News Update - June 25, 2011Immigration Consultants (Non-attorneys) Targeted By U.S. Government; K-2 Child Of K-1 Fiancé/Fiancée Allowed To Adjust Status By BIA Although Over 21 And Not Qualifying As Stepchild Of U.S. Citizen Petitioner.The U.S. government is getting serious about combating immigration services scams by announcing on June 9, 2011, a multi agency, nationwide initiative to combat them which includes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ) , and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) . The agencies are targeting the unauthorized practice of immigration law, which occurs when legal advice and/or representation regarding immigration matters is provided by an individual who is not an attorney or accredited representative. An accredited representative is usually a part of a nonprofit organization or law student for a particular case recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The FTC is making it easier for consumers to alert law-enforcement about the scams by creating a new immigration services code in the Consumer Sentinel Network, its online consumer complaint database. The initiative promises to finally discourage those who prey on immigrant communities in advertising services for which they are not qualified and who oftentimes encourage their clientele to commit immigration fraud or even do it themselves for unwitting clients. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in Matter of Le, 25 I&N Dec. 541 (BIA 2011) held that a K-2 (child of a K-1 fiancée to a U.S. citizen) who was not considered the stepchild of the U.S. citizen petitioner because the marriage between his parent and the U.S. citizen occurred after he turned the age of 18, was still eligible to adjust status to permanent residence as a dependent based on his relationship to his natural parent so long as the marriage was timely (contracted within 90 days of entry), bonafide and he was under the age of 21 at the time of entering the U.S. under K-2 status. The BIA decision is important in recognizing that a K-2 dependent does not require a relationship with the U.S. citizen petitioner to adjust status as long as the two conditions are met of the underlying marriage between his/her natural parent and the U.S. citizen petitioner being timely and bona fide and the K-2 entering the U.S. before the age of 21. The fact that the K-2 turned 21 and could normally not qualify as a child anymore was not deemed a problem as the critical date for reaching the age of 21 was decided by the BIA as the date of entry under K-2 status and not any date in the future.
† The author is a 30+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. ‡ This article © 2011 Alan Lee, Esq.
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Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
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