It Is not that Often that Your Client Kisses the Immigration Officer

It’s not that often that your client kisses the immigration officer.But that exact thing happened at the St. Louis field office (in the pre-Covid days).Let me set the stage.The officer played tight end in college. He was a sharp officer and generally fair.My client, Hussein, was an excitable sort of gentleman from Iraq.He had filed two prior citizenship applications. USCIS denied them both.He had done a poor job of gathering documents related to some minor criminal cases in his distant past. USCIS thought the documents he submitted were insufficient. Hence, the denials.We first met the client after local customs officials thought he might not be admissible to the U.S. due to those criminal issues following a short trip home to get married.I helped him get his green card back from CBP and then we filed his third naturalization case.The interview went fine. We had gathered all of the necessary documents and prepared our client well.We were a bit worried as to whether he could get 6 out of 10 questions correct on the naturalization exam. But he did indeed.So when he passed the exam and the officer told him that his case was recommended for approval, my client jumped up, grabbed the officer in a gentle headlock and kissed him on the top of the head.He was so excited.Our client became a U.S. citizen just a few weeks later.Fun times. Generally, we do not recommend trying to kiss your immigration officer - especially a former collegiate football player.Jim