In a well reasoned opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a “surviving alien-spouse” is a “spouse” within the meaning of the “immediate relative” for purposes of adjusting status to that of permanent resident under 8 U.S.C. § 1151(b)(2)(A)(i). The case is Lockhart v. Napolitano.
The USCIS had earlier denied the adjustment of status application that was filed by Nelly Lockhart because, it said, she was no longer an “immediate relative” since her U.S. citizen husband died within two years of their qualifying marriage.
For the 6th Circuit, it was an issue of first impression although, as I noted in an earlier post, the opposite decision was reached by the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia, in Robinson v. Napolitano, 554 F.3d 358 (3d Cir. 2009).
The Sixth Circuit’s ruling is the better reasoned.
Mrs. Lockhart is a citizen of the Philippines, who was admitted to the United States in December, 2003 and she married a U.S. citizen in January, 2004. Mr. Lockhart filed Form
I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) on his wife’s behalf. As is routine, Mrs. Lockhart simultaneously filed an I-485 (Application to Adjust Status) and the USCIS began processing the applications. The USCIS did not make a decision before December, 2005, when Mr. Lockhart died suddenly of a heart attack. At the time of Mr. Lockhart’s death, he and Mrs. Lockhart had been married for one year and eleven months.
After it learned of Mr. Lockhart’s death, the USCIS denied the I-130 and the I-485 on the ground that, upon Mr. Lockhart’s death, Mrs. Lockhart was no longer the “spouse” of a United States citizen and therefore she wasn’t entitled to treatment as an “immediate relative”. It then placed Mrs. Lockhart in removal proceedings. Mrs. Lockhart filed a petition for a writ of mandamus asking that the USCIS be compelled to rule that she was an “immediate relative” and approve the I-130 and I-485.
The case made its way to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled in her favor.
The Sixth Circuit held that the language in the law referring to the two-year duration granted a separate right to an alien widow to self-petition, within two years of the citizen spouse’s death and that it didn’t limit the definition of “spouse”.
The Court also considered the ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of the term “spouse” because the Immigration Act itself does not define “spouse”. The Court said the legal, as well as the ordinary, meaning of ‘spouse’ is ‘one’s wife or husband’ and a ‘surviving spouse’.
The Court’s ruling makes common and legal sense and offers precedential support for others who may find themselves in Mrs. Lockhart’s unfortunate circumstances
