01 Oct Adjustment of Status Granted following Response to Notice of Intent to Deny
A client came to our immigration law office in Philadelphia, PA for a consultation and brought a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued in connection to an I-485 Adjustment of Status Application. The client had filed an I-485 application as a derivative spouse of an employment based adjustment of status applicant. The principal applicant received the green card but the derivative spouse was issued the NOID. The basis of the NOID was that the derivative spouse had failed to properly extend H-4 status and had been unlawfully present in the United States for more than 6 months but less than 1 year between the expiration of her authorized stay in H-4 status and the date of filing of the adjustment of status application, and had used an advance parole to travel outside the United States in connection with her I-485 application rendering her subject to a 3 year bard from admission to the United States for unlawful presence and departure. Our client presented us evidence that she had in fact properly extended her H-4 status which had been overlooked by USCIS. In order to cover every angle of the case we argued to USCIS that our client had never been unlawfully present in the United States meaning the NOID had been issued in error and we also filed Form I-601 with evidence that her husband who was now a permanent resident would suffer extreme hardship if she were deported from the United States as they have a son with a severe disability. Their son requires medical care that is only available in the United States and requires special care that the husband could not provide and still be able to work to support his family. Following the response to the NOID prepared by our law firm our client received her green card.