After many years of practicing immigration law, our firm is pleased to have been able to help many foreign nationals to obtain U.S. visas and green cards. In fact, many of them have already become U.S. citizens. However, there is a small group of individuals that came to us too late, after they had received incorrect advice or submitted questionable applications with the U.S. government. We were able to help some of them to turn around the situation, but for some others their cases were just too “ruined” to be saved.
So, what is the root cause of these difficult cases? The most common reason is that the individual has submitted previous applications that contain incorrect or fraudulent information. Incorrect or untruthful information would stay in the person's record forever, destroying her credibility in future applications. The following are some common examples:
1) Baseless Asylum Application: Ms. X came to the U.S. 10 years ago with a tourist visa. After arrival, she wanted to work, but she didn't have work authorization. A friend introduced her to a "notary" in her community. This notary advised Ms. X that he could get her a "work permit" by filing an application with the U.S. Immigration Services but it would cost her a large sum of fees. Ms. X agreed and paid the fees and also signed some documents that she didn't understand. Several months later, she did get an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and began working in the U.S. The EAD was only valid for one year, but she continued working in the U.S. for a few more years. Then she met Mr. Right and fell in love with him. After their marriage, Mr. Right, a U.S. citizen, decided to petition Ms. X for immigration by submitting some applications with USCIS. To their surprise, some ICE officers visited them one day to arrest Ms. X for deportation. They then hire an experienced immigration lawyer, who explained to them that there was a deportation order against Ms. X. The notary who helped her get her EAD submitted a fraudulent asylum application on her behalf. When Ms. X failed to show up for her hearings, the Immigration Court entered a deportation order against her without her knowledge.
2) Lying About Marital Status: Mr. Y is a U.S. legal resident. He filed a visa petition for his son Yang in China under the Family 2B Preference Category. Yang was single at the time. While the case was pending, Yang married his lover Fang in China without telling his father. A few years later, when visa numbers became available, the Guangzhou American Embassy notified Yang to appear for an interview. Yang put down "unmarried" as his marital status in the DS-260 Immigrant Visa Application. When asked by the visa officer, Yang also confirmed that he was single at the time. After immigrating to the U.S., Yang missed Fang and decided to file a petition for her. However, his petition was not approved because USCIS discovered that he was already married when he was issued an immigrant visa. Further, the U.S. government initiated legal proceedings to take away Yang's own green card.
3) False Information in Visa Application: Ms. Z met a nice gentleman Prince Charming online who lived in America. She wanted to obtain a B1 tourist visa to visit him. However, being a young and single female, she believed her chances of getting a visa were small. Hence, she solicited the help of Mr. Sly, an “immigration consultant”, in her country. Mr. Sly advised her to pretend that she was married, as having a spouse would show that she was unlikely to stay in America. Ms. Z followed the advised and was able to get a visa. After coming to the U.S., she decided to marry Price Charming and live happily ever after. However, when she applied for a green card, USCIS asked her to provide proof of termination of her first marriage. Of course, she was not able to. Either she had to admit that she was lying before, or she had to create a phantom ex-husband. Her application was ultimately denied.
The above are just some examples of how foreign nationals get into trouble by following the advice of unscrupulous individuals. Sometimes we were able to help clients save their case, but not other times. Hence, as we advise our clients, it is extremely important to do it right the first time. Unfortunately, immigration fraud is prevalent nowadays as immigrants, especially the illegal ones, are easy preys for scammers. They tend to trust the individuals in their community who speak the same language, without verifying the information. A final tip - make sure you understand the contents of any documents before signing them.
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