Laurel Scott
10-01-2007, 07:52 PM
I posted this on the AILA forum after reviewing a couple of thick attorney-prepared waiver packets that got referred through the Pilot Program. My comments are written for lawyers, but you can read them, too...
I'm seeing more clients come to me who have had their I-601s referred through the Pilot Program in CDJ to the regular process who had attorneys and thick waiver packets. What I'm seeing in these referred cases with thick waiver packets is that the packets are full of the wrong documents and inadequate documents, even though the facts of the case are strong. So, here are some tips.
Documents you generally don't need: vital records and proof of real marriage. This is not an AOS packet; you don't need that stuff. Down in South America they've been requiring vital records and police certificates for the waiver packet, but elsewhere, this is unnecessary. You already proved the petitioner's US citizenship and the legality of the marriage in consular processing. Even if the couple has children together, this is usually already established in consular processing and doesn't need to be re-established in the waiver. Same with the validity of the marriage. You don't need to prove comingling of funds and all that stuff you would do for an AOS. If you prove extreme hardship with other documents, you've necessarily proven real marriage in the process so there's no need to prove it separately.
Psychologist Letter: You don't need to send the client to a psychologist for every case. I have lots of cases where I don't use this argument at all. I only get into depression and separation anxiety if its extreme. Some symptoms of an extreme problem: excessive weight loss or weight gain, new/relapsed drug or alcohol problem, losing your job or nearly losing it due to distraction, people who don't know about the immigration situation constantly asking the person if he/she is "ok", inability to sleep, prior psychiatric "history" pre-dating the USC meeting the alien, and sudden bursts of tears at inappropriate times. There may be times when you don't have any of these symptoms and you choose to do a psych evaluation anyway, but there's no reason to do a psych eval on every case. If you choose to do a psych eval, MAKE SURE the psych's letter includes the following: (a) diagnosis, (b) how the psych reached that diagnosis, (c) symptoms of the condition the patient exhibits, (d) prognosis if waiver is denied, (e) relationship between the immigration problems and the patient's condition, (f) any medications the patient is on, and (g) plan/recommendation for future treatment. A two-paragraph psych letter stating that the patient has Major Depression and needs his wife is unimpressive.
Additional evidence of emotional distress: If you're arguing depression and separation anxiety, the psych letter is just one of several supporting documents you will need. The psych letter by itself with no additional evidence is unimpressive. You should have letters from friends, co-workers, supervisors and clergy attesting to the person's symptoms of depression. They are not going to make a psychiatric conclusion. They are just attesting to the symptoms. For example, the co-workers may say "So-and-so's attention is not what it used to be. Sometimes when he comes to work he looks a bit dishevled. That's not the way he used to be. He seems distracted. His work product has declined. He snaps at everyone." Illustrative examples are important. If you're using depression and separation, ALWAYS investigate whether there has been a declien in work performance as this opens the door to an argument that the emotional distress could lead to unemployment. Back it up with boss's letter, co-workers' letters, and/or quarterly work performance reviews showing a decline.
Medical letters for qualifying relative: I can't say this too many times: It is not enough to show that you have a medical condition; you must prove the relationship between the condition and the waiver. Most of the time, you have not proven your case with just the medical records and the qualifying relative's claim in his/her letter that there is a relationship between the medical condition and the waiver. For example, if you have a qualifying relative that developed stomach problems after the alien was deported and he/she is claiming a relationship between the two, you are going to need more than medical records. You need a doctor's letter attesting to the appearance of the condition AFTER the deportation, the absence of the condition prior to the deportation, and a medical opinion that this condition could be entirely stress-related. If you're arguing that the person cannot get treatment for that condition in the alien's home country, you need to prove that somehow, maybe with a letter from a doctor in alien's home country or some sort of article describing the absence of treatment for that condition. If you're arguing that the qualifying relative can't move to Pakistan because she needs a liver transplant, provide articles saying there have never been any liver transplants in Pakistan unless they brought in foreign doctors.
