Marriage Visa and Adjustment of Status

Mooradian's client, a young man and father from Africa, recently received his green card based on his marriage to a United States Citizen.  The client was concerned about the interview process because a previous spouse had filed a petition for him several years prior to this marital petition, and that petition was denied. When a beneficiary has a previous adjustment of status petition that has been denied by USCIS, the beneficiary must proceed with significant caution.  First, the beneficiary might have been referred to EOIR for possible removal by an Immigration Judge.  Second, if that did not occur, the beneficiary might have been found inadmissible or been found to have committed a fraud.

If a beneficiary has been found to have previously commit marriage fraud, a waiver is nearly impossible to obtain. A fraud finding, called an INA 204(c) finding, is very difficult to overcome because the agency would have found willful misrepresentations that undermine the integrity of the immigration system.

‍

Given the beneficiary's previous denial, Mooradian obtained a FOIA of the entire A file. He reviewed all previous documents in the agency's possession, a large portion of the agency's interview notes, and all decisions and requests for evidence for the beneficiary's previous case. Fortunately, the agency had not made a fraud finding in the past, but rather had found that the beneficiary had not met his burden of showing a bona fide relationship in the previous case.  Mooradian advised the client that his credibility would be in question during a subsequent interview, but given that his new marriage (and relationship to his young USC child) were bona fide, he had a path forward.

After a careful review of all derogatory information in the file, Mooradian submitted extensive evidence of the new relationship. Through proper preparation for a new interview, including extensive evidence submissions, the marriage visa petition, as well as the Lawful Permanent Resident status, were approved.

‍