Naturalization

Our client, a native of Jamaica was a permanent resident for years before he applied for naturalization on his own. Due to a medical issue, he was unable to pass the English and History tests. At first, his family applied for his naturalization on their own before contacting our firm. Several interviews later, they contacted our firm. Our firm went to an interview only to find out that the officer was going to deny the case because the medical waiver form was not filled out incorrectly and was not detailed enough. Attorney Debbie Lee attended the first interview. Attorney Jason Lorenzon went to work with one of the medical professionals, a psychologist, who wrote a new medical waiver form. After the psychologist examined our client, Mr. Lorenzon assisted the doctor in the key words that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services were looking for. Attorney Debbie Lee attended the last interview. The N-400 application was granted and our client was scheduled to be sworn in as an American Citizen!  

Iranian national, who received his green card through our office many years ago and came back to us for U.S. citizenship application. Because of his court record, we carefully studied his documents and filed the application with great caution and also prepared the client thoroughly for the interview. The application was filed in June 2008, and client was interviewed in Nov. 2008 and the oath has been scheduled for Feb 2009. Because of our good service, client also referred one of his friends to our office for green card application and we have successfully obtained the green card for his friend last year.

One of our clients, an English national, is a legal permanent resident of the United States. He was attending school in England for the past three years. Our team went to work to ensure that he was statutorily eligible for naturalization by ensuring that he had been present at least 50% of the time during the past five years. We carefully calculated his dates and advised him when to come back into the country. Attorney Jason Lorenzon prepared the client for his interview and made sure he was ready for the tests of English and U.S. History. Attorney Danja Therecka went to the interview and it was recommended for approval by the officer.

A green card holder came to see us after he and his family applied to become U.S. citizens in 2009. They had received a Notice of Intent to Deny their naturalization, and their applications were later denied. Our client initially came to the United States as a visitor and obtained an H-1B temporary visa to work for a small woodworking business. His employer sponsored him for a green card, and his permanent residence was approved in 2001. After his naturalization application was denied, we filed an appeal with the local USCIS office. USCIS overturned the denial two months later. The entire family received their Oath Ceremony notices, and were sworn in as U.S. citizens within 3 weeks of the decision. The client and his family were very happy and impressed with our service on the case, which was handled by Attorney Margaret Wong and caseworkers Brian Marek and Alex Strmac.

Our client from Russia retained our firm to help her to file her naturalization application. We helped her prepare for her interview. Our client was extremely hard of hearing because of medical complications. We attended the interview with our client and helped facilitate the interview so that she could understand and hear the adjudicating officer's questions. She passed the English language and civics test with flying colors. We filed the application in November 2009, and her application was approved a little over two months later.

Our client applied for naturalization. However, when more than 120 days had passed since his interview, we recommended that he file a petition for hearing on his naturalization application. The petition was filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Within 60 days of filing, the naturalization application was granted. Our client is now a United States citizen. Scott Bratton and Jason Lorenzon handled the case.

A client from the Philippines, who received her green card through our office, retained us to help her with her citizenship application. We prepared the application, thoroughly prepared her for the interview, and made sure she prepared the appropriate documentation for her interview. The application was filed in June 2009, and her application was granted only three months later in September 2009.

One of our clients, a Jordanian National was a Legal permanent resident and present in the United States during the past 16 years. He had been doing some contractual work oversees due to the poor economic situation. Attorney Lori Pinjuh figured out his dates and confirmed that he meet the requirements of the physical presence (a person applying for naturalization cannot be outside of the United States for more than half of the previous 5 years unless there is an exception) and he could statutorily naturalize and become a United States Citizen. Our team filed an N-400 application last December 2008, our client had his interview in June 2009 which was attended by Attorney Jason Lorenzon. There was no decision on the case after our office made many inquiries with the USCIS starting at the end of August. After 120 days from date of the interview, we advised our client to file a mandamus action which is suing the government to ask them to take action on a case. Attorney Scott Bratton and Jason Lorenzon filed the mandamus action at the beginning of November and the case was resolved and our client received his swearing in notice for the Oath ceremony on December 31, 2009. Our client was sworn in during the first week of January 2010! Congratulations to a new USC!

