Home > A Marriage Overcomes Immigration Barriers: A 3 Part Saga

A Marriage Overcomes Immigration Barriers: A 3 Part Saga

Part 1: When Love Isn’t Enough—They said Their Marriage Wasn’t Real

Have you ever worried that a small mistake in your immigration paperwork could destroy your family’s future? That almost happened to Mory and Sandra.

When Mory Met Sandra

Mory arrived in the U.S. from Senegal with little more than determination and hope. He worked long hours at jobs that demanded everything of him physically, work others would shy away from. But he did not complain. To him, every drop of sweat was an investment in a better future.

Then he met Sandra. She had her own journey, having immigrated from the Dominican Republic years before and becoming a U.S. citizen. At first, she was amused by Mory’s effort to learn Spanish just to connect with her culture. Soon, she was touched by his kindness, resilience, and the way he made her laugh even when life weighed heavily on her.

Sandra was 50 years old and had to leave her job to take care of her mother, who had become very ill.  The one constant bright spot in her life was Mory, who’s devotion never wavered, even though he was 10 years younger.  So, when he asked her to marry him, she did not hesitate to say yes.

But Love Was Not Enough for USCIS

Not long after they were married in the Fall of 2014, they started the process to file for Mory’s legal permanent resident status based on marriage to a U.S. citizen.  Sandra had already gone through her own immigration process and since they had limited funds, they relied on a “notary” to prepare their immigration papers. When they found themselves at their interview with an immigration officer, their case lacked most of the important financial evidence generally required for approval (i.e. joint taxes, bank records, leases, insurance, etc.). Their case was weak from the start.

Months later, investigators knocked on their door. They questioned their landlord with whom she had never had contact and neighbors Sandra barely knew. Neighbors who had rarely seen her because she spent most days at her sick mother’s side.

The investigators discovered other evidence from government agencies to support their conclusion that the marriage was immigration fraud.  Sandra had not updated her address on her driver’s license with the Registry of Motor Vehicles, so it listed a different address from her husband and their marital home.  In addition, the IRS records showed that they had not filed taxes together, “jointly,” for their first year of marriage, because the person who prepared Sandra’s taxes thought they could not file together since they were not married for most of the “Calendar” year.

Receiving a Request for Evidence (RFE) and a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID)

In 2017, USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) seeking information to refute the negative evidence that the investigators had collected.  The document was complicated, and difficult for Sandra and Mory to understand and respond to without legal assistance, so they simply did the best they could.  Unfortunately, this made things worse.

The person that prepared their application told them to send records from their joint bank account and photographs, and since they had both, this is what they sent. They did not know that photographs have little value as evidence in these cases, and because their joint bank account, only had Mory’s paycheck deposited into it and no transactions from Sandra, this would only hurt their case.

By 2018, USCIS had built a case that painted their love as a sham. They issued a Notice of Intent to Deny, threatening to dismantle everything they had built.

Would their bond survive a system that seemed determined to tear it apart?

Part 2: Taking the Fight to Court — A Marriage Under Attack

What would you do if the government refused to believe your marriage was real, no matter how much proof you gave them?

Starting Again from Scratch

By the time Mory and Sandra were referred to the immigration lawyers at FitzGerald Law Company, they were exhausted. Years of suspicion, knocks on the door from investigators, and nights spent worrying about losing each other had taken their toll.

Attorney FitzGerald knew their best alternative was to withdraw the old unsubstantiated marriage residency case and start fresh with a new I-130 marriage petition filing. With our team’s guidance, the couple gathered everything they had: joint health insurance, driver’s licenses listing their shared address, joint bank account with employer direct deposits and a history of the account’s usage to pay their bills, health insurance and medical records, and joint taxes — proof of a life built together, piece by piece. The new petition was filed, and they were confident this time the truth would prevail.

But USCIS refused to move on from the past. Instead of weighing the mountain of new evidence, they clung to the mistakes and deficiencies from the first application and once again they issued a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) their case.

Attorney FitzGerald objected to this with a legal memorandum explaining why USCIS should be focusing on the new application, instead of the prior one, and additional updated copies of financial records were provided.  USCIS overlooked all the new evidence and denied the petition anyway.

