PT-LawMom

One of the things I think is really important in finding a good job and performing well is mentoring. I’ve always tried to do the best job at whatever I do, which is one of the reasons I sought out certification once I entered the legal field (I have a paralegal certificate and have passed both the ALS and PLS legal secretary accreditation exams). I’ve always tried to learn more and find mentors to help me. I’ve approached law school much the same way, speaking with many attorneys over the last year to garner information about the legal field, especially regarding particular practice areas and life as a woman in the legal field. I’ve been amazingly fortunate to have been put in touch with some of the top U.S. immigration and labor/employment attorneys and have had both phone and in-person meetings with them.

One of the women I have been trying to meet with for several months now is a local immigration attorney who is currently building a practice as an immigration law consultant for family and criminal law attorneys, as well as acting as guardian ad litem in family cases involving immigration issues. I think her work is so cool! Anyway, we’ve been making dates and rescheduling them all summer and today we finally hooked up. Unfortunately, it was because Chapin got a certified letter from the USCIS denying his application for citizenship. (Actually he got a peach card telling us we missed the postman and I literally spent an hour driving around our subdivision searching for the guy and very fortunately got him to hand it over! I knew USCIS never sends anything but bad news via certified mail.) This wonderful woman agreed to meet with us this evening and we just got back from a 2 1/2-hour intake interview with her. A $5k retainer later and we’ve got representation to write an appeal brief and attend a hearing with us, plus we got to see her offices and hear about a variety of cases she’s worked on and tips/tricks for up-and-coming immigration lawyers. Granted, this was not the way I wanted to learn this and I wasn’t in the best shape for a meeting today, but both Chapin and I still came away impressed with her and her setup.

So why the denial? Well, in a former life, I was a bit of a dipstick. At 21 and rather broke, I married Chapin and we filed to adjust his work visa to permanent residency. Wisely, we retained a local immigration lawyer; unwisely, we trusted him and his staff blindly. The lawyer was a nice guy, but his wife was his secretary and her brother was their paralegal. Neither the wife nor the brother spoke much English (they were Chinese and usually represented Chinese clients) and Chapin didn’t speak any English. We very, very stupidly agreed to sign the immigration applications and let them fill them out later. They did not review the paperwork with us before sending it in, just sent us a final packet of what was mailed. The paralegal did all the paperwork. He spelled our last name wrong, a fact we didn’t realize until we were at a celebratory lunch after picking up his Green card. We had to race back to the local USCIS office and pay $100 for a replacement card with the right name! We counted our lucky stars that the name was the only issue… or so we thought.

Little did we know that when we filled out his N-400 (without benefit of counsel), we would include a material fact that had not been included in my I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative). It’s really kind of inconsequential, but apparently if the facts in your earlier petitions don’t match the facts in your current petition, you are a LIAR and morally bankrupt. This really sucks, especially because if we don’t fight it, they could decide to go back and say, “Since you “lied” on your original application, it should never have been approved and therefore you are deportable.” Thank God for the painkillers or I’d be really, really unhappy right now. Anyway, the lawyer thinks we can prove that the original omission was not willful since the lawyer didn’t properly review the form with us – had he reviewed the answers, we would have had the opportunity to correct the omission. By providing even more info in the current application, we were being forthcoming and truthful and therefore are not liars. Hopefully the local office official who hears our case will agree. It could be 6 months or more before a hearing is set, so the answers won’t come quickly. Wish us luck!