One of our clients, a National of China, was a permanent resident for many years after first receiving her green card in the 1990's. Our client was accused of child endangerment and neglect and criminally charged back in 2001. Although the charges were dismissed, this information is still required to be disclosed on the N-400 application and explained to the interviewing officer. Our team, Karim Berdiev filed the application after doing a lot of research of the implications of these criminal charges. Attorney Jason Lorenzon prepped the client and attended the interview. Mr. Lorenzon encouraged our client to bring one of her children alleged to have been a victim of this child endangerment. Although the Interviewing Officer did not allow the child into the interview, the Officer was touched by our client's son's expression of concern that his parent would be naturalized without question. Our client passed the person of good moral character and the American history and English tests. Another issue was this Immigrations office's local rule of requiring 5 years of tax returns for self employed persons rather than the three years that most other offices require. The interviewing officer requested that the adjudication be continued (postponed) until the end of November to allow our client time to bring the 2004, 2005 tax returns. Attorney Jason Lorenzon asked the officer who repeatedly said no, our client will have to come back in November. Knowing the importance of Naturalization, Mr. Lorenzon begged and pleaded with the officer and then the supervisor who granted Mr. Lorenzon's request that our client be permitted to return the very next day with the required remaining two years of tax returns. Our client was issued the swearing in oath and took that important oath on October 15, 2009! The meticulous filing of Karim Berdiev and the advocacy work of Attorney Jason Lorenzon ensured that our client was sworn in October rather than the beginning of the New Year!

Our client hired us to assist him with filing his naturalization application. He was concerned because he had two prior felony convictions. We filed the application and Scott Bratton attended the interview with our client in Garden City, New York. In September 2009, we received notice that our client's case had been approved.

Our client hired Margaret Wong & Associates after his naturalization case had been pending more than one year in Los Angeles. We filed a petition for hearing on naturalization application with the United States District Court for the Central District of California. We were able to work the case out and our client's application was approved. He is now a United States citizen. Scott Bratton and Margaret Wong worked on this case.

Our client retained us to file a second naturalization application after his first application had been denied due to his criminal record. We filed the application and attended the interview with him in Cincinnati, Ohio. After waiting four months from the interview date, we still did not have a decision. We then filed a petition for hearing on naturalization application in federal court. Within 30 days of filing, we were able to get an approval of the naturalization case. Our client is now a United States citizen. Scott Bratton handled the case.

Our client retained us to assist with his naturalization application. Just prior to his interview, he was charged with a felony offense but had it reduced to a misdemeanor and entered a no contest plea. After the interview, USCIS did not adjudicate the naturalization application for a long time so we filed a motion in federal court seeking to expedite the naturalization case. The federal judge issued an order and requested USCIS to expedite the processing of the case. We were able to successfully work through a background check issue and some other issues with USCIS. Our client was then given a second interview. Approximately two weeks after the second interview, he received his oath notice. In September 2009, our client was sworn in as a United States citizen. He will now be able to petition for his wife to become a lawful permanent resident. Scott Bratton handled the case.

Our client hired us to assist with her naturalization case in New York. After an interview on her application, the case was granted. Scott Bratton represent our client.

N-400: naturalization case: African national, we filed the N-400 in March 2006 and made numerous follow ups with USCIS and finally the client was interviewed in June 2008 and after more follow ups and inquiries, the case was approved in April 2009.

Our client, a native of Mexico, came to our office after his N-400 application was denied in 2008 due to a lack of good moral character based on a nine year outstanding warrant related to a 1996 charge for forgery (client later pled guilty in 2005 to attempted forgery). Our office filed an appeal of this denial as our office, through researching the court records, was able to determine that our client's failure to appear in court was not of his own wrongdoing, but rather due to improper service of the warrant, thereby, never having properly placed our client on notice of the pending criminal matter. Our office argued further that, although the conviction was in 2005, the actual criminal conduct underlying the conviction preceeded the five year statutory provision related to examination of good moral character. Our client's N-400 application was subsequently approved based on the appeal and our client will be scheduled for an Oath Ceremony for citizenship in the next few weeks. Troy Murphy handled this matter for our office.

