Malliotakis Helps Staten Island Father Reunite with Immigrant Children

Our office recently helped a Nigerian immigrant, who became a legal U.S. citizen, reunite with his two children (4 and 14 years old) who were still living in Nigeria with their mothers. 

Both mothers agreed to have their children move to the United States to live with their father. In March 2022, our constituent filed petitions with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services (USCIS) to establish his children as immigrants who would like to come to the United States and become lawful permanent residents. The petitions were approved and in February 2023, both children were interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria with their mothers. 

Our constituent's son was approved and received a visa, however, his daughter was denied because USCIS claimed he did not show enough proof of his relationship with her. The embassy then requested additional photographs of them together over the years.  

Since our constituent only had a few photographs of them together, he reached out to our office for help. He provided our office with all the photos he could find, and we assisted him in writing a letter to the embassy explaining why he did not have more photos of them together. Upon dropping the photos off at the embassy, an officer told his daughter's mother that her case had been approved and a visa would be issued the following week. That same day, our constituent checked the State Department's website and it showed the case had been "refused." 

Our office reached out to the embassy on his behalf to confirm the status of his case, and our contact told us that the officer who accepted the photographs was incorrect as the case had not been reviewed yet. We asked the embassy to expedite the review of our constituent's case as his son's travel visa was expiring soon and he had already purchased airline tickets for both children to come to the U.S. on the same flight the following week. 

Shortly thereafter, our constituent informed us that the State Department had reviewed his daughter's case and her visa was approved. We look forward to welcoming this constituent and his children to our office after they are reunited in the United States!