Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

WE are blessed to have chosen a legal discipline where we truly get to help people on a daily basis. To that end, some of the most rewarding and inspiring moments in our daily fight(s) are when we win cases for persons who have experienced significant tragedy in their lives. One such victory occurred last week and we are pleased to share it with our readership now.

Several months ago, I wrote on the subject of an elderly widow whose hopes had been all but dashed after visiting immigration attorney after immigration attorney who informed her that nothing could be done about her case. They were wrong. Why? Our client’s application for lawful permanent residency was granted, despite the fact that her petitioning husband had passed away albeit only after five months of marriage. The officer that interviewed our client mentioned to us that we were the first immigration firm in the area to present a case to the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to the DHS’ Appropriation Act.

The Department of Homeland Security Appropriation Act, passed by Congress on October 28, 2009, includes two measures addressing the rights of surviving spouses of United States citizens and survivors petitioned by relatives other than spouses.

Today we received the approval notices for a husband and wife’s applications for lawful permanent residency. Their cases were also filed pursuant to the Appropriation’s Act. And, like our case in Los Angeles, the interviewing officer in Las Vegas suggested that this was a case of first impression. Consquently, we were requested to provide a detailed memorandum of fact and law explaining the situation ot the government. As a result of our arguments, our clients’ case was approved today.

Unlike the Korean widow that I wrote on previously who "only" had been waiting ten years to perfect her immigration status, our Las Vegas client’s had been waiting approximately seventeen years of theirs. In both cases, however, we were pleased to play a vital role in their obtaining permanent residency in the United States not to mention the ability to now travel to their countries of origin to visit family that they hadn’t seen in over a decade.

While each individual case turns on specific facts and circumstances, we suspect that there many people in the United States who can benefit from the new law. Such persons are strongly encouraged to seek professional advice from reputed immigration attorneys to see if their lives can also be changed for the better.

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