A client from the United Kingdom came to our office to help him to file for citizenship. The client received his permanent resident card more than twenty years ago through marriage to a U.S. citizen spouse. We filed the application in August 2008 and received an approval in November 2008.

Our client was denied naturalization because he allegedly assisted someone to illegally enter the United States. We filed an N-336 that was also denied. Subsequently, we filed a Petition for Hearing on Naturalization Application in federal court and another N-400. Our client appeared with Scott Bratton at the naturalization interview. In October 2008, the naturalization application was approved. Our attorneys Scott Bratton and Debbie Lee worked on the case.

Our client, a mother, had been separated from her son for more than 7 years. The mom is a US Citizen who first came to the United States in the mid-nineties. Her son came to the United States on a B-2 visa around 2001. They initially settled in San Francisco and went through a lot of lawyers over the next 5 years. No one would take their case for several reasons. One lawyer who took their case withdrew the green card application of the son before the interview. When we were retained, we took the case in 2007 and in less than 6 months, the son became a permanent resident. We then proceeded to do his N-600 and in 2 months, he became a citizen. A young child who has been out of status for more than 5 years, became a US Citizen. The mother at the N-600 interview was in tears as her child was given a small American flag and a citizenship certification. As she said, since she entered the country, all she was thinking of was her son. Now he is a United States Citizen.

A mother and daughter, each with a related theft conviction, retained our office to assist them with their Applications for Naturalization. Our firm was successful in vacating each client's theft conviction and each client later pled only to a charge of disorderly conduct. Subsequent to that, both mother and daughter filed their Applications for Naturalization and both have had their applications approved. Troy Murphy handled the criminal and immigration matters for both of these cases.

We helped a Nigerian architect and his wife become US citizens. We have known them for a long time, since we helped him with his previous immigration matters through the years. After a divorce he left USA and went back to his country. Some time later he returned to work under an H1B visa, and met another woman. They fell deeply in love and got married in 1996. We helped him obtain an Immigrant Work Visa in 2000, since the employer was willing to sponsor him. After the approval, we helped both him and his wife get their green cards, and they became legal permanent residents in May 2002. By the end of 2007 they retained us to file for their Naturalization. However USCIS lost the petition for a while and we had to keep doing follow-ups and complaining. Soon after we scheduled an Infopass appointment, we got the receipt notices for the case. Later they had their fingerprints taken and were scheduled for their interview, which took place in August 2008. We prepared them for the interview, and were happy to hear they had been approved right there. Their Oath will be taken very soon, and they will become proud American Citizens. Our attorney, Lori Pinjuh, worked for this case and all their immigration cases through the years.

This is about a Mexican man who was already a legal permanent resident (Green card holder) of U.S since 1997. He decided to hire our services for N-400 (Naturalization to become a citzen). The application for N-400 and I-90 (Application to replace permanent resident card) were filed in September 2007. He was scheduled for his biometrics in October 2007. Since the client had some charges against him, we had to prepare him well for the interview, which was scheduled in April 2008. In April the interview went well but the officer took a little longer to give the final decision on N-400 because of our client's past arrest at one point. They wanted to make sure that he was not a bad element, and in the end they saw there was no reason to reject him as a prospective citizen. We were happy when we got the favorable decision and our client was really excited. He attended the oath ceremony in May 2008, and today he is a citizen of U.S. The case was well handled by Mr. Ding Reyes.

