SUCCESS  STORIES 
                                                                         
In  this  section  you  will  find,  true  facts  and  circumstances  of  cases  relating to  numerous  clients  represented  by John A.Nicelli Immigration Attorney.   The  clients  names  have  been  removed  for  Protection  of  their  Privacy. You are welcome to schedule a consultation, Please click here:      CONTACT US      Fill out the form and call us.  (212) 227-8020

(NEW CASE - June 2, 2010)

In Oct. 2008 Mr. John A. Nicelli filed an I-140 visa petition for an individual whose labor certification was approved. The position was for a cook in a Italian Style restaurant. The original petition was denied claiming that the employer did not have sufficient funds to pay the prevailing wage. The founder of the business had passed away during the labor certification process. As a result of his death his wife and daughter took control of the business. With the death of the restaurant founder and the economic crisis effecting many restaurant businesses receipts were down but the founders wife remained on the payroll. After receipt of the denial Mr.Nicelli filed to reconsider the denial of the petition arguing that the U.S.C.I.S. failed to consider the employers salary as being available revenue in the future and the total assets of the business. This motion was denied. Mr. Nicelli then filed for a second motion to reconsider and provided numerous financial records of the business verifying the employers ability to pay the offered wage. The second motion was denied based on the same resoning that the employer did not demonstrate their ability to pay the offered wage. Despite this Mr.Nicelli would not give up and filed an appeal of the second denied motion. After considering all the arguments made by Mr.Nicelli the U.S.C.I.S. finally agreed that Mr.Nicelli's resoning was correct and approved the petition filed. Both the employer and the beneficiary are estatic. Once the application for adjustment of status is approved this immigrant wiil be a lawful permenant resident. 



John A.Nicelli  filed a number of Labor certifications for a Marble and Granite Co.The position was that of a Stone Polisher.  The wage for the position was twelve dollars per hour. After submission of the labor certification under Pre-Perm procedures the Department of Labor requested that the wage offer be changed to twenty seven dollars per hour.  After vigorously challenging the wage, The NYS Department of Labor agreed that the wage stated by John A.Nicelli was in fact the correct wage for this position. All the Labor Certification applications filed by the employer were approved. 

In the summer of 2008 a Mexican National came to John A.Nicelli with a Denial notice of his I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition. After an evaluation of the employers Tax returns , John A.Nicelli realized that the employer was a sole proprietor and filed his taxes with U.S.Tax form Schedule C . The employers net income in the business was slightly below the prevailing wage. However the employer had a very substantial personal income.  After being retained John A.Nicelli filed a new petition.   After explaining and demonstrating to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that the employer had sufficient income to pay the wage,the petition was approved. The immigrant was allowed to file for adjustment of status. In october 2009 the immigrant was granted permanent Residence.

In another recent case a N-600 application was filed by John A.Nicelli for a client in order to obtain a certificate of Citizenship.  The immigrant who had a felony conviction was previously found by an Immigration Judge to be a U.S.citizen.  At the time of  birth, his father was a U.S. citizen and as a result he was determined to be a U.S. citizen.  As a result, the Deportation proceedings previously initiated were terminated. After an interview in the New York District, the application was denied.  The Immigration Authorities claimed that the individual was not a U.S. Citizen , despite the Immigration Judge finding that he was.  Upon receiving this outrageous and improper decision, John A.Nicelli filed an appeal with the U.S. Office of Administrative Appeals. Within three months of filing the appeal, the decision was overturned. Despite this, The NY District Office did not schedule the individual to be issued a Certificate of Citizenship.  As a result, a number of inquiries were made escalating each inquiry to a higher authority. When the NY District Director was informed of the situation and realized how  inappropriately the office personnel had conducted themselves, the individual was scheduled for an appointment and issued his Certificate of Citizenship.  

