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Material Facts in the Context of United States Immigration

Transcript of the above video:

In this video today we are discussing the US Immigration process, specifically Material fact. What is a "Material Fact"?

When discussing this, this is specifically pertinent to issues associated with fraud and misrepresentation.  I urge those who are watching this video to check out the video on I-601 Waiver of Inadmissibility for a finding of Fraud and Misrepresentation because this is somewhat of an addendum on to that video. Basically when a finding has been made that fraud and misrepresentation has occurred during adjudication for US Immigration benefits, the fraud and misrepresentation has to pertain to a material fact. Now let me be clear. A material fact and what constitutes a material fact generally speaking are not like semantic points that one can split hairs about when dealing with the overall immigration apparatus but there are some things that I find that clients and lay people feel, get sort of worked up about during the immigration process that really aren't all that overwhelmingly concerning, I will put it that way. What am I trying to say here? For example, lying about one's past criminal history is fraud and misrepresentation with regard to a material fact. However making a mistake with respect to how long one lived in a specific town when one was living in a different house for example, making a mistake as to you know "did I leave that house in September of 2016 or did I leave that house in November or October, 2016?" You maybe not be able to remember, then you later find out that “Oh, I put something down as two weeks difference as far as timing or something”, although you should really strive to be as honest as humanly possible within the context of the entire US immigration process, it should be noted that "look true mistakes get made”. If it's a mistake of material fact as long as one remedies the mistake of material fact in such a way that it doesn't create overarching issues with respect to "did one sort of benefit from a mistake in an inequitable way or illegal way but with respect to a mistake or just materiality, it should be noted that some things are just sort of not material. Again timing of exactly to the date where someone lived may not be considered material. Leaving out an entire year of one's residence in a specific place as part of an overarching scheme to hide maybe a criminal record in that particular jurisdiction, that could be deemed to be on its face, fraud and misrepresentation with respect to a material fact. 

So again I am mostly making this video just as a kind of clarification session, for lack of a better word, because most folks don't understand that you know  "Okay, I accidentally put two weeks difference in when I left this apartment I once lived in", that may not be a big issue it may not be a material fact. Again you need to strive to be as honest as possible with respect to the various immigration forms but understand that you are not going to get thrown into the fire, thrown to the wolves over a mistake on where exactly you lived when you were 19 years old and that may have been 10 years ago or nearly 10 years ago. Again this stuff has a contextual basis or it has a sort of a contextual underpinning so something that may not be particularly material in one case may be overwhelmingly material in another case. So those watching this video, if you have issues where you are wondering about material mistakes of fact or materiality and fraud and misrepresentation, it is probably a good idea to contact a legal professional in order to get a second opinion with respect to what is going to constitute materiality and fraud and misrepresentation.