Success Stories From 2022

We  assisted our client, a nonprofit religious organization, in filing a nonimmigrant religious worker (R-1) petition for a new pastor.  We received a Request for Evidence (RFE) in which USCIS questioned the petitioner's ability to compensate the beneficiary. We responded with additional documentation supporting Petitioner’s ability to pay and its nonprofit status, such as bank statements and a final determination letter granting tax-exempt status as issued by the IRS. The case was approved.
 

We assisted our client in filing an E-2 change of status application for treaty investor. USCIS issued an RFE requesting information to determine if petitioner met the general requirements for E-2 Treaty Investor, without specifying in the RFE which specific information was missing. The RFE also requested information about a prior filed EB-5 petition, and questioned whether the client was maintaining current nonimmigrant status. Because the petition submitted included a detailed support letter and ample supporting documentation, we were confident that we had provided sufficient evidence to show that our client met all E-2 requirements. We responded with evidence of our EB-5 filing, including a copy of the FedEx receipt notice indicating the package weight (over 100 lbs.) and photos of the package. The petition was approved.

We assisted our client in filing an I-129F petition to bring his fiancee to the U.S. in anticipation of their upcoming marriage in the U.S. On Form I-129F the petitioner answered “yes” to the question: “Have you ever been arrested, cited, charged, indicted, convicted, fined, or imprisoned for breaking or violating any law or ordinance in any country, excluding traffic violations (unless a traffic violation was alcohol-or drug-related or involved a fine of $500 or more)?”. We included reference to that issue in the filing. An RFE was subsequently received in which USCIS requested additional information regarding the case noted in the I-129F filing and regarding an additional misdemeanor charge.  We explained that the misdemeanor charge was mistakenly not disclosed by the applicant in the initial filing because it resulted in a fine of less than $500. He was unaware that the exclusion to the question only applies to traffic violations. In addition, we provided additional context to the violations and emphasized that the offenses occurred while the applicant was in undergraduate college, and all were ultimately dismissed. We provided all available documentation requested by USCIS including any available court records, and our client provided sworn statements in which he detailed the offenses at issue. We argued that a favorable exercise of discretion was warranted, in considering that the client has incurred no offenses since 2014 and has been an active positive contributor to society and his local community since then. The petition was subsequently approved.
 

We successfully assisted our client, a U.S. citizen,  in filing an I-129F (a K-1 Petition for Alien Fiancé(e)) for his fiancée. The petitioner and beneficiary intended to marry within 90 days of the beneficiary entering the U.S. The evidence provided to prove their intent to marry, that they had met in-person, and were engaged included, but was not limited to: affidavits, copies of photographs of the couple and their families, flight tickets, hotel reservations, screenshots of videos, zoom meetings, and text messages. The petition was approved.
 

We assisted our client, a U.S. citizen, in filing an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for his wife. Approximately 8 months after filing the petition we received notice that the case had been transferred to another USCIS service center. Three months later we received a denial notice giving the reason for denial as no record of a response to a Request for Evidence (RFE). The denial notice stated that the RFE was issued on a date that was a few weeks prior to the notice of the case transfer. We contacted USCIS and subsequently submitted an inquiry with the  USCIS Ombudsman’s Office because we had no record of the client or our law office receiving an RFE. We also filed a motion to reopen the case. The Ombudsman’s Office eventually informed us that, upon contacting USCIS on our behalf, that the case was being reopened as it appeared to USCIS that the initial RFE was never mailed. The RFE was re-ordered by USCIS and subsequently received. The passport photos requested in the RFE were provided and we requested the adjudication be expedited due to clear USCIS error. The petition was approved as was an I-485 subsequent petition for the beneficiary.