Granted I-601 Waiver For Inadmissibility Due to Unlawful Presence

Yesterday, our office received the decision from the Manila, Philippines USCIS Officer granting our client her I-601 Waiver Application. She was the beneficiary of an immigrant visa filed by her U.S. citizen husband, but the consular officer determined that she was inadmissible due to an unlawful presence in the U.S., INA § 212(a)(9)(B).

Her USC husband previously hired another attorney to prepare and file the initial I-601 Waiver application. The application was denied and the other attorney missed the 30 day filing deadline for the I-290B appeal.

The USC husband came into our office shortly after the decision became final and our office took over the case. The first thing we did is to talk with his treating psychologist and ask him for a clinical evaluation. After receiving the report, we immediately recognized that the language and diagnosis was insufficient for the necessary showing of extreme hardship for the waiver. We suggested that he see another psychologist that we have worked with in the past who was better able to diagnose and detail the suffering he was experiencing due to the forced separation.

Our office put together a detailed package describing the extreme hardship that the USC qualifying relative suffered and submitted the Form I-601 Waiver application to the Manila Consulate about 4-5 months ago. The decision came relatively quickly and we were able to call our clients yesterday with the good news.