I know it’s been a tough 20 months. I hit a brick wall in the late summer/early fall and began to wonder when and if things would get better. I’m sure we’ve all had that moment at some point this year. The good news is that it does get better! I’ll talk more about some really great changes here at Klinke Immigration in a future post, but I wanted to share some positive notes and developments from our clients.
Suzanne came to the United States in 2006 and was immediately placed in deportation proceedings. She was ordered deported, but because she was a victim of horrific domestic violence, she applied for protection with a U visa. Her U visa was granted in 2012 and her deportation case was reopened and terminated the following year. In 2015 she became a lawful permanent resident. Last week, she was approved for Naturalization. It took 15 years, but Suzanne finally can live in full freedom!
Precious arrived in 2009. She filed for asylum in 2015, but we knew that her chances of success were near zero since she filed outside the one-year deadline. In 2019, though, Precious told us about her abusive U.S. citizen husband and we discussed filing a VAWA and Adjustment of Status application for her. It took three years, but her green card was just approved this week. We now get to look at bringing her son to the US – a son she hasn’t seen in over ten years.
We met Felipe in 2016, but he’d already been in the United States without authorization for 15 years. In this time, he got married and had two children. He needed to figure out a way to legalize his status to protect his family. When we talked about filing a waiver and consular processing, I know it felt like staring at the bottom of a giant mountain. We took it one step at a time and now, more than five years after our consultation, he has an immigrant visa and will be returning back to the United States in time for Thanksgiving.
Sometimes, it’s not about walking with someone on their full immigration journey, though. I had a consultation earlier this month and a young woman was frustrated with the K-1 fiancée visa process. There hadn’t been any movement on their case in over a year and she was about ready to call off everything – the visa, the relationship, everything. I was able to identify the issue during the consultation and provide her with the next steps. In less than a week, I received an email saying her fiancée finally has his visa appointment in January. Her email to me ended with this – “I am so relieved and this sure brings some happiness for the holidays.”
I think that’s a great note to end on. There are better days ahead. To get to those better days, though, we have to get started and then keep putting one foot in front of another. It could take 20 years, it could take 20 months or it could take 20 minutes, but you’ll get there.
-Tracie