Last week, I attended an adjustment of status interview with a client and his wife. I’ve since received notice that he was approved for a green card. My client had a federal conviction for failure to provide currency reports pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 5313(a). He has been in the country illegally since the 1980’s, but was afraid to pursue a green card because of his conviction. Many convictions render aliens inadmissible, so that they are barred from getting a green card, unless they qualify for a waiver and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) grants the waiver. In this particular instance, I happened to know that this particular crime is not considered to be a crime involving moral turpitude, so that a waiver was not necessary. When I submitted the applications for my client, I included a short argument of why my client did not need a waiver for his conviction in the cover letter. At the interview, the officer from CIS read my cover letter and told me that he agreed with me. Now after all of these years, my client no longer has to worry about being deported because he is legal.
Client’s Removal Proceedings Terminated
In February, I was retained to do an individual hearing for a lawful permanent resident with a criminal history who was in removal proceedings and seeking a waiver of inadmissibility pursuant to INA § 212(h). Since February, I have been preparing his deportation defense for immigration court in New York City. Today, was his final hearing. Instead of taking testimony, the proceedings were terminated by the Immigration Judge. On March 30, 2012, I posted a blog about the Supreme Court’s decision in Vartelas v. Holder. In Vartelas, the Supreme Court held that residents who were convicted before April 24, 1996 and are placed in removal proceedings after travelling abroad, may seek termination of their removal proceedings. Because I was aware of the Supreme Court’s decision in Vartelas, I knew to make a motion to terminate my client’s proceedings. My client’s case demonstrates how important it is that immigration attorneys keep up on changes in the law. Because I keep myself updated on changes in immigration law and new immigration decisions, I was able to have my client’s removal proceedings terminated without him having to testify.
Client with Final Order of Removal Granted Adjustment of Status
Several months ago, I did a consultation with someone who had a removal order from an immigration judge in 2000 and wanted to get a green card. He had been through several immigration lawyers and paid thousands of dollars in legal fees without any success. Upon review of his file, I discovered that before he was in removal proceedings, he had traveled on advance parole. Due to an interesting technicality in the immigration laws, an alien who is paroled into the United States can seek adjustment of status before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, even if they have a final order of removal before an immigration judge. Today, he was granted a green card based upon the paperwork that I filed for him. After years of living in fear of being deported, he is now a lawful permanent resident.