Daughter fights for Mom with a Criminal Record to Reunite the Family and Gain Mom’s Green Card

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OUTCOME: APPROVED.

In her 60s but stuck in Japan, the mom of a U.S. citizen had a fraud conviction that was permanently blocking her green card issuance and could never enter the U.S. Originally from Japan, her daughte ... r, Ji-woo* moved to America to study, but ended up achieving her doctorate, finding work, married a United States citizen, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Her life was falling into place. Her worry for her mom consumed her thoughts; she desperately wanted to bring her aging mom to America. Her brother, still in Japan, had young kids and could no longer accommodate their mother, either spatially or financially to the capacity either sibling desired. Her mother was denied entry to the United States, not even allowed in on an ESTA visa due to a previous conviction in Japan. The mother’s arrest had occurred nearly two decades previously for her boss’s financial scheme that defrauded their customers; she was a secretary who unwittingly followed his directions to get contracts signed that she did not know were illegal at that time, given her lack of knowledge of financial transactions and the law. The boss got away with it, she was held responsible. She had no prior convictions nor any criminal history since being released from prison. She had served her time. The family contacted Heather to help guide them through their options. Attorney Heather successfully guided both in an I-601 crime of moral turpitude waiver case proving the case of extreme hardship, arguing in part that Ji-woo’s mom had no other viable places to live, deserved discretion, and her daughter couldn’t move to Japan to be with her without losing her career, access to her husband, and all she had built. Mom got her green card.