CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Filipina
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States in January 2010 with an H-2 temporary work visa from Philippines. She married a U.S. Citizen in September 2011 and retained our office on November 8, 2011 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on January 9, 2012.  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 April 13, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS.  We accompanied them at the interview as well.  On April 24, 2012, her green card application was approved, and our client obtained her green card a week later.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Ghanaian
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States in June 2009 with a J-1 exchange visitor visa from Ghana. He married a U.S. Citizen in September 2011 and retained our office on January 9, 2012 for his adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on February 27, 2012.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, the fingerprint appointment, and the work permit all came on time.  Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients at our office.  On April 30, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio CIS office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu accompanied them at the interview as well.  On the same day, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-140 / National Interest Waiver
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client contacted us in March 2011 and inquired about his chances of winning a National Interest Waiver self-petition. He is an extraordinary researcher and scientist in the field of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, a professor in Korea, who currently works as a visiting professor in an academic institution in Cleveland, Ohio.  Upon review of his credentials and qualifications, our office determined that he is a good candidate for the National Interest Waiver (NIW) category.

After our firm was retained, we prepared the application and coordinated with our client with his recommendation letters and supporting documents. We eventually prepared a 15-page cover letter for our client’s NIW filing, which included at least 10 letters of recommendation, his publication record, patents, and conference materials. In our brief, our office demonstrated the intrinsic merit of our client’s research in the United States, the national scope of his research, and asserted that our client would serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications. His NIW application contained 67 exhibits (Exhibit A to OOO).

Our office filed his I-140(NIW) petition to the USCIS Texas Service Center on May 2, 2011.  On August 19, 2011, the USCIS approved his I-140 petition without any Request for Evidence.  Once his I-140 was approved, our office worked on his J-1 waiver of the 2-year foreign residency requirement.

Attorney Yu contacted the Korean Consulate General Office in Chicago to pursue our client’s waiver. The Consulate requested six different documents including a statement of reason for the waiver, the applicant’s resume, a J-1 visa waiver confirmation application, and a letter of reason for obtaining the J-1 waiver. Most of those documents needed to be written in Korean, so Attorney Yu, a Korean himself, assisted our client in completing those documents.

On October 11, 2011 the J-1 Waiver (Form DS-3035) Application was filed to the Department of State. We also sent a request to the Korean Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust with an approved I-140 if he obtains the waiver.

The Korean Consulate General in Chicago forwarded our client’s documents to the Korean Embassy in DC. After that, the Korean Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division. On December 2, 2011, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement. The CIS then issued an I-612 approval notice on January 12, 2012.

On January 24, 2012, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client and his derivative family members. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. However, on April 6, 2012, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center issued a request for evidence (RFE) on whether our client continued to be engaged in the occupation that is the basis of his national interest waiver. They mentioned that our client’s visiting professorship term ended three weeks after we filed his I-485 application and his employment with his home institution in South Korea was still ongoing.

The RFE letter from the USCIS requested us to submit evidence which established that the Applicant continued to be engaged in the occupation that is the basis of his national interest waiver. In our response brief, we noted that he is still engaged in the field which formed the basis of his National Interest Waiver. After the I-140 was approved, he proceeded to author more important publications, and was invited to several conferences and presentations in the world.  We also explained that his employment relationship with his home institution and the institution of his visiting professorship in Cleveland, OH, and explained why he applied for adjustment of status in the United States – to continue as a professor, researcher and scientist in the field of Macromolecular Science and Engineering / Chemistry / Polymer Science (Fiber System Engineering).  In our response to RFE, we included our client’s recent publications, invitation letters for upcoming conferences in the United States, and his on-going memberships with professional associations. Our office filed this response to RFE on April 16, 2012.

