Agency erred when construing alien’s petition to remove certain conditions to her permanent resident status as result of her marriage to U.S. citizen as request by alien for waiver of joint petition requirement, under circumstances where alien’s husband had died during conditional period. As such, alien did not need said waiver because her husband’s death during conditional period automatically exempted her from joint-filing requirement. Moreover, IJ, when ultimately finding that alien was removable because alien had entered into sham marriage, improperly placed burden on alien to show that her marriage was bona fide instead of placing burden on govt. to show that her marriage was not bona fide. Thus, remand was required so that IJ can evaluate alien’s petition under proper legal standard.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Immigration