A Story of Family Unification - A Best Present for the Holiday

Our office recently won a case in immigration court after many years of representation of a client at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and the immigration court. In November 2020, the immigration judge terminated the client's removal proceeding, allowed him to retain his U.S. lawful permanent resident status, and immediately filed for U.S. citizenship.

Our client, a 48-year-old gentleman, came to the U.S. in 1987 with a tourist visa and landed in Los Angeles. He had two children born out of wedlock whom he left behind in his home country. He needed work to support himself and his children back home. He was introduced to an agency where they promised to get him a U.S. work permit if he paid them several thousand dollars. He borrowed money and unscrupulously paid them, but the work permit never came.

Our client relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in early 2000. During the period, the mother of his two children traveled to the U.S. to visit him. She gave birth to their third child after she returned to their home country. However, the relationship between him and the mother of his children became rocky due to differences in raising the kids, long separation, and financial struggles. Our client soon married a fellow countrywoman (a naturalized U.S. citizen) whom he met in the U.S. Based on the marriage, he obtained his green card (U.S. lawful permanent resident status), then brought his three minor children over to the U.S. based on his green card status. The three children are grown up now, attending colleges in the U.S., and all have become naturalized U.S. citizens.

However, the marriage did not last, and they then divorced after three years of marriage. In 2011, our client filed for citizenship application that was denied on the ground of suspicion of a fraudulent marriage. He was placed in removal proceedings in front of an immigration judge and charged deportable for misrepresentation of a material fact of his marriage. Court hearings were soon scheduled but the case was continued many times during the past ten years due to the case backlog at the San Francisco Immigration Court. Our client's hearing was once again delayed When COVID-19 hit the U.S. until early November 2020 when our office successfully obtained relief for our client from the immigration judge under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act § 237(A)(1)(H).

我們律師事務所最近在移民法庭成功打贏了一起困難的移民案件。我們代表這個客人十多年时间，案件被再三延期。直到最近，移民法官終於同意了我們提出的§ 237(A)(1)(H)豁免申請，允許客人保住綠卡，並馬上可以申請入籍。

我们的這位菲律賓籍客人在1980年末拿旅遊簽證來到美國。當時他還是单身汉，但已经有了兩個未婚生子女。两个孩子无法与他一起来，就被留在了母國。 來到美國後，為了謀生並養活兩個孩子，在洛杉矶找到了一家"律师事务所"帮他办理工卡。这家律师事务所说只要付5000美金左右就可以幫他拿工卡。客人四處借錢，終於湊夠了费用。可是付了钱之后，工卡卻一直沒有到來。

2000年初，客人從洛杉磯搬到了舊金山灣區。在這段时间，他兩個孩子的妈妈來到美國看了他一次。回國後，她生下了他們的第三個孩子。但其實兩個人的感情已經出現了問題，因為兩個人長期分居，生活上和經濟上都有很大的壓力。不久之後，客人跟一位在美國認識的同鄉女友（已入籍美國公民）結了婚。然後他通過婚姻拿到了綠卡，又把三個子女也申請到了美國。現在，三個孩子都已長大成人，並且都已成為美國公民。一個已經大學畢業，一個要參軍，還有一個在讀書。

但是，客人的這段婚姻出現了一個震惊的變化，三年左右他們離婚了。2011年，客人申請了入籍，但移民局懷疑他婚姻的真實性，拒絕了他的申請，把他的案件轉到了移民法庭，放到了遞解出境程序中。

十年中在移民法庭，我們遞交了無數的文件，多次出庭，案件被一拖再拖。終於到今天保住了客人的綠卡，他可以不必骨肉分離，又馬上可以申請入籍，漫長的移民之路終於畫上了圓滿的句號。

我們和客人都是非常的欣慰，感覺這是我們節日期間收到的最大的禮物，也讓我們對其他類似移民案件更有信心。通過這個案件，我們可以看到在移民政策超級緊張的今天，移民法官還是以家庭團聚為第一前提處理案件，因為家庭團聚是美國移民法律的基石，這一傳統的移民理念沒有動搖，還有眾多人士在繼續捍衛這一理念!