Matter of Lynette S. Rose

Cite as 25 I&N Dec. 181 (BIA 2010) Interim Decision #3670

引用为 25 I&N Dec. 181 (BIA 2010) 临时决定 #3670

File A072 821 057 - Houston, Texas

案卷 A072 821 057 - 德克萨斯州休斯顿

Decided January 25, 2010

2010年1月25日裁定

U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review Board of Immigration Appeals

美国司法部 移民审查执行办公室 移民上诉委员会

A conditional permanent resident under section 216(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(a) (2006), who is seeking to remove the conditional basis of that status and who has timely filed the petition and appeared for the interview required under section 216(c)(1), does not need a separate section 216(c)(4) hardship waiver if the petitioning spouse died during the 2-year conditional period.

根据《移民与国籍法》第216(a)条、8 U.S.C. § 1186a(a) (2006) 获得有条件永久居民身份者，如寻求取消该身份的有条件基础，且已及时提交申请并按要求出席第216(c)(1)条规定的面谈，则若申请配偶在2年有条件期间死亡，该人无需另行获得第216(c)(4)条规定的困难豁免。

FOR RESPONDENT: Imran B. Mirza, Esquire, Houston, Texas

被申请人代理人：Imran B. Mirza 律师，德克萨斯州休斯顿

BEFORE: Board Panel: HOLMES and HESS, Board Members; KENDALL CLARK, Temporary Board Member.

审理：委员会合议庭：HOLMES 和 HESS，委员会成员；KENDALL CLARK，临时委员会成员。

HOLMES, Board Member:

HOLMES，委员会成员：

The respondent has filed a timely motion to reconsider our January 23, 2009, decision dismissing her appeal from an Immigration Judge’s decision dated June 15, 2007. The Immigration Judge ordered the respondent removed under section 237(a)(1)(D)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(D)(i) (2006), because her conditional resident status, which was granted based on a marriage that was of less than 2 years’ duration, had been terminated. The Immigration Judge found that the respondent was not eligible for a waiver under section 216(c)(4) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(4) (2006), to excuse her lack of compliance with the joint petition and interview requirements of section 216(c)(1) of the Act. The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has not filed a response to the motion and it is thus deemed to be unopposed. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(g)(3) (2010). We will grant the respondent’s motion to reconsider and remand the record to the Immigration Judge.

被申请人已及时提交动议，要求重新考虑本委员会2009年1月23日驳回其就移民法官2007年6月15日裁定所提上诉的决定。移民法官依据《移民与国籍法》第237(a)(1)(D)(i)条、8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(D)(i) (2006) 命令将被申请人驱逐，理由是其基于婚姻存续不足2年而获得的有条件居民身份已被终止。移民法官认定，被申请人不符合《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(4)条、8 U.S.C. § 1186a(c)(4) (2006) 规定的豁免资格，该豁免本可免除其未遵守该法第216(c)(1)条规定的共同申请和面谈要求的问题。国土安全部（“DHS”）未对该动议提交答复，因此视为无异议。见 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2(g)(3) (2010)。本委员会将准许被申请人的重新考虑动议，并将案卷发回移民法官。

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

I. 事实与程序历史

On September 30, 1995, the respondent was granted conditional permanent resident status based on her marriage to Lloyd Rose, who was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mr. Rose died of a heart attack

1995年9月30日，被申请人基于其与 Lloyd Rose 的婚姻获得有条件永久居民身份，Lloyd Rose 出生于美属维尔京群岛圣克罗伊。Rose 先生因心脏病发作于

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on October 26, 1995. The respondent timely filed a Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence (Form I-751) and appeared for an interview. 1 On May 20, 1999, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) issued a Notice of Intent to Deny I-751 Petition (“Notice of Intent to Deny”), advising the respondent that her responses at the interview and the lack of evidence to demonstrate the bona fides of the marriage raised questions about whether the marriage was entered into solely for purposes of gaining an immigration benefit. On August 4, 1999, the former INS issued a Notice of Adverse Action denying the I-751 and terminating the respondent’s conditional lawful permanent resident status. The decision noted that the respondent’s petition was denied “for the reasons stated in the Service’s intent.” Although the final denial also considered whether the respondent qualified for “a waiver provided in Title 8 CFR 216.5,” the basis for the denial of the I-751 petition was the respondent’s failure to rebut the conclusions stated in the Notice of Intent to Deny. In other words, it was based on an assessment of the bona fides of the marriage rather than on the fact that the petition and interview were not “joint.” The final denial advised the respondent of her right to have the denial of her petition reviewed in removal proceedings. Pursuant to that request, the Immigration Judge reviewed her I-751 petition in the removal proceedings. The Immigration Judge denied the petition because it was not jointly filed and the respondent did not establish that she was eligible for a section 216(c)(4) waiver of the joint petition and interview requirements in section 216(c)(1) of the Act. We dismissed the respondent’s appeal from that decision on January 23, 2009, and the respondent timely filed the instant motion to reconsider. We now find, for the reasons set forth below, that the death of a petitioning spouse during the 2-year conditional period excuses the general requirement that a petition to remove the conditional basis of an alien spouse’s status must be “joint.” Thus, a separate waiver under section 216(c)(4) of the Act is not required if the surviving spouse timely files an I-751 petition requesting removal of the conditional basis of his or her status and appears for a personal interview.

