Family Unity Program (FUP) Benefits Victory!

May 26, 2020

OUTCOME: Granted

Client is a 46-year-old Mexican national who has lived in the U.S. since she entered in April 1988 at the age of 15. She has three U.S. citizen children. On or about December 1, 1990, her father beca ... me a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. through the SAW program due to his prior work in the fields. He is now a U.S. citizen. Client received an initial grant of family unity benefits in April 1992, which allowed her to obtain a work permit which was good until April 6, 1994. At the time, she qualified for the Family Unity Program (FUP) because she entered the U.S. prior to December 1, 1988 (which is the operative date for relatives of aliens who legalized under the SAW program) and had the appropriate family relationship to a SAW legalized alien (e.g., she was an unmarried child under 21). After that, however, Client failed to renew her family unity benefits and spent the next 25 years believing she was no longer eligible. In that time, she had “aged out” (that is, attained the age of 21); married and divorced; and her father had naturalized. Nevertheless, she discovered, after meeting with me, and to her great surprise, that she remained eligible for family unity benefits notwithstanding that she was no longer under 21, that she had previously married and that her father was now a U.S. citizen. In my Client’s case, I filed to extend her initial grant of family unity benefits on a Form I-817. Given the gap of 25 years since she last applied, we were required to submit extensive evidence of her continuous residence in the U.S. since December 10, 1988. Thankfully, she had kept most of her records of her U.S. residence, including her childhood vaccination and school records, paycheck stubs, W-2s and tax returns, medical records, marriage certificate and divorce decree, and copies of her children’s hospital and school records. Her fantastic record-keeping allowed us to prove her residence in the U.S. for all these years, which in turn led USCIS to grant her an employment authorization card more than 25 years after she first got one. Soon, our office will apply for a travel document so that the Client can travel outside the U.S. and eventually apply for her green card through one of her adult U.S. citizen children. For more information about the Family Unity Program and legalization, please visit my website at gisellesotelo.com