Family petitions are probably one of the most sought petitions in the United States. Family petitions include marriage petitions, parent petitions, sibling petitions, child petitions, and son and daughter petitions. There appears to have been an increase in the number of denials based on the strict application of the immigration laws and also because petitioners are failing to follow procedures in their filings which they may have prepared without the assistance of counsel.

USCIS generally requires form I-751 removal of conditional residence applications based on good faith marriage, and I-751 waiver applications based on abuse or even widow petitions to contain more proof a bona fide marriage in order to be approved. We have also noticed unrepresented individuals filing incorrect or insufficient documents which result in a large number of requests for evidence (RFEs), which in turn, cause delays on these cases. This evaluation is based on numerous cases that the Shah Peerally Law Group PC has handled on a regular basis where we have been retained after the petition was filed without the assistance of a law firm. We therefore, highly recommend retaining a lawyer for family based sponsorship petitions.