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Immigration Law Success Stories
January 18, 2010
The Board of Immigration Appeals (the "BIA"), granted our motion to reopen a client's court proceedings based on her eligibility to apply for a green card through her marriage to a U.S. citizen. This client hired us only two days before the filing deadline for her motion, making this an urgent, and difficult case. Motions to reopen immigration court cases must be filed within 90 days of a final order of deportation or removal, and our client hired our law firm as her immigration lawyers on the 88th day following the Board of Immigration Appeal's order of removal/deportation. Working overtime, we were able to prepare and file all necessary forms required for a motion to reopen her case, including the filing of her husband's immediate relative petition and the preparation of a proposed I-485, green card application which is a prerequisite under federal regulations. An Immigration Judge sitting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will hear our client's case on remand from the BIA. We expect to receive a new hearing notice from the Philadelphia Court within a few months.
Our firm has seen many immigration lawyers make mistakes that caused motions to reopen to be denied in cases similar to this case. Where a motion must be filed within days, any error could be catastrophic as Immigration Courts and the BIA are permitted to reject any filing that does not comport with regulations or the Immigration Court's Practice Manual. When a motion is rejected and returned to a lawyer, the actual filing date will be when the Court receives the motion back in proper format. If the 90 day deadline has already passed, the client may never be able to reopen his or her case.
January 15, 2010
Our client filed for adjustment of status on the basis of a bona fide marriage to a United States Citizen. Our client had entered the United States in F-1 student status to attend school but never attended the school designated during the visa interview, instead transferring to a different school. The USCIS Philadelphia Immigration Office found our client inadmissible to the United States on the basis of fraud/ misrepresentation in procuring the student visa and required the filing of an I-601 Application to waive the fraud/misrepresentation ground of inadmissibility. Our immigration lawyers prepared the I-601 Application with supporting documentation to demonstrate that the United States Citizenship spouse would suffer extreme hardship on the basis of a medical condition if our client was deported from the United States. The supporting evidence included Affidavits, financial records, medical records, medical reports and a psychological report. The I-601 Application was approved and our client was granted permanent resident status.
We filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for a principal alien and derivative spouse on the basis of an approved I-140 National Interest Waiver Petition. The adjustment of status of the principal alien was approved expeditiously but the adjustment of status of the derivative spouse remained pending. This separation of family member applications is not unusual at USCIS. Our immigration attorneys made numerous follow-up inquiries with USCIS and congressional authorities which resulted in the approval of the green card application of the derivative spouse.
January 12, 2010
Our immigration lawyers prepared and filed an H-1B extension petition for continuation of previously approved employment without change on behalf of a H-1B Cap-Exempt Employer that is cap exempt due to its affiliation with an Institution of Higher Education. The Petition was filed with the cap exempt processing unit at the USCIS California Service Center. The Petition was approved in 17 days without the use of premium processing. When Petitions are properly prepared it significantly reduces the likelihood of a Request for Evidence and can result in faster processing times than Petitions that do not contain proper documentation.
Our clients self-filed a joint I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence and were issued a Request for Additional Evidence by USCIS at which point they retained our firm for assistance in responding to the Request for Evidence. We responded to the Request for Evidence providing USCIS with evidence of the bona fides of the marriage including an Affidavit signed by the husband and wife regarding the nature of their relationship. USCIS scheduled an interview at the local Philadelphia District Office. We prepared our clients for the interview and accompanied them to the interview and the I-751 Petition was approved following the interview.
January 11, 2010
A PERM Labor Certification Application filed for the position of Clinical Neurophysiologist by an employer in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Statistical Area was certified by the United States Department of Labor without an audit. The Application was filed in March 2009 indicating a processing time of 10 months. The pre-filing recruitment efforts consisted of 2 Sunday newspaper advertisements in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a 30 day job order with Pennsylvania Careerlink, and advertisements on Careerbuilder.com, with a professional journal, and on the career section of the employer's website. The recruitment efforts did not yield any ready, willing, qualified and available U.S. workers for the position. The employer may now file an I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on behalf of the foreign national employee. The PERM Labor Certification Application was for an EB-2 position and the priority date is current meaning the foreign national is eligible to simultaneously file an I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status with the I-140 Petition.
January 7, 2010
Green card holders who are married to their U.S. Citizen spouses for less than two years at the time they receive their green cards are required to submit a Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence within the 3 month period prior to the two year anniversary of receiving the green card. Our clients remained in a bona fide marriage and timely filed a joint I-751 Petition. A Form I-751 may be approved without an interview where adequate evidence of the relationship is submitted with the joint petition. However, a certain percentage of such cases are transferred to the local USCIS office for an interview. Due to credit problems and financial prudence, our clients had not combined their finances as the U.S. citizen spouse was receovering from a severe gambling addiction. Our clients' joint petition was approved subsequent to a lengthy interview for which we had thoroughly prepared our clients at a prepration session in our office and accompanied them to the interview. Knowing that certain financial evidence would be unavailable, we made sure to supplement the case with additional evidence including multiple affidavits of our clients' friends/family attesting to the validity of their relationship.
An I-131 Application for a re-entry permit was filed on an expedited basis in order for the permanent resident to be able to provide biometrics prior to a planned departure from the United States approximately 1 month after the filing. The expedited biometrics appointment was obtained and the re-entry permit was obtained. The re-entry permit will allow the permanent resident to remain outside the United States for up to 2 years without abandoning permanent resident status.
The Philadelphia Immigration Office approved a N-400 Application for Naturalization filed by a Permanent Resident 3 years after obtaining the green card on the basis of residence in a marital union with a United States Citizen. Our lawyers prepared the N-400 Application, prepared the client for the naturalization interview, prepared evidence of the marital union, and accompanied the client and spouse to the naturalization interview.
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Asylum Applications (6)
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