Opinion ID: 182627
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ashraf's initial attempt to become a permanent resident

Text: Although Ashraf's immigration status and his 2003 firearms conviction are not directly at issue in the present case, these matters played a substantial role in his trial and are central to his appeal. This background information is therefore essential to an understanding of the case. Ashraf entered the United States from Pakistan on an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa in August 1992. In 1997, while still lawfully in the country under his student visa, Ashraf married Monika Taskova, who was a lawful permanent resident, but not a citizen, at the time of their marriage. Ashraf applied to become a permanent resident soon thereafter. In January 2000, while his application was still pending, Ashraf informed the INS of the fact that Taskova had recently become a United States citizen. But, as Karyn Zarlenga (the custodian of Ashraf's alien file at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)) testified, Ashraf's application for permanent residency was denied in September 2000 because an immigrant visa was not immediately available to Ashraf when he filed his application in 1997. The visa was not immediately available because Ashraf's wife was not yet a naturalized citizen in 1997, and the category of family-based visas for the spouses of lawful permanent residents was backlogged when Ashraf filed his application for permanent residency. This meant that Ashraf's 1997 application for permanent residency had no chance of ever being approved because such applications may be granted only if a visa is immediately available when the alien files his or her application. See 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a) (requiring an immigrant visa to be immediately available at the time an application for permanent residence is filed in order for the applicant to obtain the requested change in status); 8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(2)(i)(A) (An immigrant visa must be immediately available in order for an alien to properly file an adjustment application under section 245 of the Act.). Ashraf argues that his application should therefore have been denied immediately after it was filed rather than remain pending despite having no chance of being granted. Had his application been promptly denied upon its being filed in 1997, Ashraf contends that he could have filed a new application immediately after his wife became a United States citizen in 2000 rather than waiting for the results of his still-pending 1997 application. The INS mailed its notice denying Ashraf's application to the original address that it had on file for him, but he and Taskova no longer lived at this address. In ruling on Ashraf's habeas petition regarding his 2003 firearms conviction, the district court for the Southern District of Florida found, consistent with Ashraf's claim in the present case, that he had previously notified the INS of his address change. Ashraf v. United States, No. 05 Civ. 80420, at 11 (S.D.Fla. Nov. 30, 2005). Zarlenga, on the other hand, testified in the present case that Ashraf's file contained a discrepancy regarding his zip code, but she did not recall any change of address in his file.