DACA to PERM-i-140 through work(EB-2) with i-601a - Anyone else in similar situation?

Hi everyone,

I recently have been notified by my future employer(a medium sized university in New England) that they have agreed to sponsor me for a greencard through the Eb-2 classification. I've spoken to 2 lawyers who believe I have enough for a case to get a i-601a approved. Which means if the i-601a gets approved then I will be doing my final consular interview back in my home country in South America.

I know there is a separate thread on i-601a but it seems to be mostly for people with spouses and kids. My situation is that my parents have greencards and so I have to prove extreme hardship for them.

I'm just curious if anyone else has been in a similar situation as mine, where they filed a Labor Certification and i-140 through work (rather than a i-130 through family). And also about anyone that has filed the i-601a through their parents, rather than a spouse or children. And if you can share your experience, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again!

My understanding is that the hardship waiver based on parents is very difficult unless your parents are completely dependent on you and only you to maintain decent living situation (e.g. illness/disability).

But if two lawyers think you have a case, why not go for it. Sorry if I don't have any illuminating info.

Yes I've been told that it would be very difficult. Do you know if a rejected i-601a would put you in deportation proceedings? And if you would even be able to apply for the i-601a again?

Having worked on cases like that (hardship to parents) it's definitely doable. As long as they're kinda old and have any medical or psychological issues you can definitely get approved. People have this weird notion that your relative will literally die without you to get a waiver approved and that's not true.

For the most part, USCIS doesn't care at all how you're seeking a green card (DV Lottery, I-130, I-140, I-360, I-526, as the principal or a derivative), they only require you to have an approved and current visa petition when you file I-601A.

I have previously worked at a law office and we did quite a few combinations of I-601As.

1. Multiple IR with qualifying relative being the petitioning spouse (USC).
2. F-1 with qualifying relative being the petitioning parent (USC).
3. F-4 with qualifying relative being the mother of applicant (LPR)
4. EB-3 with qualifying relatives being both parents (LPR), in this case we actually had them petitioned by the applicant's USC sister while we were doing his I-140.

We also had a few I-601s for other reasons:
CIMT waiver connected to a I-526 petition and adjustment of status, qualifying relatives were the principal spouse (LPR) and daughter (LPR)
CIMT waiver for a returning resident before an immigration court, qualifying relatives being both parents (LPR)
Misrepresentation waiver connected to I-130 by daughter and AOS, qualifying relative being the spouse (LPR)
I-612 foreign residency requirement waiver connected to I-130 by the spouse, the qualifying relatives were the spouse (USC) and son (USC)


Honestly, unless your relative never had a complaint in their life you can always find something to use. There's a few things to consider:
1. The "extreme hardship" standard isn't insurmountable.
2. You control the narrative, you chose what parts to focus on, you chose which parts to avoid. Yeah you might get an RFE to prove your assertions a bit further but that's kinda it.
3. The standard for evidence is "preponderance of evidence" or in simple English - more likely than not.

tl;dr - He'll be fine.

Thank you! This is very helpful! For the longest time, I've always I thought there would be no hope for me. I've been so surprised of all the options that one has once an immediate relative has a greencard.

Thank you for sharing your experiences in the law office you worked in. In all of the experience you had, did anyone have their i-601/i-601a denied?

None that I know of, we did have quite a few RFEs but at that point you do two things: You give them what they want, and you can re-argue the case to add some other details, or clarify something that they're questioning by adding another statement to the pile of evidence.

At the time I quit most of these were either approved or still pending. We didn't have a single denial.

The CIMT waiver for the I-526 guy I think was pending for close to two years and I think that's really the only one that might be denied just because his offense was pretty severe (bribing a judge) and there wasn't anything too compelling with his family, wife and daughter were both healthy, these are investors so they definitely have enough money. We argued quite a lot of things:
1. His offense would've qualified under the petty offense exemption if he received a speedy trial (he spend like 200 days in jail waiting for his trial and was sentenced to time served, literally walked free out of the courtroom once he actually appeared before one)
2. Giving gifts to judges in China is basically seen as customary and the government started cracking down on it ex post facto
3. Risk to his safety and possibly safety of the entire family should they return due to anti-capitalist sentiments still present in China
4. Need for family unity - mutual emotional support, daughter in need of a father figure
5. Desirability of an additional source of income here in US
Probably some other minor points. Like this is the only waiver that I did that I have no idea about the likely outcome. USCIS would likely issue an RFE rather than an outright denial so it's likely his case just kinda sat around. Like the problem wasn't exactly the hardship itself we argued, it was what the guy did. If we had this argumentation (except point 1 for obvious reasons) for an I-601A for unlawful presence then yeah it'd definitely be approved.


All others I am pretty confident would get approved.

It' nice to be able to talk to someone who had first hand experience with working in a law firm. I'm deciding between two lawyers (the free one that my employer provides) or my personal attorney I've been speaking with (who would charge about $6000 but who I know is very good). Do you think the quality of an attorney matters? I've helped my family before with immigration filings before. For example, I did my sister's i-751 and helped her gather the evidence. I also helped my parent's RFEs when they filed for a greencard. And I already have many ideas on what evidence I can gather for this case. So I was just wondering if getting a lawyer who may not have as much experience filing an i-601a can be detrimental? Or does it not matter who I choose.

If you have the means then definitely retain an attorney who specializes in this area. Get yourself some peace of mind. Think about it as an investment in your future, $6k is nothing in the grand scheme of things. To give you an idea, I will be paying$13k-$15k granted my case is a bit more complicated but still.

I'm not Demise, but I think you should get an attorney who has experience with that type of waiver. They need to know what kind of proof you need to provide and they need to know how to write a convincing brief. I applied for the 601-A based on my parents, and they're not dying or destitute, but our attorney said we were able to come up with enough reasons as to why I should get the waiver. We'll see in a couple of months if she was right.

Thanks everyone! But you're all totally right. For my peace of mind it's worth it to get someone who has more experience with this.

@NotADreamerPerSe, keep us updated on how it goes when you hear back. I won't be doing mine until late this year, as I still need an i-140 approved.