Medical documents for someone the qualifying relative is taking care of: I can't say this too many time: It is not enough to prove that the qualifying relative has a sick or elderly relative; you have to show what this has to do with the waiver. Medical records and doctor's letters saying how sick the USC's mom or dad (or other person) is will not prove your case. You have to prove that the qualfying relative is taking care of this person and/or the alien was taking care of this person. A letter from a doctor needs to state the following: diagnosis, prognosis, physical limitations, need for care, and who the caregiver is (if known). For example, a doctor's letter might state "Patient has severe back problems which, at her age, will only worsen until she has to have surgery. Even with surgery, a full recovery to normal back function is not expected. Patient has trouble standing for long periods of time and might not be able to perform normal household tasks, such as washing the dishes. Patient has trouble carrying anything, such as groceries. Patient may have trouble getting in and out of the bathtub. This patient will need assistance with ordinary household chores and basic hygiene. It is not recommended that she live alone. I understand that she lives with her adult son, who currently brings her to her appointments. If he were to leave, I would recommend that she move to an assisted living facility, which her insurance does not cover. It is noted that in the past, Patient's daughter-in-law, Alien, used to bring Patient to her appointments." You can back the doctor's letter up with a few choice medical records.
Additional documentation of caring for sick/elderly relative: In addition to the doctor's letter, you need letters from friends, relatives, clergy and fellow parishoners attesting to the fact that from a layman's perspective, that person needs assistance from the qualifying relative and/or alien and that it is, in fact, the qualifying relative or alien that provides this assitance and that its been tough on qualifying relative since Alien has been gone, or it would be tough. People writing letters should provide anectodes of person observations, e.g.: "When so-and-so comes to church, usually her son-in-law, Alien, drives. He helps her out of the car and assists her in climbing the stairs to the santuary. While he's doing this, so-and-so's daughter, Alien's wife, takes their baby to the nursery. I'm not sure how so-and-so's daughter could accomplish both of these tasks by herself on Sunday morning without her husband." Its just a little story, but very illustrative.
[there's more, but this is a long post and I have to split it up]
I'm seeing more clients come to me who have had their I-601s referred through the Pilot Program in CDJ to the regular process who had attorneys and thick waiver packets. What I'm seeing in these referred cases with thick waiver packets is that the packets are full of the wrong documents and inadequate documents, even though the facts of the case are strong. So, here are some tips.
Documents you generally don't need: vital records and proof of real marriage. This is not an AOS packet; you don't need that stuff. Down in South America they've been requiring vital records and police certificates for the waiver packet, but elsewhere, this is unnecessary. You already proved the petitioner's US citizenship and the legality of the marriage in consular processing. Even if the couple has children together, this is usually already established in consular processing and doesn't need to be re-established in the waiver. Same with the validity of the marriage. You don't need to prove comingling of funds and all that stuff you would do for an AOS. If you prove extreme hardship with other documents, you've necessarily proven real marriage in the process so there's no need to prove it separately.
Psychologist Letter: You don't need to send the client to a psychologist for every case. I have lots of cases where I don't use this argument at all. I only get into depression and separation anxiety if its extreme. Some symptoms of an extreme problem: excessive weight loss or weight gain, new/relapsed drug or alcohol problem, losing your job or nearly losing it due to distraction, people who don't know about the immigration situation constantly asking the person if he/she is "ok", inability to sleep, prior psychiatric "history" pre-dating the USC meeting the alien, and sudden bursts of tears at inappropriate times. There may be times when you don't have any of these symptoms and you choose to do a psych evaluation anyway, but there's no reason to do a psych eval on every case. If you choose to do a psych eval, MAKE SURE the psych's letter includes the following: (a) diagnosis, (b) how the psych reached that diagnosis, (c) symptoms of the condition the patient exhibits, (d) prognosis if waiver is denied, (e) relationship between the immigration problems and the patient's condition, (f) any medications the patient is on, and (g) plan/recommendation for future treatment. A two-paragraph psych letter stating that the patient has Major Depression and needs his wife is unimpressive.