1995年10月26日死亡。被申请人及时提交了《取消居留条件申请》（Form I-751）并出席了面谈。1 1999年5月20日，原移民与归化局（“INS”）签发了《拟驳回 I-751 申请意向通知》（“拟驳回意向通知”），告知被申请人在面谈中的回答以及缺乏证明婚姻善意的证据，令人对婚姻是否仅为获取移民利益而缔结产生疑问。 1999年8月4日，原 INS 签发了《不利行动通知》，驳回 I-751 并终止被申请人的有条件合法永久居民身份。该决定指出，被申请人的申请“基于该局意向通知中所述理由”被驳回。尽管最终驳回还考虑了被申请人是否符合“8 CFR 216.5 规定的豁免”，但驳回 I-751 申请的依据是被申请人未能反驳拟驳回意向通知中所述的结论。换言之，该驳回是基于对婚姻善意的评估，而非基于申请和面谈并非“共同”这一事实。最终驳回通知告知被申请人有权在驱逐程序中要求对其申请被驳回一事进行审查。 根据该请求，移民法官在驱逐程序中审查了其 I-751 申请。移民法官驳回了该申请，因为该申请并非共同提交，且被申请人未能证明其符合《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(4)条规定的对第216(c)(1)条共同申请和面谈要求的豁免资格。本委员会于2009年1月23日驳回了被申请人对该裁定的上诉，被申请人及时提交了本重新考虑动议。 现本委员会基于下述理由认定，申请配偶在2年有条件期间死亡，可免除关于取消外籍配偶身份有条件基础的申请必须“共同”提交的一般要求。因此，如果未亡配偶及时提交 I-751 申请，请求取消其身份的有条件基础，并出席个人面谈，则无需另行获得《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(4)条规定的豁免。

II. ISSUE

II. 问题

The issue in this case is whether an alien seeking the removal of the conditional basis of permanent resident status that was granted based

本案的问题是，寻求取消基于婚姻授予的永久居民身份有条件基础的外籍人士，该婚姻因申请配偶在2年有条件期间死亡而终止，且该外籍人士已及时提交 I-751 申请并出席了依据《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(1)条进行的面谈，是否还必须符合该法第216(c)(4)条规定的豁免资格。

1 Section 216(d)(2) of the Act provides that a petition to remove the conditions on status must be filed during the 90-day period preceding the second anniversary of the grant of conditional resident status.

1 《移民与国籍法》第216(d)(2)条规定，取消身份条件的申请必须在授予有条件居民身份第二周年之前的90天期间内提交。

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on a marriage that was terminated by the petitioning spouse’s death during the 2-year conditional period, who has filed a timely I-751 petition and appeared for an interview conducted pursuant to section 216(c)(1) of the Act, must also qualify for a waiver under section 216(c)(4) of the Act.

基于婚姻授予的永久居民身份有条件基础，该婚姻因申请配偶在2年有条件期间死亡而终止，且该外籍人士已及时提交 I-751 申请并出席了依据《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(1)条进行的面谈，是否还必须符合该法第216(c)(4)条规定的豁免资格。

III. ANALYSIS

III. 分析

The respondent states that there are no Board or Federal circuit court precedent decisions to guide us, and we have found none. The language of section 216(c)(4) of the Act itself is instructive, however. It describes three bases for the waiver that is available to “an alien who fails to meet the requirements” of of section 216(c)(1). Thus, the threshold issue, which was not specifically addressed by the Immigration Judge or our previous decision, is whether the respondent failed to meet the requirements of section 216(c)(1). Section 216(c)(1) of the Act has two requirements for removing the conditional basis of an alien spouse’s status, a petition and an interview. Specifically, section 216(c)(1) provides that the following requirements must be met in order for the conditional basis of the status to be removed:

被申请人指出，没有委员会或联邦巡回法院的先例裁决可指导本委员会，本委员会也未找到任何此类裁决。然而，《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(4)条本身的措辞具有指导意义。该条描述了可向“未能满足”第216(c)(1)条“要求的外籍人士”提供的豁免的三项依据。因此，首要问题是，被申请人是否未能满足第216(c)(1)条的要求，而移民法官或本委员会先前的决定均未具体处理该问题。 《移民与国籍法》第216(c)(1)条对取消外籍配偶身份有条件基础有两项要求：申请和面谈。具体而言，第216(c)(1)条规定，为取消身份的有条件基础，必须满足以下要求：

