2017. On March 2, 2017, our client appeared at his immigrant visa interview at the Consulate, and the Consulate officer approved his immigrant visa on the same day.

Now, our client successfully came back to the United States with an approved immigrant visa and he will get his green card in a mail within two months.

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Case: I-130/I-485
Applicant/Beneficiary – British
Location: Dayton, OH

Our client entered the United States in February 2017 from the United Kingdom under the visa waiver program. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, he was only authorized to remain in the United States only for 90 days.  In October 2016, our client and his U.S. citizen girlfriend married in the United States. Our client went back to the United Kingdom and came back to visit his wife in February 2017.

In March 2017, they contacted our office and consulted with us regarding the adjustment of status. After the consultation, they retained our office on March 21, 2017.  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 Dayton, Ohio, his 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 May 2, 2017.  Our office requested the CIS to exercise favorable discretion in granting adjustment of status and argued that the application was filed before his authorized stay period was expired. 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 via conference call. On September 28, 2017, our client was interviewed at the Cincinnati, Ohio USCIS Field Office.  Despite the visa waiver issue, the USCIS officer approved his green card application on the same day of the interview.  Now, our client becomes a green card holder.

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CASE: I-751

APPLICANT: Filipina

LOCATION: Cleveland, Ohio

Our client contacted our office in June of 2016 regarding her I-751 application.

She is from the Philippines and she married a U.S. citizen in June 2014. Through her marriage, she obtained a 2-year conditional green card in September of 2014.  Her conditional residence terminated in September 2016.

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 again on June 20, 2016, and our office prepared an I-751 application for our client with the necessary supporting documents.

On July 1, 2016, 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. There was no RFE issuance or interview request for our client’s I-751 application. As a result, on September 19, 2017, 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: J-2 Waiver of Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement Post-Divorce
NATIONALITY: Pakistani
LOCATION: Pakistan

Our client is a citizen of Pakistan who came to the U.S. on a J-2 Visa in August 2015.  He came with his wife who held a J-1 Visa as a medical resident.  Both were subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement.

Unfortunately, his marriage did not work. Eventually, he got divorced from his ex-wife in November 2016. Our client had a pending I-129 H-1B petition for him, but it could not be approved unless he fulfilled his two year foreign residency requirement or obtain a waiver.

In June of this year, our client contacted our office. He retained our firm to do his J-2 waiver. On June 22, 2017, the J-2 Waiver (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.  Eventually, on July 14, 2017, the DOS recommended to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) that our client be granted a waiver. Finally, the USCIS issued I-612 waiver approval notice on September 26, 2017.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Costa Rican

LOCATION: Ohio

Our client contacted us in April 2016 to seek legal representation for her naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. She came to the United States from Costa Rica and obtained her green card in May 2004. She retained our office for her naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. She was concerned about her multiple DUI convictions. She had a clear record though since 2011.

The naturalization and citizenship N-400 application was filed on May 6, 2016 with all supporting documents. Our office prepared her before her naturalization interview, and also accompanied her on December 1, 2016 at the Cleveland CIS office. Our client passed her naturalization and citizenship N-400 interview. However, her N-400 case remained pending due to her former criminal convictions. The USCIS officer asked our client to submit a certified copy of her criminal records once again. We filed the RFE response to the Cleveland USCIS Field Office in June 22, 2017.

Eventually, her naturalization application was approved on September 22, 2017. Her oath taking is scheduled in which she will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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CASE: N-400 (Citizenship / Naturalization)

APPLICANT: Spanish

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in June 2017 to seek legal representation for his naturalization and citizenship N-400 application. He applied for it before by himself, and it was denied, hence he decided to retain our firm for a re-file. He came to the United States from Spain and obtained his green card in April 2011.

We filed his N-400 application on July 3, 2017 with all supporting documents. Prior to his citizenship interview, our office prepared him at our office.  On September 19, 2017, our client appeared at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office for his naturalization interview. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu also accompanied our client as well. Our client answered all questions correctly and passed his naturalization and citizenship interview. Eventually, his application was approved on September 26, 2017. His oath taking is scheduled in which he will become a naturalized U.S. Citizen.

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