I-485 For Couple Lacking Traditional Marriage Evidence

• Proving our client is eligible for his green card through marriage, not through DACA
• Showing evidence of a legitimate marriage given the lack of traditional signposts for our client
• They had no children together

BACKGROUND

Immigration law, regulations, and stipulations can be strange, confusing, unique, and downright difficult to decipher, even for the people for whom they matter most. And it can even be confusing, as this case showed us, for lawyers not fully versed in immigration law. This is the case of Mr. Diaz, but it is certainly not unique to him.

Mr. Diaz came to this country when he was four years old. Just old enough to have some memories from his native Mexico, but certainly not old enough to have established any real connections there, other than any family left over in the region. When Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was signed by President Obama in 2012, Mr. Diaz applied for and was granted admission into the program. He went on to attend college and then obtained a law degree. Like many in the DACA program, he was surprised that DACA did not actually provide him any avenue into receiving his green card. Much of the confusion comes from the fact that DACA recipients are often called “dreamers,” which is a reference to a mid 2000’s bill that would have granted some legal status to students that had largely been raised in the United States. That bill was never passed, which is why President Obama was forced to sign DACA as an executive branch memorandum rather than as a bill of law. DACA was only designed to defer deportation action for immigrants without felonies or serious misdemeanors and grant them work permits. Because of the work permits and because the term “dreamers” is confusing to many, many who receive DACA benefits believe they will eventually be able to apply for their green cards using their DACA status. Mr. Diaz was one of those people, despite having a better grasp of U.S. law than most.

This, of course, is not correct. However Mr. Diaz did not only find a career here in the United States, he also found love. He married Mrs. Diaz, a United States citizen. Marriage to a U.S. citizen is often enough of a reason to apply for an I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. DACA recipients who marry U.S. Citizens are often excellent candidates for an I-485, even if they don’t have all of the usual signposts that United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) generally looks for when looking at green card marriages. Mr. Diaz and his wife had no children. They had recently gotten married and recently moved in together. They had been dating for years, but they lacked a lot of the traditional markers USCIS looks for when determining the legitimacy of a marriage. And the process of going into an interview for a green card through marriage is an intimidating one for many people. Interviews can last for hours upon hours, spouses can be separated to ensure they’re telling the same story, and you can be sent home with no real idea if your endeavors were at all successful. This couple needed a knowledgeable law firm to help them out in this situation and this was when they contacted Tsang & Associates.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

This is often not the case for our clients. Because we specialize in doing a lot of preparatory work for these sorts of interviews, because we gather lots of documentation that we know the Immigration Officers will be looking for or consider strong evidence for a legitimate marriage, we are able to provide smooth, quick, and easy experiences for our clients. Mr. Diaz and his wife were extremely prepared for their interview. We gave them ‘homework’ in that we provided them customized checklists to ensure they would gather all the things USCIS would look for. We gave them questionnaires to ensure that they would be prepared to answer various questions that always come up in the interview, and we generally ensured that they were informed of the process and would not be surprised on the day of the interview. The vast majority of our clients going for green cards through marriage find that their interviews range in terms of minutes, not hours, and that they will generally be approved the same day.

“I have a lot of clients who are super young. They barely have assets or don’t have assets at all. So sometimes I have to think outside of the box. How do I prove their marriage is legitimate despite them not having all these traditional things to show USCIS? They both had a lot of documents, they were both professionals. They knew each other for a while; it wasn’t hard to pull together a lot of really good evidence. We really get to know our clients, we sit down, we understand their cases, and we let them know everything is going to be okay.” – Gabriela Banuelos, Account Manager

OUTCOME

This was the case for Mr. Diaz and his wife. Their petition was approved the same day after a quick and tidy interview. Mr. Diaz now has his green card and is set with permanent residence status and is free to continue his promising career here in the United States. Additionally, our office is currently helping Mr. Diaz in the process of becoming a U.S Citizen.