On April 26, 2012, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved our client’s adjustment of status application. The derivative applicants of this case (his immediate family members) also received the I-485 approval.  Now, our client and his family members are finally green card holders.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Korean
LOCATION: Columbus, OH

Our client came to the United States from South Korea in August 2010 with an F-1 student visa to study in Columbus.  She married a U.S. Citizen in September 2011 and retained our office on September 27, 2011 for her adjustment of status application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and Adjustment of Status Application on October 17, 2011.  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 March 30, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Columbus, Ohio USCIS office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them at the interview as well.  On the same day, her green card application was approved.

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CASE: I-601 Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility
APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Cambodia
LOCATION: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Our client’s wife is a U.S. citizen who resides in Columbus Ohio.  She contacted our office in September of 2011 about her husband’s immigrant visa application which needed an I-601 waiver for his inadmissibility. They married in December 2008 and our client filed an immigrant visa petition for her husband which was then denied in 2011 due to his inadmissibility. Our client’s husband was found inadmissible because he misrepresented his information when he applied for a visitor’s visa to come to the United States in 2003.  He used a different name when he applied for a visitor’s visa and this incident made him inadmissible under Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the INA. (Any alien who, by fraud or willfully misrepresenting a material fact, seeks to procure a visa, other documentation, or admission into the United States or other benefit provided under this Act is inadmissible).  Thus, in order to obtain an immigrant visa, our client’s husband needed to have an approved I-601 waiver.

Our client retained us on September 26, 2011 for the I-601 waiver. Our firm thoroughly analyzed whether the I-601 waiver application will likely be successful. Based on her story and surrounding circumstances (hardship to U.S. citizen wife [our client] if our client’s husband is deported or if his wife would accompany him to Cambodia), our office determined that her husband has a good chance of winning the I-601 application.

If someone is found to be inadmissible under Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i) of the INA, INA Section 212(i) provides for a discretionary waiver of the fraud or misrepresentation 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 Section 212(i)(l). In addition to the equities presented, the USCIS may consider the nature of the fraud or misrepresentation.

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 husband’s I-601 application had a good chance since our client’s U.S. Citizen wife from Columbus Ohio suffers from Hepatitis B, Chronic Hepatitis, Bronchitis, and has been going to doctors and hospitals since July 2007.  She also suffers from depression, anxiety, and insomnia due to the hardship of not having a father for her son or a husband to help with the expenses of raising their son.  In the I-601 brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports from our client. We argued that if our client’s husband is barred to enter the United States, extreme hardship to her is clearly foreseeable and evident. Our client’s wife is required to have continuous medical check-ups with her doctors for her Hepatitis B, Chronic Hepatitis, and Bronchitis. Also, it would be extremely difficult for her to get the same level of medical attention and satisfactory access to medical services in Cambodia in case our client’s wife joins her husband there. Our office also included the U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory Section for Cambodia to highlight the extremely poor medical services in Cambodia.

In our brief, we also argued that our client has maintained strong family ties in the United States, that she will have difficulty in finding the same level of employment in Cambodia, and that their U.S. Citizen son and our client will face extreme financial and emotional difficulties if he is barred to enter to the United States or if our client is forced to relocate to Cambodia with her son.

On February 7, 2012, we submitted our I-601 waiver application to the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia which included the brief in support, our client’s medical records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to her if her husband is barred from coming to the United States.  This application was transferred to the USCIS Field Office in Bangkok, Thailand for adjudication. The I-601 waiver for our client’s husband was approved on March 21, 2012.  Now, without any inadmissible grounds, our client’s husband becomes eligible and will get an immigration visa to come to the United States. Now he can be together with his wife and their son in Columbus Ohio.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status
CLIENT: Indian
LOCATION: Cincinnati, OH

Our client came to the United States in January 2008 with a B-2 visitor visa from India.  He married a U.S. Citizen in February 2011 and retained our office on August 15, 2011 for his adjustment of status application. He was hesitant at first due to his criminal records. He wanted to check if some are classified as crimes of moral turpitude and if it would hurt his case. After doing research, we confirmed that it would not affect his case. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on August 23, 2011. The application included certified copies of his criminal record, both from Court and the police. 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 December 9, 2011, our client was interviewed at the Cincinnati, Ohio USCIS office.  Attorney Sung Hee Glen Yu from our office accompanied them at the interview as well, and explained to the officer our position on his criminal records and why he still should be eligible for adjustment of status. On March 26, 2012, his green card application was approved, and our client obtained his green card.

