Getson & Schatz, P.C. provided immigration representation for a United States citizen petitioning for her spouse who had entered the US in B-2 visitor status and overstayed. Our firm prepared and filed Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, and Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, including evidence of the bona fides of the marriage. We also prepared our client and her spouse for their interview with USCIS, advised them of what they could expect to occur at that interview, and attended the interview with them at the Philadelphia Immigration Office. The green card application was approved.

A client contacted us who had self-filed Form I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancée. This form allows the fiancé(e) of a United States citizen to obtain a non-immigrant K-1 visa. An approved I-129F petition is valid for 120 days. USCIS had approved the I-129F but at the interview at the U.S. Embassy, the consular officer denied the K-1 visa on the erroneous basis that the relationship had been entered into solely for immigration purposes. The denial was sent back to USCIS for revocation but once the I-129F petition expires USCIS takes no action on it. Our client came to us and explained these circumstances. We advised our client to travel to his fiancee’s home country, marry her, and then return to the US and File Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative on her behalf to sponsor her for an immigrant visa. Our client followed our advice and USCIS approved the I-130 Petition. We thereafter submitted all the necessary paperwork to the National Visa Center which forwarded the file to the US Embassy for an immigrant visa. The same US Embassy that had denied our client’s spouse a K-1 visa now approved an immigrant visa on her behalf.

Getson & Schatz, P.C. provided immigration representation to a client whose spouse petitioned for her to obtain a green-card through their marriage. The couple married in 2005. The spouse received conditional residency status for 2 years. Although their marriage was entered in good faith, the marriage ended in divorce in 2007. Our client had previously filed Form I-751 seeking a waiver of the joint filing requirement without the assistance of an attorney but it was denied. Our client was placed into removal proceedings and she retained our services. We prepared and filed a new Form I-751 Petition to Remove the Conditions of Residence, along with an extensive evidence package that demonstrated that the marriage had been entered into in good faith. The evidence package included affidavits from the client as well as the client’s ex-husband’s family members and friends attesting to the bona fides of the marriage. We convinced family members of the client’s ex-husband to attend the proceedings. The Immigration Judge approved the renewal of our client’s I-751 waiver petition. With our help, our client obtained permanent resident status.

Our firm provided immigration representation to a client whose spouse had previously filed Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative then subsequently withdrew the petition because of marital difficulties. This resulted in our client being placed into deportation proceedings. Our client and his spouse did not divorce and reconciled their marital difficulties. Once they reconciled, we prepared and filed a second Form I-130 and accompanied our client and his spouse to their interview with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to establish the bona fides of their marriage. USCIS approved the second I-130 and we motioned to terminate our client’s removal proceedings.

Our firm represented a US Citizen client in the process of sponsoring her mother for a green card. Our client had previously applied for a green card through marriage but her prior green card application had been denied due to abandonment as her marriage was bona fide but she had separated from her husband prior to the USCIS interview and did not attend. Our client’s mother had initially entered the US as a B-2 visitor and overstayed. Although our client’s mother was out-of-status, she was eligible to apply for a green card through adjustment of status as she had entered the US lawfully and had never left the US following her initial B-2 entry. We obtained a copy of our client’s mother’s immigration file through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and when we saw that the prior green card application had been denied through abandonment we proceeded to file a new green card application on behalf of the mother with the daughter as the petitioner. USCIS approved the relative petition and our client’s mother adjusted to a permanent resident.