Lourdes* was desperate to come to the United States. She was not married, did not have children, and her parents and siblings were all in America. It was just Lourdes who had been left behind in the Philippines. Her desperation only grew over the years as her parents’ health worsened and they started to need Lourdes to help take care of them.
So what did Lourdes do? She did not what so many others have done over the years – obtained a tourist visa under an assumed name so she could live in the United States.
Lourdes knew her actions were wrong, but she did it anyways because she was desperate. After arriving in the U.S., her U.S. citizen father immediately filed a petition for Lourdes so that she could be granted permanent resident status (green card). Lourdes (and her family) waited years for her green card to become available, only to eventually be told that she was barred from ever getting her green card because she had entered the U.S. under an assumed name.
Lourdes refused to give up though. She consulted Reeves Immigration Law Group (RILG) and spoke with Attorney Devin Connolly, the firm’s Managing Partner. Attorney Connolly explained to Lourdes that she could only be granted her green card if she was able to obtain a waiver of inadmissibility due to her prior fraud.
Attorney Connolly and Lourdes began proving that Lourdes’ mother and father would suffer an extreme hardship if Lourdes’ application was denied and she was forced to return to the Philippines. They prepared declarations from Lourdes and other family members, obtained medical records and doctors’ letters, and got proof of Lourdes’ good moral character.
Lourdes often became discouraged during the process because it was so hard to obtain the documents that Attorney Connolly was requesting. But Attorney Connolly encouraged Lourdes to trust the process. He told her that RILG worked on these waivers every single day, and that if she trusted what we were telling her, that she had an excellent chance of ultimately getting her green card.
Lourdes became even more worried when her father passed away right before her adjustment of status interview. However, Attorney Connolly assured Lourdes that she remained eligible despite her father’s tragic passing.
RILG is now happy to say that Lourdes has been granted her waiver and she is a proud lawful permanent resident of the U.S.! It was a long and challenging process for Lourdes. She feared deportation on a regular basis, but now her thoughts are only about someday soon becoming eligible for U.S. citizenship.
*Please note that we have referred to our client as “Lourdes” throughout this article to protect her privacy.
