Case: I-130/I-485
Potential Issue: Response to Notice of Intent to Deny
Client: Nigerian
Location: Fairfax, VA
Our client entered the United States in May 2008 from Nigeria with a B-2 visitor visa. Later, she married her U.S. citizen husband in April 2012. She retained our office on February 12, 2013 for her adjustment of status application.
Our office prepared and filed the I-130 Petition and I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on March 15, 2013. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices, fingerprint appointment, and work permits all came on time. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our client via conference calls for their USCIS adjustment of status interview.
On June 14, 2013, our client and her husband appeared at the Fairfax, VA 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 September 5, 2013, Attorney JP Sarmiento accompanied our client and her husband again at the Fairfax, VA USCIS office her second interview. The interview took more than one hour 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 April 26, 2014, 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 bona fide nature of their marriage. Lastly, the NOID claimed that there were no third party affidavits for their marital relationship.
In response to the USCIS’s NOID, our office helped our clients draft an extensive affidavit. Multiple supporting documents and an affidavit from our client were all included as well as letters from their friends and neighbors, joint utility bills, joint insurance, 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 May 22, 2014, we filed the Response to NOID prior to the 30-day deadline.
Finally, on November 7, 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.