Mr. Lee's Victory on I-601 Fraud Waiver Application Reported in
World Journal On March 21, 2009
World Journal Saturday March 21, 2009 Local
News
New Case Law Change Status of Aliens who
Entered U.S. Illegally
Mr. Zheng Arrested While Entering U.S. Using
a Fake Passport
U.S. Citizen Elderly Father Appealed
Despite Criminal Records His “Waiver” Granted
<Reporter Yu Ting Zhou>
<Reporting from New York>
In 2001, Fujianese immigrant Mr. Zheng used a fake Singapore passport
to gain entry at Hawaii’s airport and was arrested by USCIS.
Mr. Zheng’s father is a U.S. citizen. He helped his son to
seek a waiver of inadmissibility of I-601; however, it was denied
by USCIS. His attorney filed an appeal to the Administrative Appeals
Office (AAO) based on their close immediate relationship and Mr.
Zheng could not return to live in China, and it was approved.
His attorney indicated that although Mr. Zheng had criminal records
and father and son did not live together, when the bona fide immediate
family relationship with the U.S. citizen was established, there
was still a chance to gain approval during appeal.
Mr. Zheng’s attorney, Alan Lee, said that this type of case
had happened before, but recently there was no definitive case law.
This decision by AAO is good news for illegal aliens who file for
adjustment of status based on family.
The attorney stated that Mr. Zheng had criminal records, currently
lived with his wife and worked in Atlanta. However, his father lives
at 8th Ave., Brooklyn. The decision concluded that although the
relatives did not live together, a waiver application could be successful
as long as the strong ties between the parties were established.
The court records indicated that Mr. Zheng was found to be inadmissible
to the United States for having attempted to gain entry by a fraudulent
passport and was arrested. The law also provided that if U.S. citizen
children, and/or spouse were forced to leave the United States and
this caused them to suffer extreme hardship, the applicant could
be approved with a waiver.
Among the documents submitted to AAO, Alan Lee argued that Mr.
Zheng’s father came to the U.S. in 1988, both of his parents
are deceased and he basically had no relatives there. He is now
57 years old and could not find a job in China. He also suffered
from chronic disease such as high blood pressure, diabetic, etc.,
in addition to his depressive symptoms. If he would have to go back
to China, he would have no income, could not go to hospital for
treatment, he would suffer extreme hardship and could not live on.
Although Mr. Zheng lives in Atlanta and his father lives in a Chinese
community in New York and works in the Chinese restaurant where
the father can rely upon himself, he would come back immediately
from Atlanta to New York whenever his father was ill to take care
of him, accompany him to see the doctor, and comfort him. Mr. Zheng
is his father’s only relative that he could rely on.
In addition, Mr. Zheng and his wife have four children in the U.S..
If the whole family returns back to China they would face punishment
due to the one-child policy.
The AAO sustained the appeal last Friday and this case is being
returned to the local Immigration Office for further adjudication.
[ Note: Although not noted in this article, the case is not designated
as a precedent case by the AAO.]
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