Additional evidence of emotional distress: If you're arguing depression and separation anxiety, the psych letter is just one of several supporting documents you will need. The psych letter by itself with no additional evidence is unimpressive. You should have letters from friends, co-workers, supervisors and clergy attesting to the person's symptoms of depression. They are not going to make a psychiatric conclusion. They are just attesting to the symptoms. For example, the co-workers may say "So-and-so's attention is not what it used to be. Sometimes when he comes to work he looks a bit dishevled. That's not the way he used to be. He seems distracted. His work product has declined. He snaps at everyone." Illustrative examples are important. If you're using depression and separation, ALWAYS investigate whether there has been a declien in work performance as this opens the door to an argument that the emotional distress could lead to unemployment. Back it up with boss's letter, co-workers' letters, and/or quarterly work performance reviews showing a decline.
Medical letters for qualifying relative: I can't say this too many times: It is not enough to show that you have a medical condition; you must prove the relationship between the condition and the waiver. Most of the time, you have not proven your case with just the medical records and the qualifying relative's claim in his/her letter that there is a relationship between the medical condition and the waiver. For example, if you have a qualifying relative that developed stomach problems after the alien was deported and he/she is claiming a relationship between the two, you are going to need more than medical records. You need a doctor's letter attesting to the appearance of the condition AFTER the deportation, the absence of the condition prior to the deportation, and a medical opinion that this condition could be entirely stress-related. If you're arguing that the person cannot get treatment for that condition in the alien's home country, you need to prove that somehow, maybe with a letter from a doctor in alien's home country or some sort of article describing the absence of treatment for that condition. If you're arguing that the qualifying relative can't move to Pakistan because she needs a liver transplant, provide articles saying there have never been any liver transplants in Pakistan unless they brought in foreign doctors.
Medical documents for someone the qualifying relative is taking care of: I can't say this too many time: It is not enough to prove that the qualifying relative has a sick or elderly relative; you have to show what this has to do with the waiver. Medical records and doctor's letters saying how sick the USC's mom or dad (or other person) is will not prove your case. You have to prove that the qualfying relative is taking care of this person and/or the alien was taking care of this person. A letter from a doctor needs to state the following: diagnosis, prognosis, physical limitations, need for care, and who the caregiver is (if known). For example, a doctor's letter might state "Patient has severe back problems which, at her age, will only worsen until she has to have surgery. Even with surgery, a full recovery to normal back function is not expected. Patient has trouble standing for long periods of time and might not be able to perform normal household tasks, such as washing the dishes. Patient has trouble carrying anything, such as groceries. Patient may have trouble getting in and out of the bathtub. This patient will need assistance with ordinary household chores and basic hygiene. It is not recommended that she live alone. I understand that she lives with her adult son, who currently brings her to her appointments. If he were to leave, I would recommend that she move to an assisted living facility, which her insurance does not cover. It is noted that in the past, Patient's daughter-in-law, Alien, used to bring Patient to her appointments." You can back the doctor's letter up with a few choice medical records.
Additional documentation of caring for sick/elderly relative: In addition to the doctor's letter, you need letters from friends, relatives, clergy and fellow parishoners attesting to the fact that from a layman's perspective, that person needs assistance from the qualifying relative and/or alien and that it is, in fact, the qualifying relative or alien that provides this assitance and that its been tough on qualifying relative since Alien has been gone, or it would be tough. People writing letters should provide anectodes of person observations, e.g.: "When so-and-so comes to church, usually her son-in-law, Alien, drives. He helps her out of the car and assists her in climbing the stairs to the santuary. While he's doing this, so-and-so's daughter, Alien's wife, takes their baby to the nursery. I'm not sure how so-and-so's daughter could accomplish both of these tasks by herself on Sunday morning without her husband." Its just a little story, but very illustrative.
[there's more, but this is a long post and I have to split it up]