Managing Partner Michael Wildes is proud of the Firm’s success in Marriage Cases
Wildes recounts: “Our client came to the U.S. on an H1B visa to work two decades ago. He established a life in the US working, paying taxes, and raising his U.S.-born children. The American dream had turned into a nightmare though as he spent the last nineteen years trying to resolve his immigration status. Our client’s I-130 was denied under INA § 204(c) due to USCIS finding that his prior marriage was a “sham entered into for immigration purposes.” The “204(c) marriage fraud finding” meant he was permanently barred from ever obtaining any legal status in the United States.”
The finding in his case was based in part on multiple Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) site investigations at his prior home and going as far as to pull school enrollment records to locate our client’s ex-wife at her home years later to solicit a statement from her. After the government made these serious allegations and he saw the extent they could go and the resources at their disposal, he retained Wildes & Weinberg. The firm appealed this case to the Board of Immigration Appeals, who agreed that the Government had not met their burden of proof and remanded the case for USCIS to issue a new decision based on the evidence. After a third interview, USCIS finally approved our client’s I-130 petition, and in so doing, conceded that the allegations of marriage fraud could not be proven.
Michael Wildes further commented: “Our client contacted us last week to express his gratitude and the deep relief he feels having received his full un-conditional green card in the mail, more than a decade after it was first denied. Our law firm continues to push back in cases where USCIS is jeopardizing a families’ ability to remain together due to concerns about prior marriages, unsuccessful/untraditional relationships, or other adverse history. We hold USCIS to their burden and are always up to the challenge”.
Wildes & Weinberg was founded in 1960 by Senior Partner, Leon Wildes. Nearly three quarters of a century later, the firm continues to concentrate its practice in all aspects of U.S. immigration and nationality law, servicing the immigration requirements of prominent American and International firms, banks, industrial, financial, and manufacturing concerns, as well as law firms in connection with the personnel needs of their foreign national employees.
In addition, the firm has a distinguished clientele and has done substantial immigration work for performing artists, directors, writers, models, actors/actresses, athletes, fine artists, art dealers, curators, and literary agents. Most notable was Leon Wildes’ successful representation of former Beatle John Lennon and his artist wife, Yoko Ono in their deportation proceedings, the basis of which has inspired legislation, and has been portrayed in films, plays, and literary works worldwide. Some of the firm’s other distinguished clients include scholar Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (z”l), as well as soccer icon Pele, Master Chef Jean-Georges and Former First Lady Melania Trump and her family.
Michael Wildes, the firm’s Managing Partner, is also currently serving his fourth term as Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, is the author of Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door (which draws on over a quarter of a century of his practice in the immigration field), is an Adjunct Professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, and serves as Counsel to Lincoln Center and several international/corporate law firms.
Despite difficulties currently being encountered in dealing with U.S. immigration authorities, the firm has maintained an extraordinary track record for success in its cases. The firm’s litigation group has expanded its efforts in filing Mandamus Actions and other Actions in Federal Courts throughout the nation.
In addition, Wildes & Weinberg’s multilingual staff is spread throughout its offices in New York City, Englewood, New Jersey, Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California (by appointment only) and are known for their experience and special expertise in processing each foreign national’s case with nothing less than the highest level of professionalism.
For more information on our firm please visit www.wildeslaw.com or contact Michael Wildes at michael@wildeslaw.com.