What is the number one reason why a VAWA case could get denied?
I have been helping immigrants successfully file for VAWA
over the past 13 years, and during the course of my experience,
the most common reason why a person's case might get denied
when they file for VAWA is because of their personal affidavit.
In VAWA, most people will file
because of one of two things happening during the course of their marriage.
The first might be that they might be suffering extreme cruelty
by their US citizen spouse or their green card holder.
Now, extreme cruelty is what we would commonly referred
to as anything involving certain types of emotional abuse.
So where you are filing for VAWA where you have suffered extreme cruelty,
you may be wondering “How can I even prove this
because none of the things that happened to me manifests themselves
through physical evidence, such as bruising, or required me
to go to the doctor for physical harm done to my body by my spouse?”
The second type of reason a person might file for VAWA
is because they are suffering what is called battery.
And battery is the more stereotypical abuse
that we all think about when we think about domestic
violence and battery involves physical violence and physical abuse.
When your case involves battery, it might actually be easier to get evidence
such as: pictures of your bruising, scarring, or scratches; or medical reports
talking about certain injuries that you may have suffered;
and in some cases you may have police reports
because you had to call the police on your spouse.
But also there are plenty of people out
there who don't have any proof of how they suffered physical battery.
So what happens when you don't have the hard physical evidence
of how you have suffered
during the course of your marriage when you want to file for VAWA?
In these instances, and even when you have good evidence
of what you have suffered at the hands of your spouse,
the strength of her case will always boil down to your personal affidavit.
And in this affidavit, you must be able to describe
what happened to you, how it happened, and how it impacted your life.
Otherwise, you must lay down your story of events
in a way that is easy to understand
and consistent with the evidence that you give to support your case.
So here are some ways that you can show to USCIS, and show
to immigration, what you have gone through and why you qualify for VAWA.
Some of the most basic information that you should always include
in your valid personal statements are the facts of how you and your spouse met,
how your relationship started, and also how you ended up in the marriage
that you are Next, you want to describe abuse,
But here is a pitfall that I see a lot of attorneys,
as well as persons who write their own statements, fall into.
In almost 100% of cases, abuse just doesn't start overnight.
There are actually little things that happen along the way
that builds up into more overt or noticeable acts.
And a lot of these are actually subtle tactics of emotional abuse,
which you yourself may not have even realized were harmful.
But now, if you were to look back upon your relationship,
you can see that these were little tactics of control
that your spouse may have exerted over you through the use of words, telling you
how to dress, or making little comments about who you talk to and how you behave.
Oftentimes, most people don't even realize that these are slightly abusive.
And what ends up happening is most people are relying
on talking about the bigger things that may have happened to them.
But my advice in this arena is for you to talk about the little things
that you now see were red flags and how that may have builds
up to the worst parts of the abuse that you suffered.
Next when you are writing your affidavit, focus on how you think
that your spouse tried to control you and what sort of impact it had on you.
For example, it's something they say caused you to act a certain way
or to not do something, such as comments about your family
being a bad influence on you caused you to stop talking to your sister.
That could be one way where you could talk about the impact
of what your spouse did and how it affected your daily life.
And next,
if you don't have actual evidence of what your spouse did,
the affidavit is also a good place to talk about
why you may not have certain types of evidence.
For example, if your spouse broke your belongings
or threw things out and you took pictures of them,
but you no longer have those pictures because your spouse took away
your phone, the affidavit would be a good place to talk about that.
And lastly, talk about the psychological impact that your abuse has had on you.
When we talk about the psychological impact of abuse, we're talking about
things such as having PTSD, depression, inability to sleep, any
anxiety symptoms that you have developed as a result of your abuse.
These are all usually psychological harm.
And if you have also been diagnosed by any therapist
or psychologist, also include this in your affidavit.
And most importantly, when you sit down to write your affidavit, it is always best
that you put things into your own voice as much as possible.
Once you try to follow some sort of a flow in telling your story,
think of it as a movie of your life that you are putting down on paper
for the officer to read.
When clients work with us, we actually help the clients
write the affidavit so that they never even have to pick up a pen.
We conduct interviews that can last as long as 3 to 5 hours
where we ask the client a series of questions that delve into
what has happened and how their relationship has impacted them.
And we craft this into a personal statement in their own voice
describing the things that had happened to them in a way
that is compelling for immigration to understand.
We have had hundreds of VAWA approvals, and we know exactly what it takes to help
get a case approved.
Many times we have had
clients’ cases approved through just their personal statement.
If you would like our help in getting your VAWA case approved,
give us a call at 212-248-7907 to see how we can help you with your case.
We are based in New York, but we work with clients all over the United States.
And if you would like to learn more tips on how to get your VAWA case approved,
watch my other video on how to win your case.
In this, I explain the types of evidence that you may be able to use
to help prove your case and give you my pro tips As an experienced
immigration attorney, I'll include a link to that video right here.
So click and watch and I'll see you there.