WINNING AN APPEAL FOR MOM: I-130 PETITIONS AND IDENTITY CERTIFICATES

A recent win for a client was a lesson in how the immigration process can be made even more tricky by misunderstandings in documentation.

Our client, a naturalized U.S. citizen, petitioned for her mother in Iran. When reviewing our client’s I-130 petition, US Citizenship and Immigration Services mistakenly determined that our client failed to establish a legitimate biological relationship with her mother. The I-130 petition was denied, but little explanation was offered.

Our client hired Choi Capital Law when she received this denial notice. We determined in our review that the documents our client submitted to show biological relationship should have been sufficient, but were not accepted by USCIS as a valid Iranian Identity Certificate. We appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, verifying that the Iranian Identity Certificate was a valid form of identity. The Board agreed and approved our client’s I-130 application.

In a perfectly run system, this intervention would not be necessary. Unfortunately, the complexity of immigration laws and practices makes it easy for even agencies such as USCIS to miss things. We are happy that we were able to resolve this for our client, and others should know, too, that there is still hope, even if clerical errors necessitate a dispute.