Joseph Adams | West Hollywood Immigration Lawyer

Immigration Denied This Grammy-Winner A Greencard; How He Sued The Government and Won. British music producer Austen Jux-Chandler had been living and working in Los Angeles for several years on a temporary working visa called an “O-1.” Austen has worked with Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga, Paul Weller, A$AP Rocky, Plan B, John Legend, and The Weekend. In 2016 Austen won the “Album of the Year” Grammy Award for producing Adele’s “25.” As the pandemic hit in 2020 Austen kept busy — and he is in very high demand. Something struck him and he decided he wanted to make the transition from his O-1 visa, which has a fixed end date, into a greencard, which is permanent. He put it this way, “My life is here [in Los Angeles]. I want to open my own studio, and hire the musicians, and artists myself. I wanted to know my immigration was stable and long term.” He reached out to me in the height of the lockdown last Spring. I’d done immigration work for some of Austen’s colleagues and I was already familiar with his work and great reputation. Although we couldn’t meet in person we reviewed his qualifications together and quickly identified Austen as a great greencard candidate. There’s a special category of U.S. greencards given out to the best of the best. Technically referred to as an “I-140 EB-1A” petition, the U.S. allocates permanent residency status to “extraordinary” scientists, artists, educators, business people, or athletes who have “sustained national or international acclaim.” The simplest way to show extraordinary ability in the arts is through “evidence of a one-time achievement, that is, a major, internationally recognized award” such as Nobel Prize, Oscar, or Grammy. Receipt of an award like this means the greencard should be granted per se and no further analysis or evidence is required. Since most people haven’t won a Grammy, Nobel, etc., the way most people apply under this category is to show they match at least 3 of 10 “qualifying criteria.” So we adopted a “belt and suspenders” approach for Austen’s case — show he won the Grammy first, and second show that he matches at least 3 of the criteria. How embarrassing would it be for an immigration officer to second guess the merit of someone who has won an award like a Grammy — they would never do that, right? Who has that kind of Chutzpah? We filed Austen’s case with the Nebraska Service Center of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) over the Summer 2020. Why Nebraska? There’s only two immigration offices in the U.S. that process these applications: one in Nebraska and one in Texas; and you file in one office vs. the other depending on your residential address. Austen lives in California so we file in Nebraska. But apparently in Nebraska a Grammy isn’t a Grammy, or at least it isn’t a Grammy when it matters for immigration. In response to the case, USCIS issued a “Request for Evidence” in late January 2021. They stated, “the petitioner was nominated for Engineer/Mixer, Album of The Year, 2016 Grammy Awards. However, the record contains no evidence that the petitioner won this award. The record does not indicate that the petitioner was one of the named winners of the award.” I was genuinely confused. Had USCIS overlooked the section, separately tabbed, in full color, about the Grammy win? I reached out to Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who represents Austen in California’s 34th Congressional District. “Can you reach out to USCIS and point out their error, overlooking the award,” I asked. Recall Congressman Gomez was busy at that moment contending with the antics of Marjorie Taylor Greene, but his staff was on top of it. Congressman Gomez’s office was great — they reached out to top USCIS brass and quickly saw the issue and pressed USCIS to approve the case. “I did argue that winning a Grammy award should be sufficient evidence to grant the I-140,” they wrote. USCIS doubled down and told us to respond to their RFE and that the RFE had not been issued in error. We responded with full color photos and links to the grammy.com website as further proof of Austen’s win. USCIS denied the case on February 19, 2021. The totality of USCIS’ denial decision under the “major, internationally recognized prize or award” section is as follows: “The evidence does not show that you received a major, internationally recognized prize or award. As a result, the evidence must demonstrate that you have fulfilled at least three of the 10 criteria listed in the regulations.” No argument. No analysis. Barely an acknowledgement we had made the argument to begin with. However, under the section in the denial related to the ten qualifying criteria USCIS stated: “[Y]ou have provided sufficient documentation to establish that you meet the following regulatory criterion: Documentation of the alien’s receipt of lesser nationally or internationally recognized prizes or awards for excellence in the field of endeavor. 8 C.F.R. 204.5(h)(3)(i). The record shows that you were one of the mixer/engineers for Adele’s Album of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards for which you received a Grammy statuette. This, however, is not a Grammy Award, but recognition that you and your group worked on an album that garnered a Grammy Award Album of the Year. Accordingly, your statuette does not qualify as a one-time achievement that is a major, internationally recognized award. This notwithstanding, we recognize this accomplishment as a lesser nationally or internationally recognized award for excellence in the field of endeavor.” I had to read that a few times. “This … is not a Grammy Award … your statuette does not qualify.” I had flashbacks to a college English course in postmodern literature I’d took in 1998 or 1999. Alice in Wonderland growing up to adulthood and still talking to white rabbits in waistcoats. Discussing the meaning of “Jabberwocky.” Rene Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images” (or as I know it in my mind “This is Not a Pipe”) I started thinking of the last four years of “alternative facts” and “truth isn’t truth.” Is it not a Grammy the same way Biden is not president? Is the actual Grammy for 2016 Album of the Year hiding along with those those 11,780 votes in Georgia? Does the immigration service really think that a Grammy award isn’t in fact a Grammy award? If USCIS gets to ignore and mischaracterize this kind of evidence, that is so clear and unambiguous, what’s to stop them when the facts are more subtle, where the evidence isn’t as obvious? I snapped out of that quickly enough and called Austen with the bad news and my most American of recommendations, “lets sue the government.” “Suing the government” conjures a lot of emotions in immigrant communities. Most of that is brought on by what they know of their home country government, and what they perceive from the U.S. government. The most common concern is that the government will retaliate. I get this concern even from Brits and Australians. Point taken, although I know of no instance of retaliation for suing the U.S. government. The question we had is one of practicality. Will the bad USCIS decision be something a U.S. attorney wants to defend? U.S. attorneys are before the same judges day in and day out. Defending a bad agency decision burns credibility with the judge, and adds to an already jammed docket for the U.S. attorney. Then again, if you want to draw this fight out the U.S. attorney and Justice Department has resources at its disposal most Fortune 500 companies do not. There’s also the possibility the Judge ultimately decides against us, upholding a bad USCIS decision and giving greater latitude to USCIS to make more bad decisions in the future. In this case, Austen and I felt we couldn’t let this bad decision stand and whatever risk was offset by our belief that we would ultimately prevail on these facts. To my relief he was on board! We brought on board another litigator — Brian S. Green out of Littleton, Colorado. Brian was the point person at his firm for suing the government over delayed production of work permit cards, travel permits, and greencards. He knows the mechanics of the system like no one else I know. We filed our lawsuit naming the USCIS Director, the Homeland Security Secretary, the Attorney General, and of course the Nebraska Service Center Director, on February 25, 2021. A lawsuit like this is made under the prosaicly-titled “Administrative Procedures Act.” Under the APA a person adversely affected by an agency action is entitled to judicial review — effectively the trial court acts as a court of appeal from the agency. The court has broad authority to set aside any agency action that is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” We argued, “Defendant USCIS failed to identify any facts supporting its conclusion that ‘[t]he evidence does not show that [Plaintiff] received a major, internationally recognized prize or award.’ USCIS offers no facts or analysis to contradict the plain language statements made by the Recording Academy that the petitioner-plaintiff won the Grammy award himself. In fact, in suggesting it has ‘sufficient documentation’ that Plaintiff’s Grammy award for ‘Album of the Year’ is a ‘lesser … prize or award for excellence’ USCIS would seem to reinvent what the Grammy award is — turning the highest honor into a lesser prize. This would be an absurd outcome, if USCIS were allowed to arbitrary decide who wins Grammy awards for purposes of the INA and implementing regulations.” On March 9, 2021 USCIS emailed me their standard “approval” email — just 7 full working days since we filed. Case approved. No fanfare. A few hours later an assistant U.S. attorney sent Brian and me an anodyne email to let us know she’d been assigned the case, that the greencard had been approved, and to please dismiss the lawsuit. The bad decision wouldn’t be defended; we won. Journalist Sarah Stillman of The New Yorker produced an epic accounting of the damage done over the Trump years to the lawful system of immigration in the United States. “The Damage” chronicles the small, unpublicized changes that made real differences in people’s lives in asylum cases: “The Presidency of Donald Trump may be defined, in part, by his assaults on the immigration system, many of which are well known. … in the past several years, [human rights lawyer] Flamm and her colleagues at the Door have also found themselves pitted against an extensive, unpublicized bureaucratic effort to transform immigration through rule changes, adjustments to asylum officers’ guidelines, modifications to enforcement norms, and other measures.” In the world of “extraordinary abiltiy” greencards, we measured a sharp decrease in the approval level over the past four years. To date, no one has been able to account for the decrease in approval rates. There was no rule change during this timeframe. At least, there was no rule change that was announced publicly. I am not the first immigration lawyer who notes that with Trump the chaos wasn’t a bug — it was a feature. I am happy for the outcome in Austen’s case. But Austen has resources, lawyers, and speaks English as his primary language. I worry about the unknown rules, chaotic implementation, and defiant USCIS officers still impacting unknown people who would have been able to avail themselves of U.S. immigration laws but for errors of the kind Austen faced, confronted, and ultimately prevailed against.

