CASE: Adjustment of Status Based on Approved K-1 Visa
CLIENT: Nigerian
LOCATION: Cleveland, OH
Our client, a US Citizen Petitioner, met her Nigerian fiancé in March 2007 in Nigeria. Over time, they started their relationship, and she went to Spain multiple times in 2012 and in 2013 after her fiancé moved to Spain. When she visited his fiancé in July 2012, her fiancé proposed to her. Months after his proposal, she retained our firm to file a fiancé petition for him.
After retention, we informed our client about the necessary supporting documents to demonstrate the bona fide nature of their relationship. Our client retained our office on October 14, 2013. We helped her and her fiancé draft letters in support of the fiancé petition, and we filed the petition on November 26, 2013.
On February 4, 2014, the I-129F fiancé petition was approved. On June 20, 2014, our client’s fiancé appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain for his K-1 visa interview. The interview went well, and on the same day, the U.S. Embassy issued his K-1 visa.
Later, her fiancé came to the United States in July 2014 as a K-1 visa entrant. By law, if you married your petitioner-fiancé within 90 days of your K-1 visa entry, you are eligible to apply for adjustment of status (green card) in the United States. They married in August 2014.
Our client and her husband retained our office again for his adjustment of status application. After the retention, our firm quickly prepared and filed the I-485 Adjustment of Status Application on February 6, 2015. Things went smoothly and the receipt notices, and the fingerprint appointment all came on time.
It is not mandatory to have an adjustment of status interview for an applicant who entered on a K-1 visa. However, the USCIS may require an interview to test the validity and bona fide nature of the marriage between the Petitioner and Beneficiary. Nevertheless, the USCIS scheduled an interview for our client. Prior to the interview, we thoroughly prepared our clients through conference calls. On May 10, 2016, our clients were interviewed at the Cleveland, Ohio USCIS office. Attorney Sung Hee (Glen) Yu from our office accompanied them at their interview as well. However, after the interview, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence for our client to submit more bona fide marital evidence. The response to RFE was filed timely.
Eventually, on August 23, 2016, his green card application was finally approved.