Immigration matters are often stressful and overwhelming. And unfortunately, you do not always succeed right away. Denials are sometimes part of a person’s journey towards permanent resident status (green card). These denials make the process even more stressful.
At Reeves Immigration Law Group (RILG), we believe in second chances for our clients – second chances after a prior mistake, and second chances after a denial. We recently helped a client who we will call “Daniel” to protect his privacy.
Daniel entered the United States from the Philippines close to 30 years ago. He wanted to come to the U.S. to be reunited with his father and to start a new life in America. However, he was unable to obtain a tourist visa at the U.S Embassy in Manila. So he did exactly what a lot of Filipinos have done over the years – consult a “travel agent” and fraudulently obtain a B-2 tourist visa under an assumed name. Daniel knew it was illegal, but his desire to come to the U.S. won out.
Daniel’s father was a naturalized U.S. citizen and he ultimately filed an Immigrant Visa Petition (Form I-130) for Daniel. This was done in the hopes that Daniel would someday be able to remain in the U.S. legally.
Daniel checked the Visa Bulletin on a monthly basis. He waited nearly two decades for his priority date to become current. And when Daniel was finally eligible to apply for adjustment of status, his application for a green card was denied due to the fact that he fraudulently entered the U.S. under an assumed name. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Daniel’s case due to a lack of hardship to his U.S. citizen father. Daniel thought all hope was lost.
But rather than give up, Daniel retained RILG to represent him in deportation proceedings in immigration court. Daniel was represented in immigration court by Attorney Devin Connolly, a Senior Partner with RILG and the firm’s Managing Partner. Attorney Connolly reviewed Daniel’s case in its entirety, and he told Daniel that he was extremely confident that he could win this case in immigration court. Attorney Connolly told Daniel that if they worked together and obtained all the necessary documents, that they could almost certainly prove extreme hardship to Daniel’s father’s because of his health issues, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, an injury, and other comorbidities.
Because of Attorney Connolly’s persuasive narrative and overall representation, Daniel received an I-601 waiver of inadmissibility and was granted his green card. Attorney Connolly praised Daniel for not giving up – he told him that his resilience and patience was being rewarded with a green card, and that U.S. citizenship would be possible in the near future.
