Case of Z.R.

Mr. R’s parents won the Green Card Lottery while he was under the age of 21. He immigrated with his family to the US. Later, he returned to his home country, fell in love with Z and married her. Because he was spending the majority of his time outside the US, he was unable to accumulate enough time as a permanent resident to become a US citizen. US immigration law imposes quotas on spouses of green card holders; as a result, long waits to immigrate to the United States are the norm. So Z decided to enter into a sham marriage with an unmarried Lottery winner in order to “expedite” her immigration. The consular officer found out about the sham marriage and permanently barred her for her misrepresentation (Section 212(a)(6)(C)(i)). With our assistance, Mr. R then initiated the process of immigration for his wife and their two children. While the process of immigration for his children was straightforward, we had to prepare an immigrant waiver application for his wife based on the extreme hardship Mr. R would suffer in the event of a denial. After a 6-month review process, USCIS approved the immigrant waiver.