Approved I-485 After Missing Initial Interview with USCIS

• This is Mr. Lu’s fourth marriage which will make the USCIS immediately suspicious of him
• They missed their first interview because they were in Taiwan and due to an error at the USCIS, Mrs. Tsai’s application was denied because of it
• Mr. Lu does not have enough money to support Mrs. Tsai by himself, so his oldest son is applying as a second sponsor

BACKGROUND

Mr. Lu and Mrs. Tsai have been around the block a few times. They aren’t fazed by life’s twists and turns like they used to be. When they met through some friends in Taiwan, Mr. Lu was quick to invite her back home with him to California. Even at age 60, Mr. Lu and Mrs. Tsai were like teenagers again, exploring the U.S. and quickly falling in love. Mr. Lu didn’t want her to go home, so when they took a trip to Las Vegas, he proposed and in a spontaneous moment of passion, they were married by a guy dressed as Elvis.

They had both been married before, for Mr. Lu, this was his fourth marriage and while the spark of love wasn’t any less bright, their desire for pomp and spectacle was all but gone. They only wanted to be together, to enter into their twilight years hand in hand.

Getting married doesn’t guarantee an American Visa though and for Mr. Lu, he had his work cut out for him. He had applied for Visas before, being originally from Taiwan, but this time he could face scrutiny the likes of which he’d never seen before. Applying for a visa for a fourth marriage looks a little suspicious to USCIS. They’d wonder what happened to the other wives and how this one would be different.

Worse yet, as part of the 485 Petition, Mr. Lu would need to financially sponsor Mrs. Tsai, but Mr. Lu barely had any money to his name. Not nearly enough to sponsor her immigration. So, Mr. Lu asked one of the few people he trusted with his life; his son. At age 30, his son was saving up some money and although he wasn’t “rich” by any stretch of the word, he would do just about anything to make his father happy.

When Mr. Lu came to us, we agreed to help prepare him for all possible eventualities and do our best to get his wife into the country. We could tell how much he wanted his new wife to stay with him here in America. We discussed, we planned and, on his behalf, we applied for her visa.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Some months after we applied, we received a notification that the USCIS wanted to interview Mr. Lu and Mrs. Tsai in California for her visa, but Mr. Lu and Mrs. Tsai were both in Taiwan visiting family. We notified both and then notified the USCIS, asking them to reschedule the appointment after their return to the U.S.

This request was somehow lost in the USCIS’s bureaucracy. They did not change their appointment, they did not cancel their appointment and when the time came for their interview, they rejected Mrs. Tsai’s visa. We can tell how heartbroken they were realizing that they may have to separate.

However, we are no stranger to the, shall we say, “complications” of the USCIS. We kept detailed records of our notifications, a paper trail of our letters sent to them and dated dictations of our calls with them. We notified them of their mistake and asked that we simply reschedule the interview which they eventually conceded to.

From here, it was all about preparing them for the interview, collecting all of their joint documents and making sure that they were ready for every probable question presented to them. We sat with them, ran through practice interviews, prepared a list of any and all possible questions and when they were ready, we sent them off to the interview that would decide the fate of their relationship.

OUTCOME

Mrs. Tsai was approved on the spot. It was clear to the officer interviewing them that they had tons in common and were spending all of their time together. They traveled together, they lived together, they spoke on the phone when they couldn’t be together. Their lives were joined as one and that’s exactly what the USCIS wants to see. Now, they are living out their twilight years together in sunny California, comfortable and secure in the new life they have with each other. They couldn’t be more grateful to have been represented by such an experienced law firm.