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U Visa Approved Cases, Letter of Approval and Success Story

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Received Date: 01/06/2015
Notice Date: 05/07/2019

In order to win U Visa Petitions we have to prove:

  • that our client suffered a qualifying crime;
  • that they suffered substantial injuries as a result of the crime;
  • that they cooperated with the police in the prosecution of the assailant.

Before proceeding to submit the application on behalf of this Mexican national with USCIS we had to obtain a signature from the certifying official from the agency that the police report was filed in.

In order for the certification to be approved, we had to prove that the crime was a qualifying crime and that the victim cooperated with the police. For this case we submitted:

  • The Police Report;
  • Restraining Order;
  • Medical Records;
  • Psychological Report.

along with a client testimonial.

We argued that the abuse was not only physical but also emotional and that our client had not overcome the trauma inflicted on her.

Once the certification was approved we gathered testimonial letters from friends and family focusing on our client’s good moral character.

We also submitted articles about our client’s home country to show the suffering she and her children would endure if her case were denied.

Each U Visa application is highly specific and our arguments are based on the actual facts in each case. We relied heavily on our ability to argue the case and document all the negative aspects that our client endured as a result of the crime. As well as proving her good moral character and arguing the hardships she would endure if the case were denied.

We try to approach each case with multifaceted arguments.

The processing time for this U Visa case was approximately 4 years but thankfully we received a positive outcome.

Our office has extensive experience helping clients from all sorts of backgrounds and different circumstances. We are so happy for our Client’s future!

Related Information on U Visas

J-1 Hardship Waiver for Egyptian Client with Government Funding

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The facts about this case:

  • Client has two United States citizen children.
  • The older of the two children had RSV and a medical history of respiratory illness.
  • That child receives medical care multiple times each year.
  • In the United States the family has excellent health insurance coverage via client’s employer which they would lose if the family relocated to Egypt.

The Ranchod Law Group argued exceptional medical hardship because of this and because conditions in Egypt would aggravate the child’s health.

This problem is also compounded by the unavailability of medical care and medications in Egypt.

We also made additional hardship arguments due to:

  • the dangerous conditions in Egypt including terrorism and kidnapping;
  • the exceptional financial hardship which would accompany relocation to Egypt as relevant to the children;
  • the severe educational deficiencies in Egypt;
  • the language barrier;
  • emotional/mental health hardship to the children;

among other hardships.

The case was approved in a year and three months.

Additional information and other success stories about I-612 Waivers:

J1 Hardship Waiver for Brazil Approved

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from The Ranchod Law Group here, coming to you live, and today we’re going to talk about J-1 Visa hardship waivers.

We’re talking about just how we got this Waiver approved for a client from Brazil!

A word on what you have been waiting for.

First of all I want to give you an update – it’s taking 19 to 21 months to get an approval, now that’s in July 2019: crazy times but that’s what it is, so don’t wait because we get too many people who call us when it’s too late.

What you’ve been waiting for:

How did this Waiver get approved?

Well we got this J-1 Visa hardship waiver approved because they’re from Brazil – a national from Brazilmarried to a United States citizen and he has a career, long standing career, here in the United States with a very well-known company… he had to give all of that up if he went to Brazil – now who wants to give up that! You work here all your life, you work hard and then, because you marry someone with the two-year rule you have to leave?

Well USCIS agreed with us, we made a legal argument about that: you know tighten all of the facts and what not, arguing career hardship and also the financial obligations. Also, they had gone through separation before and they didn’t want to go through that again – who wants to be separated for two years of their life: that basically disrupts everything in the United States!

If you’re on a J-1 Visa, you know that if you’re here, you know I need an I-601 waiver, then you know that too, and the requirements are very similar although there are some differences with those two so bottom line is call us at (916) 613-3553 to see if you qualify because it just depends on a bunch of factors. There’s not one factor that makes or breaks a case typically – typically it’s the totality of circumstances:

  • it’s the financial hardship
  • it’s the career hardship
  • maybe it’s a health issue
  • maybe it’s the political situation that’s going on with the country at the time as well

In Brazil, you know, there is a lot of crime as well so there are issues specific to Brazil as well that also helped with the J-1 Visa waiver. So every case is different of course, that depends on what country you are from.

I invite you to ask any questions and tune in next Thursday for our next live show on immigration and your questions.

Thank you have an awesome day – bye for now.

Additional information on the subject of J-1 Visas:

J Waiver Approval for a Brazilian national married to a U.S. citizen

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I-612 Approval Notice




More good news on the J Waiver front! Our client, a Brazilian national, is married to a United States citizen who was working towards his master’s degree, who had a long-standing career with a well-known company, and who ran a small business on the side. With all of these things going on, he had a lot to lose if he had to relocate to Brazil for two years to be with his wife. We argued that because of his ties to the U.S. —including financial obligations— that relocation would impose exceptional hardship; we also highlighted unfavorable conditions in Brazil like high crime and prevalence of communicable diseases that would add to the hardship.

