I-130 Approved Despite Minimal Evidence of a Relationship

• The beneficiary was born out of wedlock
• Minimal evidence of the father/son relationship between the petitioner/beneficiary
• Petitioner/beneficiary did not live together, nor share the same last name
• Wanted to create a bond with his son

BACKGROUND

Mr. Ming, a Taiwanese businessman, moved to China for work. However, he did not expect to fall in love with Ms. Chen, a Chinese woman, and they ended up having a child together. After his long work venture, it finally came time for Mr. Ming to return to Taiwan. He wanted to bring his new family with him but due to political tensions and the culturally-unorthodox circumstances of his child’s birth, Mr. Ming and Ms. Chen never married, he was unable to bring his family back with him when he left.

Thus, being a career-oriented man, Mr. Ming’s opportunities to spend quality time with his beloved son (or to be involved in his life to any degree, for that matter) were few and far between. Still, he readily jumped at every chance he got to be there for his child, even if it meant temporarily putting his business second.

Now that Mr. Ming is situated in the U.S., he was hoping to make up for the lost time and he wanted to sponsor his son’s residence in this country so they can finally have a proper chance to bond. In September of 2017, Mr. Ming submitted an I-130 application to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of his beneficiary. In July of 2018, however, he received a Request for Evidence (RFE) in proving that he has a bona fide relationship with his son. U.S. laws can be quite strict and exclusive when it comes to granting permanent residency; what little evidence of a father-son relationship that Mr. Ming could provide evidently did not satisfy USCIS’ standards, and the special circumstances (particularly: the son’s birth out of wedlock) certainly did nothing to help the situation. Mr. Ming understood that a failure to provide sufficient evidence of his involvement in his son’s life would mean the opportunities to see him would only decrease as they both became busier in their respective lives. All the same, however, he was at a loss for ideas on how to proceed. Distraught, he sought– and found– guidance, assistance, and reassurance at Tsang & Associates.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Understanding that the integrity of Mr. Ming’s family was at stake, we wanted to be as thorough as possible in our response to USCIS’s RFE. Because there was a general lack of direct, concrete proof that a strong connection existed between the petitioner and his beneficiary, our team spent several months gathering pertinent documents and reviewing their relevance in meetings with Mr. Ming. Through a series of photos (featuring Mr. Ming and his son together during various family events and trips), as well as several detailed affidavits from people who were strongly familiar with the loving bond they shared (including Ms. Chen herself), we posited that this extremely busy man had been making honest efforts and sacrifices to stay invested in his child’s life ever since he had to leave China initially. Furthermore, we submitted academic progress reports and documented conversations that Mr. Ming had with his son’s private tutors, leaving no room to doubt how sincerely invested he was in his son’s future and well-being.

OUTCOME

Despite the case looking absolutely hopeless when Mr. Ming had first come to us, our hard work paid off in the end. In December of 2018, Mr. Ming’s I-130 application was approved. In a life-changing turn of events, Mr. Ming was able to bring his son to the U.S. and finally share the quality time he had always wanted with him.