Planning. Patience. Persistence.

Immigration law is a not for the faint of heart. You should look for someone willing to stick by your side in the good times and bad times.

Subject matter knowledge about a person\'s career path is critical.

I need a potential client to be honest with me about their history and goals and we can work from there.

The \"its approved\" phone call always makes me smile.

I co-founded and sit on the board of Influence The World, a global non profit run entirely by volunteers. Building off our recent success in helping people in #Tijuana, #Kyiv, and #Berlin, Influence The World led a team of dedicated young people to Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam in October 2022. Our team was able to visit 6 different orphanages aiding over 1,000 children. We were able provide them with 4-6 months worth of food, school supplies, cleaning supplies, clothes, shoes, ect. We also distributed lucky red envelopes with 100,000 VND notes - about $4.19 - that will buy food for one person for a week. Stigma about blindness, deafness, single motherhood, and Leprosy are prevalent in Vietnam. Many orphans here have families but they don’t visit. We were able to shake their hands and hug them and put some smiles on their faces. This was all made possible by your donations and continued support for Influence The World. Stay tuned to see what we have in store for 2023. Want to know more about #InfluenceTheWorld and how you can get involved? Please follow our Facebook page or Instagram @influencetheworld_org or click the link below. Influence The World is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers

• Member | California State Bar Association
  

• Herbert G. Klein Award for Service, Finalist
  L.E.A.D. San Diego
  2007
  
  Dean's Award for Exceptional Service
  Dean Rex Perschbacher
  2005

• Jux Chandler v. USCIS
  USCIS denial reversed into an approval; Greencard issued

• Davos - World Economic Forum
  The Africa Coalition Launch
  2023
  
  The Hollywood Reporter
  Trump’s Immigration Ban Wreaks Havoc in Hollywood: Foreign Stars and Casting Impacted
  
  Variety
  Visa Line Grows with Pilot Season
  
  BECTU Freelancer's Fair
  Diamond Visas for Artists and Entertainers
  
  London Screenwriters Festival 2013
  Getting a Visa and Working in Hollywood

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How DJ Erol Sabadosh Went from Bosnia, to London, to International Acclaim in New York  (2023-03-08 22:50:01)
Erol Sabadosh is one of the UK’s most in-demand DJs, remix artists and social media influencers in the entertainment and nightlife industry. Erol has had residencies at such establishments as the NY-based Tao Group, Fleur Room, Phoenix, Home Sweet Home and TMPL Gym. His performances at such major events as New York City Pride, 3 Dollar Bill, Public Hotel NY, New York Fashion Week, Launch of the FILA Mindblower Popup Powered by Ciroc, and the Casablanca Records Celebration have earned him international acclaim. Erol's work featured in such prominent showcases as the Drawing Fashion – Exhibition Launch at the London Design Museum, entertainment programming for the Ace Hotel, the I Heart 3 NY, Vol. 1 dance music compilation album and the Gorgon City Podcast, and clubs including Wyld Wednesdays at W London Hotel, London Fashion Week, Circus, and Noir at Notting Hill Arts Club. His original mixes have helped define the sonic identity of events for such distinguished fashion and beauty brands as MAC Cosmetics, Julia Roitfeld, Gigi Barcelona Eyewear, Refinery29, Vivienne Westwood, and Christian Lacroix, and his work has been featured on releases by such labels as TRAX Records and Mi7 Records. But it was a discussion with legendary nightlife impresario Jodie Harsh, herself an international DJ, who set him on his course to the United States. A far cry from his native Bosnia, where he fled at age 5 with his mother to escape the Yugoslav civil war. Erol is now on his third O-1 visa. You can find him On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erolsabadosh/ and SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/erol_sabadosh New episodes all the time - please subscribe! I get asked a lot about the practice of immigration law. Its always in the news, and some of the biggest celebrities on the planet are U.S. immigrants (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergey Brin, Justin Bieber, Mila Kunis) Got a U.S. immigration question or issue you'd like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments! All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015). Typical legal disclaimer from a lawyer (occupational hazard): This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney client relationship. This communication may be construed as legal advertising in some areas.