What was interesting in this case was that the two had already experienced separation, so the United States citizen husband, despite all of the hardship, was not willing to remain behind while his wife was in Brazil for two years.

During their short separation, he engaged in unhealthy coping mechanisms which affected his work. Luckily, she was able to return and prevent him from financial ruin. USCIS issued an onerous RFE which The Ranchod Law Group was able to successfully overcome.

Additional information and other success stories about I-612 Waivers:

The consequences of having domestic violence on your record

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Welcome back to The Ranchod Law Group Crimmigration blog!

Today we are going to discuss domestic violence.

As with any conviction, having domestic violence on your record can be very costly. Not only are there court fees to pay, but first-time offenders often have to enroll in 52 weeks of classes for anything from parenting to anger management. These classes can disrupt your routine or work schedule and missing even a single class can result in failed probation or jail time.

And then of course there are immigration consequences of domestic violence. One important consequence of a domestic violence crime is that it makes someone deportable, even if they have a green card.

The first thing to keep in mind is that not all domestic violence crimes are treated equally for immigration purposes. For example, in California, “spousal battery” and “corporal injury to a spouse” are two different types of domestic violence – but only one makes you deportable!

Deportable crimes of domestic violence are found under Section 237 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

They apply to everyone – people with DACA, green cards, other types of visas like H1-B, or no legal status at all.

Another consequence is that committing domestic violence can delay someone’s ability to apply for Citizenship for up to 5 years. This is true even when there is only an arrest and no criminal conviction. In most cases, applicants for United States citizenship, through a process known as naturalization, must maintain 5 years of good moral character before applying. During this crucial 5-year period, even an arrest that does not lead to a conviction can result in denial.

Finally, some domestic violence convictions can lead to Deportation without bail. This is a law known as mandatory detention and applies to some domestic violence crimes with a jail or prison sentence of a year or more. Sometimes, the best strategy for immigrants is to plead to a crime and avoid a lengthy sentence. This is true even if the sentence is suspended during completion of probation.

Mandatory detention can lead to years behind bars awaiting Deportation – even after the sentence given by the criminal court for the crime. For this reason, it is important to have a crimmigration attorney on your side to let you know all the possible consequences of a plea, even some that won’t happen until years later.
If you or a loved one faces a domestic violence charge, consult a crimmigration attorney right away who can let you know all the possible consequences of a plea.

Additional information on the subject domestic violence:

ICE raids, What to do and What You Need to Know

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Hi this is Kaushik Ranchod from The Ranchod Law Group with Brian for our weekly immigration show and today the hot topic is the ICE raids that are going on.

If you have questions you can contact us at (916) 613-3553 so there have been a lot of ICE raids recently and we are getting a lot of calls about what to do so that’s what this video is gonna be about.

So if an ICE officer does come to your door they can only open the door in two situations:

  1. Do they have consent? That means do you allow them to enter? And if you allow them then in by opening your door up and say they can come in.
  2. Reason number two would be if there’s an order that would allow them to enter. So they would need to have an actual order that allows them to enter.

If you are not in one of those two situations, then they cannot enter and you can refuse entry.

If you have questions you can contact us at (916) 613-3553

So we talked about two reasons right now:

  • one if you open the door and let them in or if they have an order that allows them to enter;
  • otherwise if you say you don’t want them to enter they’re not allowed to enter;

We also give to our clients something called a red card where you can slide this under the door informing the officer that you don’t want them to enter unless they have an order and if you’d like to get that free from us you can contact us at (916) 613-3553 and we’d be happy to give that to you.

I want to thank you so much for joining today and we will see you next week thank you and have an awesome day.

Additional information on ICE:

I-612 hardship waiver approval success story and approval letter

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I-612 Application to waive foreign residence requirements




The latest success story to come out of The Ranchod Law Group belongs to a Pakistani national for whom we filed a Waivers of the two-year home residency requirement based on exceptional hardship to his United States citizen wife. By working closely with the clients, we were able to successfully demonstrate that his wife would suffer exceptional hardship if he were to move back to Pakistanfor two years. We highlighted the fact that due to her recurrent major depressive episodes coupled with chronic pain, that being without her husband for two years was simply not an option as she would suffer medical hardships. Our argument explaining why she could not relocate was airtight as well. The husband is Pakistani and Muslim, while his United States citizen wife is a white, Christian woman. This kind of arrangement would already be socially frowned up in Pakistan, but adding to the exceptional hardship was the fact that the husband already had an arranged marriage, per local custom. Upon breaking that arranged marriage, our client effectively made himself and his family a target. Therefore, we were able to successfully argue that their lives would be in danger upon relocation to Pakistan. It is work mentioning that the case was approved without a Request for Evidence (RFE); in today’s climate, that is a huge feat!

Additional information and other success stories about I-612 Waivers: