Mr. Nicelli has represented a number of clients who attended their Visa appointments in their home countries and were denied Visas due to previous unlawful presence in the U.S., lying to the Consular Office as to their mode of arrival in the U.S., failure to reveal previous arrest, as well as previous Orders of Removal.
I have noted a few of these stories below:
- In 2017, I represented a native and citizen of Montenegro who entered the U.S. using a Slovanian passport for which she paid nearly ten thousand dollars. For the fee charged she was escorted by a man from Montenegro to Germany and to the U.S. Upon arrival she presented the Slovanian passport with her escort and was admitted into the U.S. pursuant to the Visa waiver program. After entering the U.S., the client eventually married the love of her life and had four U.S. citizen children. After her husband became a U.S. citizen, she sought to correct her immigration status. Her representative told her that they would file the Visa petition as well as a I-601A provisional waiver to be forgiven for unlawful presence. After the petition and waiver were approved the client was told if anyone asked how she arrived in the U.S. to just state through Canada. As instructed the client went to her Visa appointment in Belgrade and upon inquiry told the Counselor Office that she had crossed the border through Canada. Upon further questioning the Counselor officer told her that her Visa was being denied because he did not believe her story. I was retained shortly after the Visa was denied. After considering the entire situation I filed a Visa Waiver application for misrepresentation. When the waiver application was submitted it contained nearly one thousand pages of supporting documents demonstrating the hardship that had already resulted to the applicant’s husband and minor children. The waiver was approved and within three weeks of receiving that approval the client arrived in the U.S. as a Permanent Resident. After her arrival the client called and said Mr. Nicelli there are no words that could express my gratitude for all you did for me and my family.
- In 2015 I was retained by a U.S. citizen whose husband had been deported to Albania. He had been placed in Removal proceedings due to an arrest involving a stolen car. He also had three other minor arrests. After appearing before an Immigration Judge he was ordered removed. An appeal was then filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals who also denied the Appeal. The client then retained a lawyer to represent him in the Second Circuit Court in New York for which he paid ten thousand dollars upfront. This appeal was also denied. Shortly thereafter Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents appeared at the client’s home, took him into custody, detained him for approximately one month and had him removed to Albania. When his wife contacted me, she was extremely distraught at the removal of her husband. I explained to her that we would first have to file a Visa petition. Once the Visa petition was approved, we then filed a waiver for the Order of Removal. Once this waiver was approved, he was then scheduled for a Visa appointment. However, a Visa had to be denied because he needed a second waiver for his criminal past. Mr. Nicelli was able to demonstrate that the crimes all took place when the client was a teenager at a time in his life when he was unduly influenced by some bad people who conspired with him to commit misdeeds. In addition, his wife was about to have a nervous breakdown all of which was documented. After the submission of hundreds of pages of supporting documents, the waiver was approved and the client joined his wife in the U.S. as a Lawful Permanent Resident.