Our client from Lithuania had been a permanent resident since 2001, when our firm helped him end his removal proceedings (deportation) and obtain his green card. He wanted to file for his Naturalization, but he was worried because not only had he been in jail with removal proceedings but had also been charged with a traffic (speed) violation. We completed evidence of his past records before filing for his N-400 (Naturalization Petition) in November 2007. The evidence showed his removal proceedings had ended with adjustment of status to permanent resident in 2001, and also that the traffic violation ended with payment of fine and costs. The case continued normal procedure. Later, our client missed his fingerprint appointment because he had a trip scheduled to his home country. We rescheduled his fingerprint check and it took place at the end of January 2007. After this, we continued follow up but USCIS did not schedule an interview because they had a backlog and it slowed all processing times for naturalization. We had to do an inquiry in October 2007 and continued follow up until he was scheduled for an interview to take place in mid February 2008. We prepared him and his wife for the interview, which went very well and he had his Oath Ceremony in the first days of April 2008. He wants to retain us to file an immigrant petition for his father as soon as possible.

In October 2007 we filed an N-400 (Naturalization Petition) for an Indian physician. He had been charged with a crime years ago and was afraid that it would make USCIS deny his petition. Before filing we gathered all evidence that showed how he had been declared Not Guilty and the case was closed. He was scheduled for fingerprints one month later and his interview took place in January 2008. We prepared him for the interview and his Naturalization was approved. His Oath Ceremony took place one month after the interview and he became a US citizen.

A Philippine family hired us once again, this time to represent the parents for naturalization (N-400). Their biggest concern was they were once denied extension of their visitor's visa when they first entered the country in 2000. We reviewed all possible immigration issues to address their concern as we prepared them for interview. The applications were approved and the Oath Ceremony for both was done in four months. We have handled all immigration matters for this family since 1998 up to the present (11 years) and have assisted all family members and dependents to successfully immigrate to the United States. Incidentally, they are a family of medical doctors and nurses rendering valuable contribution to the healthcare services in the US.

Our client contacted us because her naturalization application was being delayed in Georgia. We recommended filing a Petition for Hearing on Naturalization application in federal court in Georgia. Our client agreed and we filed the case. A short time later, our client was requested to appear at a second interview. We were also informed that the background checks had been completed a couple weeks after we filed the lawsuit. After the interview, we were informed that the N-400 had been approved. Scott Bratton handled the case. Debbie Lee went to the second naturalization interview in March 2008.

Our client, a sixteen year old boy, was born in Venezuela to an American basketball player, playing in Venezuela at that time, and a Peruvian citizen. In 1992, the young child and his mother arrived in the United States through a visitor's visa, which expired later. They lived out of status for many years. The mother, who was raising the child by herself, wanted to give the best to her son. Being a U.S. Citizen would help the young child, as his mom would obtain the benefits of putting her son through college at a much lower tuition. When we were retained, it was hard to communicate with the citizen father, who had been in San Francisco for quite a while. Through research and consistent communication with the father, we finally had enough documents to file an N-600 (Application to U.S. citizenship by birth to a U.S. citizen parent outside the United States, and out of wedlock). We were able to obtain documents from the US citizen father as far back as the seventies to show the appropriate residential requirements for alien's eligibility for citizenship. Our attorneys then prepared the young child, and encouraged his father to come from San Francisco to attend the interview, convincing him that this is for his child's future. The interview lasted less than 10 minutes and the young child was immediately issued his naturalization certificate. He is now a US Citizen on his senior year in high school, and on his way to a very good US College.

A Peruvian engineer came to see us in mid April 2007. He had been a resident since 1995, and in 2003 he had filed for Naturalization with another lawyer. He had been denied citizenship for "poor moral character". Turns out he had had minor offenses (mostly related to traffic) in the five-year period before his petition. Because these represented minor offenses, he had almost forgotten them and had filed his papers stating that he had not committed any offense. Apparently his lawyer had not checked or asked about his criminal offense record. We started his case gathering background checks, certified copies of his cases in County Clerks and making sure that for every offense we demonstrated how they had ended with just a fine. We filed his papers at the end of April 2007. He got his Fingerprint appointment on May, and his initial interview scheduled for November. We were required to present more copies and information about the cases and finally our client received a notice that he was approved and was asked to go to his Naturalization Oath Ceremony on February 2008.

