K-1 Adjustment of Status
N/AOUTCOME: Green Card Granted
Client entered the United States on July 9, 2003, and married his fiancée within 90 days of entry. Without a lawyer, he filed his application for adjustment of status on or about October 8, 2003 while ... still married to the petitioning fiancée. Two children were born of this marriage. His adjustment of status application was pending for almost 4 years at the local USCIS Office in Cincinnati, Ohio until it was denied on January 9, 2007 for a non-response to an RFE (request for evidence). The couple was divorced on June 20, 2007, which was close to four years after the adjustment of status application was filed on or about October 8, 2003. We took over the case and argued in our memorandum in support to USCIS that the facts for the above client were on point with the applicant who was granted permanent residency in Choin, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals case. Additionally, under Matter of Sesay, “a fiancé(e) visa holder may be granted adjustment of status under sections 245(a) and (d) of the Act, even if the marriage to the fiancé(e) visa petitioner does not exist at the time that the adjustment application is adjudicated, if the client can demonstrate that he or she entered into a bona fide marriage within the 90-day period to the fiancé(e) visa petitioner.” Matter of Sesay, 25 I&N Dec. 431, 441 (BIA 2011). USCIS agreed to reopen the case and approved client’s green card.
