I recently accompanied a client of mine to the Immigration Court in Orlando, FL where he had his final individual hearing. The specifics of his case are that he entered on a fiancé visa and then obtained his conditional resident card. However, before he obtained his permanent resident card, otherwise known as the 10-year green card, he became separated from his U.S. citizen wife. He unfortunately did not reveal this fact to the Immigration Officer that interviewed him and his wife. So when the couple appeared for an Interview at USCIS Immigration Office and were physically separated during their interview, they provided conflicting statements. This led the Immigration Officer to deny their case. The Officer denied the permanent resident petition, finding that the couple had engaged in marriage fraud.
The client then hired my office to represent him in removal proceedings. I did not represent him until he was already placed in removal proceedings. In addition to re-filing the petition form, I accompanied him to his final hearing where he presented evidence and testimony to the Judge to show that he in fact had entered the marriage with his now ex-wife in good faith and that there was no marriage fraud.
After I completed my questioning of my client about his dating and marriage history with his now ex-wife, the government attorney then spent over one hour cross-examining my client. Some unfortunate details were revealed, like my client had a child with another woman during his marriage to his U.S. citizen sponsor.
However, in the end, the Judge granted my client’s application for a waiver in good faith and now my client will become a permanent resident of the U.S. It bears noting that we were victorious in this case because I stressed to the Immigration Judge that the standard is not whether their marriage was perfect or whether my client was a perfect husband, but rather the standard was whether the marriage was entered into in good faith at the time of their engagement and their marriage. I was able to show that my client did not have any money at that time that he could have used to bribe the U.S. citizen, nor was there any other motivation for the U.S. citizen to marry him and sponsor him, except for the hope of building a life together. My client had also taken a trip outside Jacksonville, FL with his then wife and had other proof of their bona fide marriage.
Not all cases like the one described above will have the same result, obviously, but the above case details are being provided because I know my clients and readers are interested to know about recent real-life immigration cases and their results.