Immigration Corner | Can somebody accompany my dad to his interview?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I hope this email finds you well. I am a US citizen who has filed a petition for my father. In 2006, he was refused admission into the USA because during primary inspection, a small green leaf fell from his passport. After it was tested, it was revealed that the substance was marijuana.

He has the I-275 with the details and is awaiting his interview. I was wondering if there is anything you could do to help when he goes to the interview, at least have someone go with him to explain what happened. I am not sure he is able to properly convey this information in an interview.

Thanks in advance for your response.

IG

Dear IG,

The US Embassy does not allow attorneys to accompany clients for immigrant visa interviews. If the beneficiary of an immigrant visa has a disability that requires they be accompanied, they would need a doctor’s note.

In your father’s situation, where he actually had marijuana on him when he previously entered the United States, he faces a huge challenge to obtaining an immigrant visa. A lot depends, of course, on what is in the I-275 that would detail his interaction with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers. Without seeing the details, he should have been refused entry on a substance-abuse violation. This type of violation does not have an expiration limit, meaning that it will always appear in his immigration record.

If the quantity of marijuana in his possession was less than 30 grams, he would be eligible for an immigrant waiver of the violation. If it was more than 30 grams, there is no waiver. Not sure what explanation he could have for the possession – he was in possession of marijuana and was excluded from the United States as a result and is now inadmissible. His inadmissibility can be waived if he is eligible for a waiver, which depends on the quantity of the marijuana.

Note that even if he is granted an immigrant visa without a waiver, this can resurface when he applies for US naturalisation. If the State Department erred in granting residency status, that error, when discovered, can lead to the Green Card holder being placed in removal proceedings because they were never correctly granted residency status.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States and family, criminal & international law in Florida. She is a diversity & inclusion consultant, mediator, and former special magistrate & hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com