One of the most common ways that a person is granted lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. (green card) is through a family-based petition. The petition is more formally referred to as an “I-130, Petition for Alien Relative.” There are multiple family relationships that allow for a petition to be approved. However, even if the required family relationship exists, there are reasons why U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services might still deny the petition.
This is the story of a recent client of Reeves Immigration Law Group and her difficulty surrounding what she thought was going to be an easy case. We will refer to our client as “Jane” to protect her privacy. Jane was born and raised in China. She dreamed of one day moving to the United States and obtaining her green card so that she could be reunited with her family.
Jane’s mother had already immigrated to the U.S., but unfortunately, Jane was not allowed to enter the U.S. with her mother. Jane’s mother therefore filed an I-130 petition for Jane, and they both patiently waited for Jane’s green card to become available. They checked the visa bulletin on a regular basis.
As the years passed, Jane fell in love and got married. She had no idea that this marriage would cause her so many problems. USCIS claimed that Jane’s marriage was fraudulent and that she only got married for immigration purposes so she could get a green card. And to make matters worse, USCIS revoked the petition from Jane’s mom that had been approved years earlier.
Jane and her mom were devastated. They knew that Jane had not done anything wrong, but they also knew that Jane’s chances of ever being granted permanent resident status were now in serious jeopardy. They consulted with Reeves Immigration Law Group and their case was assigned to Attorney Theresa Calimag.
Attorney Calimag timely appealed this decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. She argued that Jane absolutely did not enter into a fraudulent marriage and that USCIS erred in revoking the approval of Jane’s mother’s petition.
The appeal took several years, as the Board of Immigration Appeals weighed all the evidence and legal arguments in the case. RILG is now happy to say that the appeal was successful and that the I-130 petition was reinstated! Jane is now, once again, on her way to getting a green card!