In the summer of 2008 a Polish immigrant came to see John A.Nicelli with his twenty year old son.  He showed John Nicelli a decision denying his I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition and  a denial of the appeal filed to the Administrative Appeals unit in Washington D.C.  Upon John Nicelli's review of the documentation submitted he realized that the I-140 could have been approved.  After being retained John.Nicelli filed a petition explaining in great detail why the employer continued to have the ability to pay the prevailing wage. Within a few months the petition was approved and this immigrant and his family were allowed to file for Adjustment of Status before the son's 21st Birthday.  In October 2009 the adjustment of status applications were approved and the entire family have received their Permanent Residence.  The immigrants former attorney failed to understand the employer's taxes and failed to explain why the decision made was improper. Had this family not come to John Nicelli when they did they likely would have been placed in Removal Proceedings. 
 

In January, 2008, an Italian citizen recently married was traveling with his U.S. citizen wife on an Amtrak train from Chicago to New York City.  Although being married to a citizen, the immigrant had not filed to obtain a Legal Status in the U.S. As a result , he remained illegally in the U.S. after having arrived in 1996. After the train stopped in Rochester N.Y.,the U.S. Border Patrol entered the train and asked the Immigrant and his wife for identification.  When it was determined that he was illegally in the U.S., he was immediately arrested and placed in immigration custody.  He was subsequently brought to the Batavia Detention Center, located near Buffalo,N.Y. Since the immigrant arrived in the U.S. with a Visa waiver as most Europeans do, he was not entitled to a bond nor a hearing before an Immigration Judge.  Many tourists do not realize that when they travel to the U.S. using a Visa Waiver, they are waiving thier right to contest the possibility of being deported later with few exceptions. When John A.Nicelli was asked to represent the immigrant, he was already in custody and arrangements were about to be made for his Removal from the U.S. John Nicelli was  able to convince the Immigration Authorities that the immigrant had spent most of his life in the U.S. He was well educated, had no criminal background and was unlikely to depart secretly or hide himself. As a result of being married to a U.S. citizen, he would be eligible to adjust status, if given the opportunity. After some negotiating, John A.Nicelli was able to have the immigrant released from custody on his own recognizance with the understanding he would be required to report to the Immigration Authorities in N.Y., after his release.  Once he was released, an application to adjust status was filed. At the interview held in the N.Y. district, the application was approved and the order of removal was withdrawn.  The immigrant is now a permanent Resident of the U.S. John A.Nicelli can assure everyone reading this story that he and his wife will never forget thier Honeymoon.

A very interesting case was successfully handled by John A.Nicelli, involving a Labor Certification filed by a contractor. At the time the labor certification was filed, the position was for that of a secretary. After the labor certification application was certified by the U.S. Department of Labor, the immigrant was able to file for adjustment status. While the adjustment of status application was pending, the employer married the secretary who he offered employment to. John A.Nicelli was able to demonstrate that the recruitment and labor certification process was bonafide since the employer and the employee were not in a relationship while the labor certification application was pending. Since a legitimate job offer still existed at the time of the interview, the application for adjustment of status was approved. The employer and his wife eventually had two children while she continued her employment at her husbands business.

In the spring of 2009 a Dominican immigrant came to John A.Nicelli, who had already been married to a U.S. citizen. The problem was that the Dominican immigrant had been in the U.S. for many years and had traveled to the Dominican Republic after being illegally in the U.S. The purpose of his travel to the Dominican Republic was to bring his son to the U.S. whom had a heart defect.  He returned to Santo Domingo after years of being in an illegal status in the U.S. he applied for and obtained a Tourist Visa to enter the U.S.  He never informed the Consulate that he had been in the U.S. for the past six years illegally. The immigrant was not entitled to re-enter the U.S. due to his previous illegal presence. After evaluating the situation John A.Nicelli prepared  waivers for Fraud and Illegal presence based on extreme hardship to the immigrants U.S. citizen spouse. Shortly after the interview the application for adjustment of status was approved and the waiver filed was granted.
 
