Many people immigrate to the United States out of desperation. They are in search of a new, better life because they are often trying to escape poor circumstances in their home country. In this desperation, migrants sometimes make very costly mistakes with serious consequences. These mistakes may include committing fraud or submitting falsified documents in connection with their application for a visa.
The above is exactly what happened with our client, who we will refer to “Diana” to protect her privacy. Fortunately, we were able to help Diana overcome her prior fraud and she is now a proud lawful permanent resident of the U.S. after adjusting her status.
Diana was born in the Philippines. By the early 1980s she was an adult, and she was alone and desperate to reunite with her family who had all immigrated to the U.S. Because of her desperation, Diana hired an agency to help her obtain a U.S. visa. This agency ultimately provided Diana with a visa, but it was under a different name, and it also mispresented Diana’s marital status. Diana was single but the visa alleged that she was married.
Out of her eagerness to finally see her family again, Diana overlooked the fraud, paid a large fee for the paperwork, and entered the U.S. Diana reunited with her loved ones and was very glad to enter the country. But she always longed for the chance to get a green card!
A few years after entering the U.S., Diana found love and married a U.S. citizen. She was happily married, but she was petrified to ever seek any immigration benefits because of the lies she told when she originally entered the U.S. She was terrified of being deported and having to give up the life she had built for herself in this country. The risk of losing her life and family, which had been several decades in the making, riddled Diana with fear.
However, Diana never gave up on her dream of getting a green card. One day she finally decided to schedule a consultation at RILG. She met with Attorney Flomy Diza, who is an excellent attorney and one of the partners of RILG. Attorney Diza told Diana that RILG had represented hundreds of clients over the years who had committed fraud. He told Diana that he was understanding and sympathetic to the desperate measures that she took to leave the Philippines, and that he believed he could help her.
Attorney Diza told Diana that she was eligible for a waiver of inadmissibility under Section 212(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This waiver would allow Diana to adjust her status based on the extreme hardship that her U.S. citizen spouse would suffer if she was forced to return to the Philippines.
Attorney Diza carefully constructed Diana’s case and presented every possible hardship so that Diana’s prior wrongdoings were forgiven. As a result, Diana’s requested waiver was approved, and after decades of waiting, she finally got her green card!