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CASE: Adjustment of Status / J-1 Waiver
NATIONALITY: Jordanian
LOCATION: Ohio

Our client is from Jordan who initially came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in 2009.  After the completion of her program, she went back to Jordan. She then married a U.S. Citizen in Jordan, and then came to the United States with a B-2 visitor visa in January 2011.

According to her DS-2019, she was subject to the two-year foreign residency requirement, so she could not adjust until she got a waiver.   In March 2011, she consulted with our firm for her adjustment of status and waiver of the two-year foreign residency requirement.

After we were retained, our office prepared and filed a waiver request through a No Objection Statement (NOS) from the Jordanian Embassy in the United States.  We also filed the I-130 petition for our client as well. The I-130 petition was approved on September 14, 2011.

On May 3, 2011 the J-1 Waiver was filed to the Department of State.  We sent a request to the Jordanian Embassy to issue a No Objection Statement and recommend this waiver based on the fact that our client is eligible to adjust if she obtains the waiver.  The Jordanian Embassy issued a No Objection Statement for our client, and sent this letter to the State Department’s Waiver Review Division.  Thereafter, the Waiver Review Division issued a favorable recommendation based on the No Objection statement.  Eventually, on October 4, 2011, the USCIS issued an I-612 approval notice for the waiver.

After the waiver was issued, our office filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on November 14, 2011.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. We thoroughly prepared our clients prior to the interview.   On March 22, 2012, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland USCIS office.  We accompanied them at the interview as well.  On the same day, her green card application was approved, and our client obtained her green card.

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CASE: Motion to Reopen
CLIENT: El Salvadorian
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our client came to the United States without inspection and admission from El Salvador in 2004. When he was crossing the border, the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials picked him up and placed him in a minor house as he was only 17 at that time.  Later, our client went to the Phoenix Immigration Court for his first hearing, and later on his venue was changed to Cleveland as he informed the Court that he was moving to Cleveland to live with his brother, who was on Temporary Protected Status (TPS).  He then appeared for his first hearing before the Cleveland Immigration Court. At the hearing, they scheduled a date for his next hearing, but also informed him that the hearing will change, and that he will get a notice in the mail. Our client has lived in Cleveland with his brother who has TPS status since. He never got the hearing notice.

On February 1, 2012, our client’s brother got a phone call from the Immigration Service and they asked him about our client.  The brother asked them what our client did wrong, and to his surprise, he was informed that our client had a final order of removal in November 2006. He was told that his brother should go to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a specific date “to be processed”.

Our client and his brother immediately sought our help, and upon our check of our client’s A number with the court system, found that his final order was issued in November 2006 in Cleveland, OH.  We told him that he has a final order of removal and because of that, when he goes to ICE on his appointment date, he might get picked up. We told them that he has to file a Motion to Reopen before he goes to ICE for his appointment, and show them that the Motion was filed. He was already deportable, and the Motion would stay deportation and lessen the chance that he gets detained.

So our client retained our office the day before his appointment with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). We met him extensively to prepare the affidavit and on the same day, our office prepared and filed the Motion to Reopen with the Cleveland Immigration Court. We also gave our client a copy so that he could show ICE that he had an automatic stay with the pending Motion to Reopen.  Our client never received his hearing notice; moreover, his prior appearances in Court show that he previously complied with immigration appointments.

Documentation of his address at the date of the final order, a detailed affidavit regarding his addresses and his circumstances around the final order date, documentation of the last address he provided to the immigration service prior to the final order date, and other supporting documents were submitted.  In the Motion, we also explained that our client feared going back to El Salvador and that he intended to file asylum if the case is reopened.

