Our client and his family fled religious persecution and found refuge in the United States. His wife was granted asylum as the principal applicant; he received protection through her as a derivative asylee. Together they built an honest, stable life here. So when he sat for his green card interview and answered every question truthfully, he had no reason to expect what followed. That honesty — not a lie — nearly cost the family everything. USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny on his Form I-485, charging him with fraud under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i). We responded with a Form I-602 waiver built around the full truth of his life, and on May 8, 2026, his green card was approved.
Years earlier, our client had entered the United States on a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. On the application, he listed an ordinary purpose for the trip — tourism and medical treatment. He did not write the real reason; he could not. The truth was that practicing his faith had become dangerous in his home country, and that he and his family hoped to find protection in America. That was not something he could safely disclose on a form tied to the very government he was trying to escape.
After the family was granted asylum — his wife as the principal asylee, and our client as her derivative beneficiary — he filed Form I-485 to become a lawful permanent resident. At his interview, an officer asked him plainly why he had come. He answered honestly: he had feared persecution, he had always hoped to remain here in safety, and — when asked — he acknowledged that he had not disclosed that intention when he obtained his tourist visa.
The officer treated that candor as a misrepresentation. The reasoning was straightforward: because his visa application stated “tourism” while his actual intent was to live here and seek protection, USCIS concluded he had willfully misrepresented his purpose. Under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i), such a finding can render a person inadmissible — in practical terms, barred from a green card. On that basis, USCIS issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID): a formal warning that his application was about to be refused, with only a few weeks to respond.
On paper, a Notice of Intent to Deny is a procedural step. For this family, it threatened everything they had rebuilt. Our client was the anchor of the household. A denial would not simply close a file. It would pull the ground out from under a family that had already endured so much — jeopardizing his status, straining a household that leaned on him, and leaving him stranded between a country he could not safely return to and a system preparing to send him back.
He had weeks to answer. Many applicants — and many attorneys — would have read the word “fraud” and concluded the case was over. We did not.
The NOID itself revealed the path forward. USCIS acknowledged that a waiver existed for precisely this situation — and faulted our client for not having pursued it. For those granted asylum, the law provides a remedy under INA § 209(c), filed on Form I-602, that allows USCIS to waive most grounds of inadmissibility, including a misrepresentation finding under § 212(a)(6)(C)(i).
So we filed it — not as a routine form, but as a fully developed case.
We prepared a complete I-602 waiver package that conveyed everything the visa application never could: the persecution the family had fled, the asylum lawfully granted, his wife’s health and her reliance on him, and the young child whose stability rested on a secure home. We documented the hardship to his family members, the favorable equities, and the conditions that made his fear of return well founded — and we placed the entire record before the officer ahead of the deadline, giving USCIS not merely permission to approve, but every reason to.
USCIS approved his green card just in days!
The approval made our client a lawful permanent resident of the United States. It secured the safety the whole family had crossed an ocean to find, preserved the asylum they had already earned, kept their household intact, and opened the path to U.S. citizenship. That is what a well-built waiver delivers — not merely an approval notice, but a family’s future restored to solid ground.
If there is a single lesson in this case, it is this: a Notice of Intent to Deny is not the end. Even a misrepresentation finding under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) — one of the most feared grounds in immigration law — can often be overcome with the right waiver, a thorough evidentiary record, and an attorney willing to tell your story in full.
A NOID is a written notice from USCIS stating that it intends to deny your application and explaining why. It typically allows about 30 days to submit additional evidence before a final decision is made.
Yes. A derivative asylee — someone granted asylum through a spouse or parent — may apply for a green card under INA § 209 and, where a ground of inadmissibility applies, file a Form I-602 waiver to overcome it.
Often, yes. Applicants who were granted asylum or refugee status may seek a Form I-602 waiver under INA § 209(c), which can waive most grounds of inadmissibility — including many misrepresentation findings.
Form I-602 is the Application by Refugee for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility. It allows someone with asylum or refugee status to ask USCIS to forgive an inadmissibility ground so they can obtain a green card.
Usually about 30 days from the date on the notice. Missing the deadline can result in denial, so it is important to act quickly.
At the Law Offices of Sabrina Li, we represent clients nationwide in adjustment of status (Form I-485), asylum-based and derivative asylee green cards, Notices of Intent to Deny, and inadmissibility waivers — including Form I-601 and Form I-602 waivers. Immigration is federal law, so from our Los Angeles headquarters we handle cases for clients in every state. We do not simply file forms. We build cases, and we pursue them until our clients have the future they came here for.
If you have received a Notice of Intent to Deny, or you are concerned that something on a prior visa application could jeopardize your green card, contact us before the deadline passes — wherever you are in the country. Call the Law Offices of Sabrina Li at (213) 375-8096 or email info@sabrinali.law.
Phone: (213) 375-8096
Email: info@sabrinali.law
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