(A) the alien spouse and the petitioning spouse (if not deceased) jointly must submit to the Attorney General, during the period described in subsection (d)(2), a petition which requests the removal of such conditional basis and which states, under penalty of perjury, the facts and information described in subsection (d)(1), and

(A) 外籍配偶和申请配偶（如未死亡）必须在第(d)(2)款所述期间内共同向司法部长提交申请，请求取消该有条件基础，并在伪证处罚下陈述第(d)(1)款所述事实和信息，且

(B) in accordance with subsection (d)(3), the alien spouse and the petitioning spouse (if not deceased) must appear for a personal interview before an officer or employee of the Service respecting the facts and information described in subsection (d)(1).

(B) 根据第(d)(3)款，外籍配偶和申请配偶（如未死亡）必须就第(d)(1)款所述事实和信息，亲自出席该局官员或雇员的个人面谈。

(Emphasis added.) On further consideration, we interpret sections 216(c)(1)(A) and (B) as expressly exempting alien spouses whose petitioning spouses are deceased from the “joint” filing and interview requirements. Thus, as a widowed conditional resident who timely filed a Form I-751 and appeared for a personal interview, the respondent is not an alien who “fail[ed] to meet” the section 216(c)(1) requirements. Rather, the respondent complied with the requirements of sections 216(c)(1)(A) and (B) when she timely filed her I-751 petition to remove the conditions on her residence with the former INS and appeared at her scheduled interview. Therefore, she does not need a section 216(c)(4) waiver in order for her I-751 petition to be adjudicated on the facts asserted pursuant to the requirements of section 216(d)(1), which must be established in all I-751 petitions whether jointly filed or not. This reading of the law is consistent with section 216(d)(1) of the Act, which describes the facts that must be established in the petition and interview

（强调为后加。） 经进一步考虑，本委员会将第216(c)(1)(A)和(B)条解释为明确豁免申请配偶已死亡的外籍配偶遵守“共同”提交和面谈要求。因此，作为及时提交 Form I-751 并出席个人面谈的丧偶有条件居民，被申请人并非“未能满足”第216(c)(1)条要求的外籍人士。相反，被申请人及时向原 INS 提交了取消其居留条件的 I-751 申请并出席了预定面谈，从而遵守了第216(c)(1)(A)和(B)条的要求。因此，她无需获得第216(c)(4)条规定的豁免，其 I-751 申请即可依据第216(d)(1)条要求所主张的事实进行裁定，而无论是否共同提交，所有 I-751 申请均必须确立这些事实。 对法律的这一解读与《移民与国籍法》第216(d)(1)条一致，该条描述了在申请和面谈中为取消外籍配偶身份有条件基础必须确立的事实。

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in order to remove the conditional basis of the alien spouse’s status. Specifically, section 216(d)(1)(A)(i)(II) states that the alien must provide information that the qualifying marriage “has not been judicially annulled or terminated, other than through the death of a spouse.” (Emphasis added.) In other words, if the reason for the termination of the marriage is the death of the petitioning spouse, that is not, in itself, a basis for denying the petition to remove the conditions on the alien’s status. 2 The structure of the Form I-751 itself is consistent with our reading that a separate waiver of the general “joint” petition requirement is not necessary when the petitioning spouse is deceased. Part 2 of the form provides four options for an alien spouse to check when the petition is not being jointly filed. The form instructs the petitioner to check only one of these options. The first of those options is: “My spouse is deceased.” The other three correspond to the three bases for a waiver provided in section 216(c)(4). The respondent appropriately checked the first option. In its May 20, 1999, Notice of Intent to Deny, the former INS did not seem to rest its intent to deny the respondent’s petition on the ground that she failed to qualify for a section 216(c)(4) waiver of the general requirement that the petition must be “joint.” Rather, it appeared to have reviewed her petition to remove the conditional basis of her status on the merits, i.e., it determined that the respondent did not satisfactorily prove the facts that must be established by all petitioners pursuant to section 216(d)(1), one of which is that the marriage “was not entered into for the purpose of procuring an alien’s admission as an immigrant.” Section 216(d)(1)(A)(i)(III) of the Act. The final Notice of Adverse Action issued on August 4, 1999, stated that the respondent failed to respond to the Notice of Intent to Deny with rebuttal information and that “her waiver request of petition is denied for the reasons stated in the Service’s intent.” 3 The respondent had the right to seek review of the denial of her Form I-751 petition in her removal proceedings, and she made that request. Accordingly, on reconsideration, we will vacate our January 23, 2009, decision and remand the record to the Immigration Judge to review the merits of the respondent’s