In the year 1996 a Polish national was represented by an attorney who has since been Disbarred. The attorney withdrew the immigrants application for suspension of Deportation and told her to accept an order of voluntary departure. Since the immigrants daughter was a lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder) the former attorney told the immigrant that she would not have to leave the U.S. and would be able to change her status when her daughter became a U.S.citizen. Of course this was not exactly true because in order for the immigrant to file an application for adjustment of status after the voluntary departure period expired, a motion to reopen proceedings had to be filed. When the voluntary departure period was about to expire the immigrant called her attorney and she was repeatedly advised not to worry and not to do anything. After the voluntary departure period expired she repeatedly tried to contact her attorney and he would not return her calls. After a number of years of living in the U.S. with a final order of deportation the immigrant was able to contact John A.Nicelli who immediately filed a joint motion to reopen deportation proceedings. After an extended period of time passed the government attorneys refused to join in a motion to reopen proceedings. The immigrant who was now (63) sixty-three years old and living with her daughter and her family was later arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents. John A.Nicelli than filed a motion with the Immigration Judge based on the gross incompetence of the immigrants former attorney. The Immigration Judge reopened the proceedings, the immigrant filed for an adjustment of status and soon is expected to finally become a Permanent Resident.

In early 2001, John A.Nicelli was contacted by an employer whom he knew for a number of years. The employer wanted to help a homeless man who was living in an abandoned car outside the employer's business. Despite the man's economic situation John A.Nicelli spoke to this man and learned that he had been an auto mechanic for many years in the Caribbean and had lost his job in the U.S. This resulted in him losing his apartment. Eventually his wife left him as did his children because he was unable to provide for them. John A.Nicelli informed the employer that if he was willing to offer the man employment at his Ambulance Company he would be able to eventually become a Permanent Resident. The employer agreed and a Labor Certification Application was filed on the homeless man's behalf as a mechanic. The application was subsequently approved as was the I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition. John A.Nicelli then filed an application for Adjustment of Status. When the homeless man was granted employment authorization the employer hired him full time. He later became a Permanent Resident. The man now works full time for his employer, has his own apartment, has been able to accumulate some savings and has once again become a productive member of society. He is now back  with his wife and family and is forever grateful to John A.Nicelli who was intrusted in changing his life.

A Mexican immigrant came to John A.Nicelli after his employer agreed to file a Labor Certification on his behalf. The problem was that the alien was paid cash and the employer didn't declare a tremendous amount of income. The immigrant and his wife had just lost their (2) year-old child who suffered from a genetic heart defect. Despite the odds, John Nicelli took the case and convinced the employer to put the immigrant on the payroll. By doing this we were able to demonstrate that the employer had the ability to pay the offered wage since the immigrant was being paid the wage while the application for Labor Certification and the I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition were pending. All the applications were eventually approved and the immigrant and his wife became Permanent Residents.

Adjustment of Status with drastic age difference between the petitioner and the immigrant, John A.Nicelli has successfully handled a number of Adjustment of Status applications where the U.S. citizen petitioner was more than (30) years-older than the immigrant. When the U.S. Immigration Authorities receive such a case they generally assume that the marriage may be Fraudulent and often thoroughly investigate for any evidence of fraud. Despite significant age differences every case John Nicelli  has filed, has been approved because we were always able to demonstrate beyond any doubt that the marriage was true and bonafide.

In 2008 a client filed for Naturalization without the assistance of an attorney. In January 2009 he was interviewed concerning his application for Naturalization. At the interview he informed the examiner that he had been arrested in 1967 for a minor charge which was dismissed. The examiner requested a certificate of disposition from the court in order to verify that the charge was dismissed. When the alien went to the courthouse he was informed that there was no computerized record for any arrest which took place more than forty-(40) years ago. When he was unable to produce any record concerning his arrest his application for Naturalization was denied. He was informed that he was ineligible for Naturalization. The alien than retained my services to resolve the problem. Once retained I immediately filed an appeal. At the interview concerning the appeal I provided an F.B.I. fingerprint report, a N.Y.C. Good Conduct Certificate and verification that the alien was never an inmate in the N.Y.S. Correctional System. In addition I provided other information verifying that the alien had no pending unresolved criminal arrest. After additional background checks were conducted by the U.S.C.I.S. they finally agreed that we had met our burden of proof and that my client was eligible to become a U.S. Citizen. In Febuary 2010 he attended a Naturalization Oath Ceremony in the U.S. Federal Court Eastern District in Brooklyn , New York and became a U.S.Citizen.

"A NAME YOU CAN TRUST".    John A.Nicelli Esq.
     "There is no excuse for Failure". 
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