Risk and reward

A few years ago, a fellow contacted me asking if I could help him in his application for naturalization which has been pending for more than a year already. We pored over his forms and documents and the problem was apparently caused by his series of arrests and convictions which led USCIS to question whether or not he possessed good moral character as a prerequisite for naturalization. After a lengthy discussion with USCIS, he eventually received an approval and subsequently took his oath of naturalization. However, going back on my initial interview with him, I discovered that his wife is undocumented and that her presence and immigration status would be disclosed in his application and interview. I warned him that there is a huge risk that she will be placed in removal proceedings if agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement discover such a fact.

True enough, what seemed to be a cause of celebration for him turned out to be stressful situation for his wife. Weeks after he became a US citizen, men knocked on their door looking for his wife. She was then served with a Notice to Appear requiring her to appear in immigration court for removal proceedings.

Defending her in immigration court was not that difficult of a task, except that we have to meet the "discretion test". While she may have met all the eligibility requirements for the relief of adjustment of status yet we still needed to convince the court that her case deserves favorable exercise of discretion.

First, she must satisfy the mandatory requirements of eligibility for adjustment of status which are:

1.) She must have legally entered the US;

2.) She must be admissible;

3.) She must have an immigrant visa immediately available which means that an LPR or US citizen relative must have previously filed a petition which is already approved and a visa is now available; 4.) She must have no other immigration violations.

In her case, she satisfied all the above mentioned requirements. She entered the US on a student visa, her now US citizen husband filed an I-130 petition for her which was pending and subsequently approved and she had no other immigration violations. We were also able to convince the judge why favorable discretion applies to her by showing her good moral character, presence of a stable and loving family, listing her involvement in her husband's business and in the community, etc.

There are two lessons we can learn from this case. One is that the substantive aspect of immigration law is the grounds of eligibility for adjustment of status. The other is that we should weigh the risk and rewards in pursuing our immigration cases. As shown in this case, the husband reaped the reward of becoming a US citizen but also took a huge risk in exposing his undocumented wife. It is best that you should be professionally guided as you think about your options.