具体而言，第216(d)(1)(A)(i)(II)条规定，外籍人士必须提供信息，证明符合条件的婚姻“未被司法宣告无效或终止，但因配偶死亡而终止的除外”。（强调为后加。）换言之，如果婚姻终止的原因是申请配偶死亡，该原因本身并不构成驳回取消外籍人士身份条件申请的依据。2 Form I-751 本身的结构与本委员会的解读一致，即当申请配偶已死亡时，无需另行获得对一般“共同”申请要求的豁免。该表格第2部分为外籍配偶在非共同提交申请时提供了四个选项。表格指示申请人仅勾选其中一个选项。第一个选项是：“我的配偶已死亡。”其余三个选项对应第216(c)(4)条规定的三项豁免依据。被申请人适当地勾选了第一个选项。 在1999年5月20日的拟驳回意向通知中，原 INS 似乎并未将其拟驳回被申请人申请的理由建立在她不符合第216(c)(4)条规定的对申请必须“共同”提交这一一般要求的豁免资格之上。相反，该局似乎已对其实质审查了其取消身份有条件基础的申请，即认定被申请人未能令人满意地证明所有申请人均须依据第216(d)(1)条确立的事实，其中之一是婚姻“并非为促使外籍人士作为移民入境的目的而缔结”。见《移民与国籍法》第216(d)(1)(A)(i)(III)条。1999年8月4日签发的最终《不利行动通知》称，被申请人未以反驳信息回应拟驳回意向通知，且“其申请豁免请求基于该局意向通知中所述理由被驳回”。3 被申请人有权在其驱逐程序中寻求对 Form I-751 申请被驳回一事进行审查，她提出了该请求。因此，经重新考虑，本委员会将撤销2009年1月23日的决定，并将案卷发回移民法官，以审查被申请人

2 We further note that in the statutory provisions allowing the DHS to independently initiate termination of conditional resident status at any time before the end of the 2-year conditional period, the death of a spouse is specifically excluded as a basis for terminating conditional resident status. See section 216(b)(1)(A)(ii) of the Act. 3 The final notice denying the petition then mentions, for the first time, the waiver regulations in 8 C.F.R. § 216.5 and finds that the respondent is not eligible for a waiver under its provisions. However, we need not address the propriety of raising a new basis for denial in the final notice because we conclude that section 216 of the Act does not require a “joint” petition in the first instance where the petitioning spouse is deceased. Thus, an additional waiver under 8 C.F.R. § 216.5 (2010) is not required.

2 我们进一步注意到，在允许DHS在2年条件性期间结束前任何时间独立启动终止条件性居民身份的法定条款中，配偶死亡被明确排除作为终止条件性居民身份的依据。见该法第216(b)(1)(A)(ii)条。 3 随后，拒绝申请的最终通知首次提及8 C.F.R. § 216.5中的豁免规定，并认定被申请人不符合其条款下的豁免资格。然而，我们无需处理在最终通知中提出新的拒绝依据是否适当，因为我们得出结论，该法第216条在申请配偶已死亡的情况下并不首先要求“联合”申请。因此，无需根据8 C.F.R. § 216.5 (2010)另行豁免。

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petition to remove the conditions on her status. See section 216(d)(1) of the Act. A separate section 216(c)(4) waiver of the general requirement that a petition must be jointly filed is not required in this case because the petitioning spouse is deceased. We point out that the Government bears the burden in removal proceedings of proving, “by a preponderance of the evidence, that the facts and information described in subsection (d)(1) and alleged in the petition are not true with respect to the qualifying marriage.” Section 216(c)(3)(D) of the Act. ORDER: The respondent’s motion to reconsider is granted. FURTHER ORDER: Upon reconsideration, our January 23, 2009, decision is vacated, and the respondent’s appeal is sustained. FURTHER ORDER: The record is remanded to the Immigration Judge for further proceedings consistent with the foregoing opinion and for the entry of a new decision.

解除其身份条件的申请。见该法第216(d)(1)条。在本案中，由于申请配偶已死亡，无需单独根据第216(c)(4)条获得对申请必须联合提交这一一般要求的豁免。我们指出，政府在遣返程序中负有举证责任，须“以优势证据证明第(d)(1)款所述且在申请中主张的关于合格婚姻的事实和信息不真实”。该法第216(c)(3)(D)条。 命令：被申请人的复议动议获准。 进一步命令：经复议，我们2009年1月23日的决定被撤销，被申请人的上诉获支持。 进一步命令：记录发回移民法官，以便按照上述意见进行进一步程序并作出新决定。

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