In a recent decision,
the Administrative Appeals Office sustained an appeal of a waiver application
of a Mexican man who presented false documents to enter the country in 1993.
In order to obtain a waiver of inadmissibility under 212(i), an applicant
has to show that the bar to admission imposes "extreme hardship" on a
qualifying relative, which in the case of fraud can only be a parent or spouse
of the applicant.
Even though the applicant had a domestic partner of 17 years, the
court's primary focus was on the hardship to his
mother. However, the applicant's counsel did present evidence that the
domestic partner would suffer emotional and physical hardship. The court
explained, "The AAO may give some consideration to the applicant's relationship as a family tie to the
United States. In this case, however, impacts to the applicant may not be
considered except for the indirect impacts they have on qualifying relatives,
in this case, the applicant's mother. The AAO finds it reasonable to
accept that the applicant's mother views her son's relationship with his
domestic partner as a marriage, and it finds it equally reasonable to expect
that she would experience an emotional impact due to her son being separated
from his partner."
Hopefully,
immigration reform and/or or a decision by the Supreme Court will finally address
these kinds of disparities in the treatment of heterosexual and homosexual
couples.
