Client is reunited with her children and husband
Client(s) Client SYA
Our client had fled oppression in Eritrea, obtained asylum here, and petitioned for visas that would allow her children and husband to join her. Though the visa petitions were originally granted, our client turned to us when U.S. CIS reopened the petitions without providing an explanation, and without taking any further action for months. The case was made complicated by the barriers that U.S. CIS erects to prevent applicants from communicating with the officials handling their case, by the fact that the embassy in Eritrea does not process visas, the restrictions that Eritrea places on the ability of its citizens to travel freely, and by the strife in eastern Africa, which closed the embassy in Khartoum shortly after the children arrived there (but before they could obtain their visas).
Enlisting the aid of officials in Washington, Texas, New Hampshire, Cairo, Khartoum, and Addis Ababa, Jones Day partner Jonathan Berman was able to secure visas for our client's family. The youngest two arrived in the United States just in time to celebrate Christmas, 2012 with their mother, whom they had not seen for almost three years. The remaining children arrived the next February. The client's husband was unable to flee Eritrea until early 2014, after which he too obtained his visa and rejoined his family in the United States.