How Dancer David Ratcliffe went from an O1 Visa to an EB1 Greencard to the Las Vegas Strip  (2023-03-08 22:55:15)
David Ratcliffe is one of the most sought-after dancers in the world. He has appeared with Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and on Ellen. He’s toured with The X Factor, The Voice, and recently completed his third world tour with RuPaul’s Drag Race “Werq The World.” He has performed with such legendary queens as Bianca Del Rio, Latrice Royale, Eureka O’Hara, and Courtney Act, just to name a few. He is now performing nightly at the Flamingo in Las Vegas with RuPaul’s Drag Race Vegas. He’s as far away from his native Chorley, England as you can imagine, splitting his time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. David has also worked with top brands including Coca Cola, Sony Ericsson, Umbro, Schwarzkopf, Swatch, L’Oreal, BMW and Selfridges. He has been prominently featured in some of the fashion and beauty industry’s top showcases, including Asian Wedding Exhibition, Men’s Fashion Week Milan, Schwarkopf Essential Looks Global Tour, Salon International, Clothes Show London, Berlin Fashion Week, and Berlin Fashion Week. He is very active on social media - here are his accounts: https://www.instagram.com/davidratcli... https://www.facebook.com/davidratclif... New episodes all the time - please subscribe! I get asked a lot about the practice of immigration law. Its always in the news, and some of the biggest celebrities on the planet are U.S. immigrants (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergey Brin, Justin Bieber, Mila Kunis) Got a U.S. immigration question or issue you'd like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments! All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015). Typical legal disclaimer from a lawyer (occupational hazard): This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney client relationship. This communication may be construed as legal advertising in some areas.

How Can I Expedite My Case With Immigration?  (2023-03-08 22:56:24)
Why is your case stuck at Immigration? How can it be taking so long? USCIS has a few methods to expedite a case that's been filed. Check out USCIS' official webpage: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/filing-gu... Here's what they say: "You may ask USCIS to expedite adjudication of a benefit request (such as an application or petition) for an immigration benefit. USCIS: Considers all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis; May require additional documentation to support a request; and Has the sole discretion to decide whether to accommodate a request. The grounds to expedite are vague, but they are: Severe financial loss to a company or person, provided that the need for urgent action is not the result of the petitioner’s or applicant’s failure to: Timely file the benefit request, or Timely respond to any requests for additional evidence; Emergencies and urgent humanitarian reasons; Nonprofit organization (as designated by the Internal Revenue Service) whose request is in furtherance of the cultural or social interests of the United States; U.S. government interests (such cases identified as urgent by federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board, Equal Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or other public safety or national security interests); or Clear USCIS error. Here in this video we talk about how it actually works! New episodes all the time - Subscribe here: I get asked a lot about the practice of immigration law. Its always in the news, and some of the biggest celebrities on the planet are U.S. immigrants (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergey Brin, Justin Bieber, Mila Kunis) Got a U.S. immigration question or issue you'd like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments! All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015). Typical legal disclaimer from a lawyer (occupational hazard): This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney client relationship. This communication may be construed as legal advertising in some areas.

Why You Shouldn't Use Marijuana if You Want a Visa or Greencard  (2023-03-08 22:58:59)
While thinking about marijuana has come a long way in the past few decades it remains federally criminalized in the United States. That means people wanting to enter the U.S. on visas or green cards, or who don't want to get deported need to think about their choices. There is a narrow waiver under INA 212 (H) for very small amounts of marijuana but its not a process you should want to go through. Until marijuana is federally decriminalized, or a person becomes a U.S. citizen the better choice is to avoid marijuana. New episodes all the time - please subscribe! I get asked a lot about the practice of immigration law. Its always in the news, and some of the biggest celebrities on the planet are U.S. immigrants (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergey Brin, Justin Bieber, Mila Kunis) Got a U.S. immigration question or issue you'd like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments! All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015). Typical legal disclaimer from a lawyer (occupational hazard): This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney client relationship. This communication may be construed as legal advertising in some areas.

How Do You Use Letters of Recommendation in O-1 Visa and EB-1 Greencard Cases?  (2023-03-08 23:00:31)
Why do you need to use letters of recommendation in your O-1 visa or EB-1 greencard case? USCIS has to consider any evidence we submit in paper format. There are no live hearings like there would be if a case was in front of a judge or jury. And how are we supposed to convince an immigration officer, who probably doesn't know much about a given field. We can use letters of recommendation from experts in the field to highlight a person's accomplishments and add a lot of detail and color to an immigration case that might otherwise not be that exciting to read. Here we also talk about Matter of Skirball, an Administrative Appeals Office case from 2012 that held that uncontroverted expert opinion testimony must be fairly considered by USCIS. Here is the decision if you want to read it yourself: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default... New episodes all the time - please subscribe! I get asked a lot about the practice of immigration law. Its always in the news, and some of the biggest celebrities on the planet are U.S. immigrants (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sergey Brin, Justin Bieber, Mila Kunis) Got a U.S. immigration question or issue you'd like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments! All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015). Typical legal disclaimer from a lawyer (occupational hazard): This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney client relationship. This communication may be construed as legal advertising in some areas.