Paternity Questioned in IR-2 Application

Year: 2018
Applicant: Mr. Zhang (U.S. citizen)
Beneficiary: Mr. Zhang’s son Ah Hui (Chinese citizen)
Case: I-130 Immigrant Relative Petition (IR-2)
timeline:
2017/11 Filing I-130 Immigrant Relative Petition (IR-2) Data
2018/04 Received a Remediation Notice (RFE) from USCIS
2018/07 Submission of additional explanatory letter and supporting materials
2018/08 Notification of approval received

BACKGROUND
– Mr. Zhang was busy with his overseas business and divorced his ex-wife when Hui was very young, so he seldom came back to China to spend time with his son.
– Because of the poor relationship with his ex-wife, Fai has never visited his father in the United States, and there is no correspondence between father and son (Email, WeChat records, etc.)
– I-130 petition submitted with DNA test report, but USCIS still asked for a replacement (RFE)
– Mr. Zhang does not have any bank account, property or other documents in China that can prove his family life

Mr. Zhang went abroad to do business before Hui was born, and as his career flourished, Mr. Zhang became busier and busier with his business overseas, and with his talents, he came to the United States and naturalized as a citizen after getting a U.S. work visa and a green card. However, the success in his career came at the cost of estranged family relationships. Since Hui’s birth, Mr. Zhang has not been able to be with his son, and only finds time to come home a few times a year during his busy schedule. After Hui’s mother divorced for this reason, the father and son had very little contact with each other. In recent years, Mr. Zhang, who has a stable career and is getting older, became more and more concerned about his son in China, so he decided to apply for immigration for him to make up for the lack of fatherly love over the years. After many discussions with Hui’s mother, she finally agreed with Mr. Zhang to immigrate for him for the sake of Hui’s future education and development.

In September 2017, Mr. Zhang appointed Tsang & Associates to handle his I-130 Immigrant Relative Petition (IR-2), which was submitted to the USCIS in November, and unexpectedly received an RFE in April 2018 requesting additional proof of paternity. Despite the submission of the birth certificate and the DNA test report of both father and son, USCIS still determined that the father and son were not close enough to warrant approval of the petition and asked us to further confirm paternity. Mr. Zhang did not expect that with the birth certificate and DNA test report, the INS would still question the paternity. After carefully analyzing the RFE, Mr. Zang’s team concluded that the case could be finally approved by submitting additional documents.

KEYS TO SUCCESS
The following items were requested in the notice of replacement issued by the USCIS.
1. proof of financial support for the son
2. Individual tax form including son’s name
3. Family insurance including son’s name
4. official school records, which can be used to prove paternity
5. Correspondence between father and son
6. Affidavit of acquaintance

In response to the first request, Tsang & Associates provided specific bank account information showing that Mr. Zhang had been regularly remitting tuition and living expenses to Ah Hui and had never stopped supporting him financially. In addition, we also mentioned that the property where Ah Hui and his mother now live was purchased in full by Mr. Zhang before the divorce, and he still chose to transfer the title to Ah Hui’s name even after the divorce.

In response to the second and third requirements, Mr. Zhang paid his annual taxes and had his own insurance, but neither of them included Hui’s name. Tsang & Associates then cleverly changed its thinking and argued that it would be unreasonable for Mr. Zhang to submit a tax return that included his son’s name, given that the father and son had lived separately in China and the United States for a long time and that Hui had been living with his mother since the divorce. Mr. Zhang further pointed out that if the son did not live in the U.S. and did not even have a green card, it was obviously useless and illogical to include him in the U.S. family insurance.

In response to the fourth request, Tsang & Associates assisted in the translation and submission of Hui’s teacher evaluation records for two consecutive school years, which included not only his teacher’s comments, but also Mr. Zhang’s own parental feedback messages. This shows that although Mr. Zhang has been away for a long time, he has been paying attention to his son’s academic growth and has not left him unattended.

In response to the fifth request, Mr. Zhang did have difficulty identifying correspondence (Email or WeChat records, etc.) with his son due to his poor relationship with his ex-wife, and he was concerned about this. So we presented his travel records between China and the U.S. for five years as evidence that he continues to visit his son regularly in China every year. We also gave Mr. Zhang a special explanation to dispel the doubts of the USCIS: although electronic technology is developing rapidly nowadays, he still prefers to communicate with his son in person and try to be with him, not just through a cold electronic screen.

In response to this last request, we translated and submitted six affidavits from acquaintances and tied the contents to the additional documents provided to confirm that the relationship between Mr. Zhang and Fai was not as unrelated as the INS had originally assumed. Mr. Zhang has been on the road for a long time, but has never treated Hui financially, and has tried to make time to travel between China and the United States to visit his son and care for his studies. Now Mr. Zhang is sincerely self-reflecting and hopes to spend more time with Fai to make up for and repair the father-son relationship between them.

OUTCOME
With such strong arguments, Mr. Zhang’s application was approved 2 weeks after it was submitted to the immigration office. Mr. Zhang was overjoyed to receive the good news that his father and son would soon be reunited across the ocean after years of separation. Mr. Zhang was very excited and thanked Tsang & Associates for their help, saying that without our professional legal strategy, his case would not have been successful. The law firm team is also very happy for him and sincerely wishes that Hui will be able to pursue his studies in the U.S. and to resolve his past relationship with his father.

Lawyer Comments:
Mr. Zhang’s case is indeed rare, but it is also obvious that the I-130 relative immigration, which used to be relatively lenient, has become more and more strict with the policy. Relative immigrants carry the hopes and dreams of many people, family reunion, children’s education, etc., and are of great significance to the families who apply. Tsang & Associates is proud to be the facilitator of Mr. Zhang’s reunion with Ah Hui, and we would like to do more to help people on their immigration journey to realize their dreams. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tsang & Associates.

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FAQ: Relative Immigration(I)
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FAQ: Relative Immigration(III)

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