When he was twelve, our client’s mother died. His stepmother turned him away from his father’s home in Canada, so our foreign-born client visited, and was ultimately raised by, his older sister in New York City. His teenage years and early twenties were troubled, resulting in a series of arrests and convictions for low level offenses. At 30, he married and moved to Florida, where he started a family and has since lived an exemplary life.
Unfortunately, the actions he took as animmature and angry young man frustrated his attempts to gain legal status in the U.S.. He livedundocumented, in fear of deportation. Over the years he spent his limited funds on a series of lawyers who gave him bad advice and whose attempts to gain him legal status were unsuccessful. At his second U.S.C.I.S. interview, his attorney sat silently, with folded hands, when the Officer told him his marijuana convictions barred him from ever becoming a legal permanent resident, and could even lead to his deportation.
Our client’s sister was referred to our firm by a former client who told her we consistently win even the toughest cases. She retainedus to help her brother, even though others had told her his case was “hopeless”. We obtained, and George reviewed, all ofour client’s criminal records. Using his 27 years of experience as a criminal-immigration attorney, Georgewas able to quickly determine the U.S.C.I.S. had mistakenly determined our client was ineligible to become a legal resident. We re-filed ourclient’s paperwork and applied for a hardship waiver for his single marijuana conviction. (He never actually had two convictions!)
George flew down to Miami and prepared our client and hiswife for their interview. At the interview, George used tabbed exhibits and a conviction chart to explain to the Officer the outcome of each case, and to demonstrate our client was actually eligible to become a permanent resident. Finally, George convinced the officer that our client, now a 45 year old man, had matured into a productive member of society and deserved to become a legal permanent resident.
For 33 years, our client lived without status in the U.S., in fear of being deported. In one hour,George convinced the U.S.C.I.S. Officer the prior decisions were wrong. He not only convinced him our client was eligible to become a legal resident, but also, that he deserved to become a permanent resident.Within a week of his interview, our client received his green card in the mail, and with it, peace of mind!!!