Fear of I-485 being denied

[MellowHype13 0]

Hello VJ, My husband and I recently applied for adjustment of status from VWP in April of 2014. He has been in the United States since 2007. When he first arrived, he attended language school and then proceeded to attend a graduate program for his master's degree, which he completed in 2012. We met in 2009, but remain friends until early 2012 when we began to date. Honestly, we fell in love from that point. He was previously married and still legally married at the time, but him and his wife were long separated and were in the process of getting a divorce.

We are a same-sex couple, and even though we loved each other, we struggled with figuring out how we would stay together with not being afforded the opportunity to marry (in our state), and adjust status on the grounds of being a spouse of a U.S. citizen. Luckily, a few months later, same-sex marriage became legal in our state and then in June of 2013, DOMA was struck down, allowing us a path for him to adjust status under marriage and start our lives together. A few weeks after DOMA was struck down, we had a conversation about what it meant for us and we chose to take our relationship further by deciding to get married. The issue was that he was still legally married to his ex-wife. For the next few months, he work with an attorney to finalize the divorce and it was final in January 2014. From that point, we began to prepare to marry. We moved in together at the end of the month and got married in March of 2014. A few weeks later in April we prepared a AOS package (I-130 and I-485 packages) and sent it off.

His EAD was approved in late June and interview for July 17th. The interview started out great, but things took a turn for the worse when he was asked by the immigration officer about a shoplifting incident last year. The immigration officer asked if he was arrested. My husband said yes and said he was arrested, but the case was thrown out, expunged and it was a false claim by the store manager. He was under the impression that if the case was thrown out, it counts as you not being arrested. So we answered no to that question on the I-485. Apparently, there was more to the story. My husband was arrested under his friend's name, because that was the name he worked under at the store (so he was working under a friends name-the friend knew). So when he was fingerprinted at the biometrics appointment, there was a match of fingerprints to the case. I was taken off guard because I had no knowledge of this.

Needless to say, I'm pretty convinced the case will be denied in its current form and will need a waiver. We've reached out for legal advice and will sit down with an attorney next week. I've read about the hardship waiver and how difficult it can be to be approved.

Edited July 19, 2014 by _basetwo

[kzielu 1,149]

Lots of issues, starting with misrepresentation about arrest..

Did he claim to be US citizen when he worked under friend's name ?

Attorney is the right way to go.

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from Fam.-based AOS to WST-based AOS Progress Forum~

~Adjusting from VWP~

[subwayguy 100]

It is already an offence to up use others social or identity to obtain jobs. Not to mention life style switching from straight to gay . I'd be surprised if this is approved . You need to contact an attorney right away.

[Hypnos 6,578]

Expect problems, beginning with I-9 fraud (working using someone else's name / documents, even with their consent, is illegal), misrepresentation (he should have declared the arrest, as the instructions clearly state to do even if the record is expunged or removed) and moving on from there.

Run, don't walk, to an experienced immigration attorney. It's likely just a matter of time before you receive the formal denial.

[MellowHype13 0]

Lots of issues, starting with misrepresentation about arrest..

Did he claim to be US citizen when he worked under friend's name ?

Attorney is the right way to go.

Unsure, and we've reached out to an attorney already. Hope to consult sometime this week. Thanks for the feedback so far.

Edited July 21, 2014 by _basetwo

[srvman 38]

There is always hope. Never forget that. But this forum has limitations, seek a good lawyer, ask him what he thinks. He will know more than anyone on here (who isn't an attorney).