Hi, there this is Kaushik Ranchod from the Ranchod Law Group. Welcome to our immigration show. Today I’m going to be talking about 212 (i) waivers for fraud or willful misrepresentation.
If you’ve committed fraud or willful misrepresentation and are applying for a green card, you may qualify for a 212 (i) waiver. In this video, you will learn how to overcome this problem.
You can be forgiven for fraud or willful misrepresentation
In this video Kaushik Ranchod, Managing Immigration Attorney at the Ranchod Law Group in Sacramento, describes the requirements and illustrates a 212 (i) waiver success story to obtain the waiver for a client.
An introduction to the 212 (i) Waiver
So let’s start with how do you qualify for this waiver. In what situations do you need this kind of waiver? So there are a few situations where I see people needing this waiver. One case could be if you were here or you came to the United States for a visit with a visa and you were working unlawfully, and then you re-entered. If this should surface that officer may charge you with fraud or willful misrepresentation.
In that situation you may need a waiver. Another cause could be if you entered the US on someone else’s passport or used someone else’s immigration documents.
One important thing to note here is that after September 30th, 1996, if you said you were a US citizen, there is no waiver available. There’s a very narrow exception for that, but there is no waiver for a false claim to citizenship in most situations.
So otherwise, you know in the prior situations that I mentioned you might be eligible for a waiver, which is excellent news! Under these circumstances you can still get a green card – you have to file for a waiver. We prepare a legal brief outlining why you should qualify based on the hardships to your US citizen spouse or parent. Now you may ask: well, what about my child? Can I make an argument based on them? A child is not a qualifying relative, there may be an exception, but in most situations, the child is not considered a qualifying relative.
However, the immigration attorney looking after your case will include the extreme hardship elements to the child because, of course, extreme hardship affects the qualifying relative.
How fraud or willful misrepresentation can come into place
There’s more than what I mentioned about how fraud or willful misrepresentation can come into place. For example, when you’re getting your visa. Making a misrepresentation to the immigration officer is a common situation. The 212 (i) waiver will allow you to be forgiven for the mistake you made because it’s recognized that yes, you made a mistake well, okay, now it needs to be forgiven.
The US citizen shouldn’t be punished for your mistake
The US citizen shouldn’t be punished because of fraud or willful misrepresentation. The 212 (i) waiver is how you overcome this situation and are forgiven. A 212 (i) approval will allow you to be in the present where you belong and forget the past. Through this waiver, you should be able to be forgiven for your mistake.
Facing extreme hardship – A frequent question by clients
Now let’s look at some more information here. One question clients often ask during a consultation is:
As the beneficiary and the spouse to a US citizen and parent: what about my hardship? I’m going to face extreme hardship.
I want to say that I perfectly understand, I recognize that you will face extreme hardship, but the US Government does not care about your hardship. It cares about the US citizen or lawful permanent resident. So that’s also really important to know and understand because, as an immigration attorney, I get that question a lot.
A 212 (i) Waiver Approval and Success Story
Now I would like to share a recent 212 (i) Waiver Success Story – We were able to get a 212 (i) case approved. Now every case is unique, so I invite you to contact us and speak with one of our immigration attorneys to see if your case qualifies to file for a fraud or willful misrepresentation waiver.
This 212 (i) Waiver approval is a true success story for a client. I cannot guarantee that your case is going to be approved as well. As I state during our consultations, every 212 (i) case is unique. I invite you to learn more by speaking to one of our immigration attorneys.
The facts of this case
- The mom was living in the United States;
- the son living in Pakistan;
- Son was charged with fraud or willful misrepresentation.
- immigration attorneys at the Ranchod Law Group filed for a 212 (i) waiver to demonstrate that the mother would face hardship if her son wasn’t able to live with her.
What was sad in this situation is the misrepresentation had occurred because he was nervous during the interview. That was quite unfortunate. However, it happens very often. Sometimes things can be misconstrued as fraud or willful misrepresentation because the person is so nervous that they end up saying something they regret later on.
Extreme financial hardship
In this specific case, we were able to successfully argue in favor of the client because of her chronic medical conditions, including anxiety and depression. Our immigration attorney explained that she would face extreme financial hardship if they were not reunited here in the United States. Extreme financial hardship is typically a factor in most cases. In fact there was financial hardship for this client as well: if the son were not able to be in the US and work, his mother would have very little income to support herself.
Therefore the son was instrumental in providing financial aid to support the mom. You can imagine how having an older adult who cannot support themselves financially is a case of extreme hardship. That’s what we argued in this case.
In this 212(i) waiver approval, we also argued that the mom is in a wheelchair, and if she were to relocate to Pakistan, she would have to face the stigma of being in a wheelchair. In that country, there is also a problem related to accessing healthcare. Healthcare was another essential fact our immigration attorney described in detail, which would also be an issue if she relocated to Pakistan. So we talked about that as well and made an argument in our legal brief. All these facts contributed towards getting the case approved.
About the social stigma
The social stigma I mentioned was about mental health and how people consider it in Pakistan. However, in South Asian cultures, one is expected to be strong and work their way through life, figuring things out independently. Mental health issues are not recognized. Many people may face mental health and yet it’s stigmatized.
The economic conditions in Pakistan
We also talked about how the son wouldn’t be able to adequately provide for her due to the economic conditions in Pakistan. By combining all of these factors, we were able to get the 212 (i) waiver approved, and he was forgiven and was reunited with his mom.
I love happy endings that see mother and son united! That’s why we do what we do in our office.
I invite you to contact us to learn more about whether you qualify and learn more about this 212 (i) waiver approval story and learn how you can get the help you need for your case.
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