Maintaining a Valid Work Permit

Sandra and her husband were devastated. Mory was facing the cancellation of his work permit, which they needed to survive, so Attorney FitzGerald advised them to file an “administrative appeal,” with the Board of Immigration Appeals, which would allow Mory to keep working legally.

This should have been a simple case. The couple had now been collecting evidence in support of their marriage for years, so there was no logical reason to uphold the denial. Unfortunately, their appeal continued to linger for years without a decision.

Drained but not broken, the couple asked if there was anything else we could do. At that point our legal team decided to advice the couple to take a bold step and file a Writ of Mandamus (law suit in Federal Court) against USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security.  It would be expensive, time-consuming and difficult, but for Mory and Sandra who believed in their marriage and in justice, it was worth it.

Would the court finally recognize what USCIS refused to see — that theirs was a real marriage, bound by love and sacrifice?

Watch out for Part 3: After 10 Years…Justice at Last

Part 3: After 10 Years…Justice at Last

After 10 years of denials, delays, and court battles, Sandra and Mory finally received the news they had been waiting for.

First USCIS Lawsuit in Federal Court (Writ of Mandamus)

In 2020, after six years of struggle, FitzGerald Law Company filed a Writ of Mandamus lawsuit against USCIS in federal court in Boston for unreasonable delays in making a decision on an on Mory and Sandra’s marriage immigration residency petition. The U.S. Attorney’s Office admitted the record was too large to review within the 60-day deadline and asked for more time. Attorney FitzGerald advised granting the extension — a decision that proved strategic. After reviewing the case, the US Attorney’s Office agreed to vacate the denial and send the case back to USCIS for a new decision.

Responding to another Request for Evidence from USCIS and hoping this would surely be enough, the couple submitted more than 109 pages of new evidence — updated joint tax returns, bank accounts, and insurance records as proof of a marriage that had stood the test of time, even under extraordinary stress. But USCIS stalled for two years, seemingly waiting for their relationship to crumble. During this time, Mory couldn’t travel, had to pay to renew his work permit, and was not accruing time to be eligible to file for U.S. citizenship.

When a decision finally came, it was devastating: USCIS denied the petition again, citing deficiencies from the original 2014 application rather than the strong new evidence.

Second Lawsuit Against USCIS

With no administrative appeal available, the attorneys at FitzGerald Law Company filed a second federal lawsuit (Writ of Mandamus), this time not based on an unreasonable delay in adjudicating a petition but directly challenging USCIS’s erroneous denial of the I-130 petition for a spouse.

In court, the government produced the “Certified Administrative Record,” but our attorneys noticed it was incomplete. FitzGerald Law Company successfully prepared and argued a Motion to Expand the Record so the judge could see all the evidence of the marriage. Attorney FitzGerald also filed a Motion for Summary Judgment supported by financial evidence showing years of shared life. The government insisted that because the law specifically states that a marriage cannot be entered “solely” for immigration purposes, the first application was the most important and therefore should control.

Justice At Last — Their Love and Perseverance Finally Won

On the day of the hearing, Sandra sat quietly in the courtroom all day, even though she wasn’t required to testify. Her presence spoke louder than words. It was a symbol of her commitment. Observers could see it: this was no sham marriage, but a partnership forged through love, illness, financial hardship, and years of waiting. Before the judge could even issue a ruling, USCIS rescinded its denial and approved the I-130 family petition.

The timing was poetic. The approval arrived just as Sandra and Mory were preparing to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. After a decade of fear, uncertainty, and court battles, they finally had what they longed for: security and stability for their family, and a path to citizenship for Mory.

At FitzGerald Law Company, we celebrated too. Our entire team knew the clients and the case, and we had worked so hard on it for so many years. Their case was not just a legal victory, it was proof that with love, perseverance, courage and skilled advocacy, justice is possible.

If you’ve been told “no” by immigration, don’t lose hope. There may still be a way forward. Contact our Boston Immigration law firm, FitzGerald Law Company today for a consultation — your victory could be next: 617-303-2600 or fill out an online consultation request