Case: I-130/I-485
Potential Issue: Response to Notice of Intent to Deny
Client: Kenyan
Location: Dallas, Texas
Our client entered the United States in May 2001 from Kenya with an F-1 student visa. Later, she married her U.S. citizen husband in July 2007. She retained our office on June 29, 2012 for her adjustment of status application.
Our office prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on July 9, 2012. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office thoroughly prepared our client via conference calls for their USCIS adjustment of status interview.
On September 21, 2012, Attorney Yu accompanied our client and her husband at the Dallas USCIS office for her adjustment interview. The interview was extensive, and at the end of the interview, the USCIS officer scheduled another interview for them. The officer was suspicious regarding the bona fideness of our client’s marriage.
On October 24, 2012, Attorney Yu accompanied our client and her husband again at the Dallas USCIS office her second interview. The interview took two hours and the officer thoroughly asked our client and her husband about the bona fide nature of the marriage and some martial issues that the officer had suspicions on.
On January 10, 2013, the USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID). The NOID claimed that there was substantial and probative evidence that the marital union between the Petitioner and Beneficiary is not bona fide. Moreover, the NOID points out that the submitted documentation of Petitioner and Beneficiary does not establish a continual significant combining of financial responsibility for their marriage. Lastly, the NOID claimed there were several discrepancies in their testimonies during the interviews.
In response to the USCIS’s NOID, our office helped our clients draft an extensive affidavit. Multiple supporting documents and a four-page affidavit from our client were all included as well as letters from their friends and neighbors, joint bank statements, joint insurance, utility bills, and several pictures of our client and his wife in several occasions with different people. Several legal authorities were cited based on particular issues discussed, and on February 6, 2013, we filed the Response to NOID prior to the 30-day deadline.
However, for more than a year, our client and our office never received any kind of response or a decision from the USCIS Dallas Field Office. Our client had appeared for multiple Infopass appointments at the Dallas USCIS office and our office and our client had made several USCIS customer service center inquiries since it was out of processing time.
Our office also filed a written follow-up request directly to the USCIS Dallas Field Office in May 2014.
Finally, on July 2, 2014, the USCIS approved our client’s case. Both the I-130 Petition and I-485 Green Card Application were approved. Our client is now a green card holder.