CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

NATIONALITY: Venezuelan

LOCATION: North Royalton, OH

Our client is from Venezuela who came to the U.S. on a B-2 visitor’s visa in August 2016. Since then, he has remained in the United States.  In March 2021, our client married his U.S. citizen wife. He retained our office on May 31, 2021 for his green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on June 10, 2021.  Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and employment authorization document all came on time. Prior to the interview, we prepared our clients at our office via conference calls. On June 6, 2022, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland, OH USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. accompanied our clients as well. On June 10, 2022, his green card application was approved.

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CASE: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: 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 the No Objection Statement or Interest Government Agency (IGA). Our client also received government funding for her 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. 

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 the 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 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 her U.S. citizen husband’s medical conditions.  On March 20, 2018, our office filed an I-612 application to the USCIS and asked for them to issue and recommend 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.  

After her J-1 waiver was approved, our client retained our office again for her adjustment of status application. Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on October 1, 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 through conference calls. On August 24, 2020, our client was interviewed at the Cleveland Ohio USCIS office.  Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu, Esq. from our office also accompanied our clients. The interview went well, and eventually, on August 25, 2020, her green card application was approved.

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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: Marriage-Based Adjustment of Status

CLIENT: Venezuelan

LOCATION: Strongsville, OH

Our client came to the United States from Venezuela on a B-2 visitor’s visa in June 2015. She married a U.S. Citizen in December 2018 and retained our office on December 26, 2018 for her green card application.  Our firm prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on January 7, 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 as well. On June 20, 2019, our client was interviewed at Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied our clients as well. Eventually, on June 21, 2019, her green card application was approved.

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CASE:   I-601A Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility

APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Mexican

LOCATION: Dayton, Ohio

Our client came to the United States from Mexico in April 2007 without inspection and admission. He married his U.S. citizen wife in April 2016. After they got married, his U.S. Citizen wife filed an I-130 petition for him in June 2016. This I-130 petition was approved on July 29, 2016.

However, our client cannot file for adjustment of status application due to his ground of inadmissibility (entry without inspection and admission). He needs 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 September 19, 2017, 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 May 22, 2018. Now, he can file packet 3 and 4 here in the United States, and would go to Mexico shortly to get his immigrant visa.

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CASE: PERM Labor Certification    
EMPLOYER: Chinese Restaurant
BENEFICIARY: Chinese Cook in Venezuela
LOCATION: Ohio

Our client is a Chinese restaurant in Ohio. They do have a prospective employee from Venezuela and they were willing to petition him for a skilled worker, third-preference petition (I-140). Their prospective employee has more than 2 years of experience as a Chinese cook. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that they can petition him as a Chinese Specialty Cook. Our client eventually retained us on January 27, 2017.

Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On February 10, 2017, the prevailing wage request was filed.  After we got the PW determination, our office filed the job order on July 14, 2017. On November 3, 2017, we promptly filed PERM. Eventually, on April 19, 2018, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Chinese beneficiary. Now our client can file the I-140 petition.

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