[Please note: The Client’s name and case key details may have been altered to preserve the identity of the client. This Success Story is not intended to be an offer of service or case plan. Every case is unique. The Success Story is presented for information purposes only.]
In 2015, a woman from Mexico in her late 30’s named Delores came to the United States came to the United States on an F1 visa to complete her education at a noted college/university in Northeast Ohio.
During the process of earning her degree, Delores, an excellent student, did an internship at a prestigious firm whose owners/managers were so impressed by her performance that they decided to sponsor her for an H-1B visa; an employer-based green card; and to help her obtain legal permanent residency with the help of the Cleveland office of [nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-1″].
Our team made sure all the procedures set forth by the U.S. Department of Labor were correctly followed and by November of 2019, we were able to file an I-485 (Application for Legal Permanent Residency) on Delores’ behalf.
Needless to say, Delores was quite excited not only because she looked forward to having a green card and, later, U.S. citizenship but because she had recently re-kindled her relationship with her daughter Vivia with whom she had been estranged for the last several years.
Vivia had entered the United States on a B-2 visa which she had overstayed and, by her own admission, had misused chemical substances for an extended period. Thankfully though, with the help of counseling, Vivia was able to finally get her life together and was now working full-time and doing quite well.
Accordingly, Delores booked a meeting with the [nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-1″]. Wong team to see if there was anything that she could do to help her twenty-year old daughter obtain a green card too.
Let it be noted that at this point, since she was under age twenty-one, Vivia was still considered a “child” under the auspices of the USCIS; however, in just over a year’s time she would be twenty-one on December 28th, 2020.
To be sure, the process of a parent sponsoring a son/daughter is easier if the offspring qualifies as a “child” but if the offspring is twenty-one years old or older there certainly is a pathway but it could take years.
Due to Vivia’s age, our team reasoned that there was no way that Delores could obtain a green card in time to sponsor Vivia and complete the process before the young woman’s twenty-first birthday.
But, we also reasoned that if Delores could get her green card in time to file an I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) on behalf of her daughter before the latter turned twenty-one, we could ask that the Child Status Protection Act of 2002 be applied which would freeze Vivia’s age at twenty, but this was up to the discretion of USCIS which weighed each case individually.
As it turned out, Delores was not granted a green card until November of 2020. Nevertheless, our team had the paperwork all ready to go so we were able to file the I-130 for Vivia before her twenty-first birthday.
What will happen next is unclear but we consider this to be a success story because Vivia is a very mature young woman who is very happy and thankful that her mother is now a green card holder and has a pathway to U.S. citizenship in 2023.
As for herself, Vivia is now working with us to prepare a 601A waiver regarding overstaying her visa which is a necessary element to obtaining a green card.
No doubt, Vivia is determined to achieve legal permanent residency for herself and told us that “if it takes years, then it takes years!”