When our client went to ICE, he showed the Motion to Reopen and fortunately, he was not detained. He was also issued an Order of Supervision, which was an added bonus since he became eligible to file a work permit.

Then, on March 13, 2012, the Cleveland Immigration Court granted our motion and reopened our client’s case. Our client now does not have a final order of removal and may seek relief with the Immigration Court.

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Our client came from India and has two approved I-140 petitions, one under the EB-2 category, and before that from the EB-3 category. He filed his I-485 adjustment of status application in 2007 when his EB-3 I-140 priority date was current.   In 2011, our client got another I-140 approval under the EB-2 category.

Our client retained our office on October 6, 2011 for an interfile request to the USCIS so that his I-485 application may be processed according to the availability of immigrant visas in the EB-2 category. At that point the priority date he had would have been current if based on the EB-2 category, which meant that his green card application would be adjudicated soon.

According to the CIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual Chapter 23.2(I)(2)(L):

“In order to convert an adjustment application to a new basis involving a preference classification, the alien must be the beneficiary of an approved visa petition (pertaining to that new basis) which has a current visa availability date. With limited exceptions, a priority date is NOT transferrable from one preference category to another or from one petition to another.

Note: The request for conversion of the adjustment application is a totally separate issue from the priority date determination. Priority dates for preference visa categories are determined in accordance with the provisions of 8 CFR 204.1(c) and (d) for family-based petitions or 8 CFR 204.5(d), (e) and (f) for employment-based petitions and are generally not transferable. The only exceptions to this general rule are:

• Conversion within the first three employment based categories (sections 203(b)(1), (2), and (3), as provided in 8 CFR 204.5(e)”

Since employment based priority dates for the first three preference petitions are transferable, such cases fall within the “limited exceptions” specified in the CIS manual. This provision suggests that substitutions involving different employment preference classifications are permissible, as it is in our client’s case.

The CIS Adjudicator’s Field Manual, in Chapter 23.2(I)(2), sets forth certain specific rules, including:

(C) The request must be made in writing. Verbal requests for conversion are unacceptable.
(D) There must be no break in the underlying eligibility prior to the conversion request.

Section 23.2(I)(C) and (D) of the Adjudicator’s Field Manual provides that an I-485 adjustment application may be converted from one eligibility basis to another if the request is made in writing and there is no break in the continuity of the underlying eligibility for adjustment prior to submission of the conversion request.

With the above standards cited, our office sent an interfile request to the USCIS Nebraska Service Center for our client and his three dependents.  Since our client is the beneficiary of multiple approved I-140 petitions; we requested that the basis of his pending I-485 application be converted to the EB-2 I-140 petition approved on his behalf.  We asked the USCIS to interfile our client’s second approved I-140 petition with his pending I-485 application and process his adjustment application, using his EB-3 priority date but according to the availability of immigrant visas in the EB-2 category, to make his I-485 application available for adjudication.

Eventually, on March 16, 2012, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved our client’s adjustment of status application.  After a long wait, our client, his wife, and his two children finally became green card holders.

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CASE: J-1 Waiver of  the Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement, No Objection Statement
NATIONALITY: Indonesian
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH

Our Indonesian client came to the U.S. on a J-1 Visa in April 2008.  He came to the U.S. for business training, and his J-1 visa made him subject to the two-year foreign resident requirement.  In October 2011, our client married his U.S. Citizen wife and he wanted to apply for permanent residency. However, due to the two-year foreign residency requirement, he had to obtain a waiver first.

After he 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 his valid Indonesian passport, and a copy of Form DS-3035.

On January 10, 2012 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 February 16, 2012, 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 March 7, 2012.  Now that our client’s two-year foreign residency requirement is waived, we can prepare and eventually file his petition and adjustment of status application.

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