N-600 Certificate of citizenship: German national who immigrated to the U.S. with parents when he was a baby. Almost 60 years later, when he had a need to travel out of U.S., he realized that he has neither a German Passport nor a U.S. passport and has lost his green card, copy of his parents' original passport which also carried his name and info, and his A #. He did not even know what was the name his parents used for him on his green card. He tried to apply for a U.S. passport, and tried to get help from senators but the Passport office could not find any information about either his original name nor his A#. Based on his story and our research, our office decided to file N-600 Certificate of Citizenship because we believed he became an U.S. citizen when his parents became naturalized. We worked with the client and put together a package with all the clues we could get and presented our case to the CIS. Our work helped the CIS to trace client's old family files and finally in Nov, 2007, issued our client the certificate of citizenship.

Client retained our firm to file N-400 (Application for Naturalization). In relation to the major issue of "good moral character", our client was charged and found guilty in 2000 of DUI. His driver's license was suspended for 6 months. He was also charged with speeding and possession of drugs in 2004, but, both charges were dismissed. He also failed to register for Selective Service System, the registration being mandatory for permanent residents between the ages of 18-26. With our legal representation to deal with these 2 major issues, the case however was obviously approved expeditiously within 8 months from filing. He is now a naturalized citizen.

Pakistan physician had held his green card gained through employment for 5 years as of 2006. We therefore were hired to assist him in applying for US citizenship. Our attorney was present at interview which was scheduled to take place in June 2007. Approval for naturalization application was recommended and today we have just received client's oath ceremony notification. Congratulations to our client who has finally realized his dream of becoming a proud US citizen.

Egyptian wife received her green card through marriage to her US citizen husband. Later she wished to change her single name to her married name, so we filed I-90 on her behalf. Before I-90 was approved, however, it was time for her to apply for US citizenship. We therefore also filed N-400. Three months after N-400 application was filed, she was notified to appeal for initial interview and later was called in for oath ceremony to become a proud citizen of the United States.

Brazilian client was issued a Notice to Appear and placed in deportation proceedings after the Service discovered he was convicted of multiple criminal convictions amounting to the classification of aggravated felonies. Client then filed for naturalization form N-400. The Serviced denied the application. An appeal was filed but denied. Our attorneys filed Motion to Reopen and Reconsider the district director’s decision denying the applicant’s request for a Hearing. After careful considerations of all factors, the Service determined the Request for a Hearing was denied in error and reopened and approved client’s N-400 application. An oath ceremony notice promptly followed and our attorney will accompany the client in his swearing-in ceremony in May.

After our Jamaican client obtained her lawful permanent resident status, she was arrested for violation of law and was ordered removed. We filed BIA Brief and caused the removal proceedings to be terminated. Although she did file I-751, it had been pending for a long time and she lost track of her case status. We advised client to file for naturalization although I-751 was pending. We have by now received her N-400 interview notice which has been scheduled for April 2007. Congratulations to our client who is not only out of deportation proceedings but also becoming a United States citizen.

When our client retained our office, he had convictions for trespassing and driving under the influence of alcohol.  Our office prepared our client’s Application for Naturalization and attended our client’s Naturalization interview.  Upon completion of the interview, our client’s Application for Naturalization was approved.  Our client has subsequently attended his Oath Ceremony and is now a United States citizen.  Troy Murphy represented our client in these proceedings.

A Portuguese national who has lived in theUnited States and been a legal permanent resident since 1980 had our firm file for naturalization in September 2006.  This client retained our firm since a family member filed for citizenship and it took well over 12 months from filing to approval.  This is very common experience among legal permanent residents who filed in the 1980’s.  Our client was approved for citizenship in December 2006 and will be sworn in as a USC in January 2007!  Less than 5 months from filing to USC!!!

Our client retained our firm to file a federal lawsuit against CIS since her naturalization application had been pending over two years.  We filed a Complaint in US District Court in Clevelanddemanding that the Court compel CIS to grant the naturalization application.  Our Complaint was successful in expediting the case.  In January 2007, our client naturalized.  Scott Bratton handled the case for Margaret Wong & Associates.