Citizenship Case Study: JI

JI came to Symple for help with his citizenship petition. The time limit was up on his work-based Green Card, and it was time to apply for naturalization. This process is normally quite straightforward, but our client had a unique case that he was justifiably concerned about. Luckily, Symple could help.

Essentially, when JI had first applied for his Green Card, a careless mistake by the USCIS led to a stressful issue that took months to resolve.

JI was falsely accused of overstaying his visa, which meant that his Green Card application was denied and he was dragged into removal proceedings. To prove his innocence and get his application approved, he actually had to file a lawsuit in federal court against the USCIS. As the accusations against him were unfounded—merely a miscalculation by governmental authorities—he was granted his Green Card, but the mess remained a stain on his immigration records. When JI came to Symple, he was concerned that this stain would negatively affect his citizenship application.

We took on JI’s citizenship application and did what we do best: we kept it simple. We processed 150+ pages of documents and records of the client’s Green Card case, and worked with him to pull together a narrativized account of the facts. We strengthened his citizenship application with the relevant paperwork and prepared him for his interview with practice sessions. We made sure that JI knew the ins and outs of his own case to such a degree that he felt comfortable defending himself in his own words at the interview.

Our additional preparation and close work with our client paid off: his citizenship application was successful.