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: Marriage-Based Immigrant Petition and Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Filipina

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States from the Philippines on a B-2 visitor’s visa in January 2012. She married a U.S. Citizen in February 2014 and retained our office on August 26, 2015 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485  of Status Application on October 28, 2015.  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 as well. On January 26, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on the same day of the interview, her green card application was approv

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CASE: Fiancée Visa

PETITIONER: US Citizen in Ohio

BENEFICIARY: Colombian

PETITION FILED: March 4, 2015

PETITION APPROVED: April 2, 2015

K-1 VISA APPROVED: November 25, 2015

Our client, a US Citizen Petitioner, met his Colombian fiancée in Colombia in 2013. They started their relationship, and he visited Colombia. In June 2014, he proposed to her during their trip to Mexico. After his proposal, he retained our firm to file a fiancée petition for her.

After retention, we informed our client about the necessary supporting documents to demonstrate the bona fide nature of their relationship. Our client retained our office on November 5, 2014. We helped him and his fiancée draft letters in support of the fiancé petition, and we filed the petition on March 4, 2015.

On April 2, 2015, less than a month of the filing, the I-129F fiancée petition was approved. On November 25, 2015, our client’s fiancée appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia for her K-1 visa interview. The interview went well, and on the same day, the U.S. Embassy issued her K-1 visa.

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CASE: Family Based Adjustment of Status (F2B) / 245(i)

CLIENT: Indian

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the U.S. from India and applied for his permanent residency three times in the past. His past efforts were unsuccessful and applications were denied due to numerous and complex issues (aging out, unlawful presence, priority dates). His U.S. citizen uncle filed an I-130 petition for his father in February 1989. With this I-130 petition, his parents came to the United States and became green card holders. Although our client was a derivative beneficiary of this I-130 petition, at the time of his adjustment of status, our client’s application was denied due to the “aging out” issue. After the first denial, our client’s father filed an I-130 F2B petition for our client and our client’s employer also filed an EB-2 I-140 petition as well. Nevertheless, our client’s adjustment of status application was denied due to the “unlawful presence” that he incurred unbeknownst to him (he changed his status in the U.S. from B-2 to H-1B, but there was a gap).

Our client contacted us around July of 2015 for consultation and sought legal assistance for his adjustment of status. After consultation, we determined that he is eligible for adjustment of status under INA 245(i) since his uncle’s I-130 petition grand-fathered our client’s case. Our client retained us on July 29, 2015.

Section 245(i) of the INA allows certain foreign nationals to become permanent residents of the United States despite entering without inspection (EWI) or overstaying (if beneficiary of petitions filed not by an immediate relative). Immigrants are barred from adjusting their status if they entered the United States without first being inspected and admitted by a Customs and Border Patrol officer and if they have either failed to maintain lawful status or been unlawfully employed in the country, with certain exceptions. Section 245(i) was first added to law in 1994 to allow certain people who otherwise would not be eligible to adjust their status to be able to do so upon payment of a $1,000 fine.

Four years later, on January 14, 1998, Congress phased Section 245(i) out of law. Immigrants and their families who had already begun the process of changing their status under Section 245(i) by January 14, 1998 were grandfathered into the section’s benefits. However, this left thousands of otherwise qualified persons who had not begun the process unable to adjust status in the United States. They could not return to their countries to begin the legal process of obtaining their permanent residency in the United States also without being subject to either a three- or a 10-year bar upon returning to the United States.

On December 21, 2000, Congress extended the qualifying date for Section 245(i) benefits to April 30, 2001. This law allowed immigrants who had labor certifications or visa petitions filed on their behalf between 1998 and April 30, 2001, to qualify for adjustment of status. Those who were beneficiaries of petitions filed prior to January 14, 1998 could still adjust despite an EWI record, and those people do not have to meet the December 2000 physical presence requirement.

As mentioned above, our client, despite “aging-out” and despite not having physical presence in December 2000, is eligible to adjust status based on the approved I-130 F2b Petition filed by his father because he is INA 245(i) eligible as the “beneficiary” of an I-130 Petition filed by his uncle to his father in February 1989. We also argued that our client was specifically listed as a derivative beneficiary of this I-130.  Therefore, he is grandfathered under 245(i) and even though he “aged-out”, he remains a beneficiary for purposes of 245(i). Moreover, since the I-130 Petition was filed in February, 1989, which is before January 14, 1998, he does not need to prove physical presence in December 2000.

On August 6, 2015, our office filed his I-485 adjustment of status application under the 245(i) category for our client.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment all came on time.  Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client as well. On January 7, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office.  Attorney JP Sarmiento from our office accompanied our client. Eventually, on January 13, 2016, our client’s I-485 adjustment of status application was approved.

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Case: I-130/I-485

Applicant/Beneficiary – Korean

Location: Columbus, OH

Our client entered the United States in July 2015 from South Korea under the visa waiver program. He married his U.S. citizen wife in March 2015 in South Korea. He came to the United States as a visitor with his wife and first intended to help his wife who just began her graduate studies in the United States.  As a Visa Waiver Entrant, he was only authorized to remain in the United States for 90 days. While he was staying in the United States, he was informed that he could file adjustment of status in the United States even though he entered as a visa waiver entrant.  He contacted our office, and they retained us on August 31, 2015.

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.

Our office filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 7, 2015.  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 at our office. On January 8, 2016, our client was interviewed at the Columbus Ohio USCIS Field Office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office accompanied our clients for the interview. Despite the visa waiver issue, on the same day of the interview, the USCIS approved his green card application.  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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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Filipina

LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States from the Philippines on a J-1 exchange visa in March 2014. Her J-1 program was not subject to the 2 year foreign residency requirement.  She married a U.S. Citizen in June 2015 and retained our office on June 29, 2015 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on August 18, 2015.  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 as well. On November 9, 2015, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on December 21, 2015, her green card application was approved.

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Case: I-130/I-485

Applicant/Beneficiary – Portuguese

Location: Cleveland, OH

Our client entered the United States in December 2014 from Portugal under the visa waiver program. He came here to visit his U.S. citizen girlfriend (now his wife) for a couple months. As a Visa Waiver Entrant, he was only authorized to remain in the United States for 90 days. However, our client did not leave the United States after his authorized period of stay expired.

Later, in June 2015, our client and his U.S. citizen girlfriend married in the United States. His U.S. citizen wife filed an I-130 petition for him first. However, they contacted our office for the filing of his adjustment of status application. They retained us on August 13, 2015.

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.

Our office filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on September 3, 2015.  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 in our office. On November 23, 2015, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland Ohio USCIS Field Office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our clients. Despite the visa waiver issue, on December 16, 2015, the USCIS approved his green card application.  Now, our client is a green card holder.

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