I have a 204(c) USCIS/BIA denial. How do I find a lawyer with years of litigation experience in 204 c cases?

I am sorry you are dealing with this. A finding under section 204(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (often called the marriage fraud bar) is serious. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the administrative body that hears appeals from USCIS visa petition decisions, treats it as a permanent bar to approving any future visa petition for that person (Matter of P. Singh, 27 I&N Dec. 598 (BIA 2019)). That is why the type of lawyer matters here: this is federal court work, and general immigration experience is not the same thing.

After the BIA affirms a denial, there are generally three options. One is asking the Board to look again. A motion to reconsider (arguing the Board made a legal or factual error) is generally due within 30 days of the decision, and a motion to reopen (presenting new evidence) within 90 days, under 8 C.F.R. § 1003.2. Because USCIS made the original decision, these motions are filed through the USCIS office that holds the file. A second option is a lawsuit in U.S. district court under the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that allows a judge to review an agency decision based on the record the agency used, to decide whether "substantial and probative evidence" (the legal standard in 8 C.F.R. § 204.2(a)(1)(ii)) supports the fraud finding. A third is a new I-130 petition with stronger evidence, because a prior finding is not automatically binding in a later petition. One important distinction: if a petition was approved and later revoked (the approval taken back) rather than denied, the Supreme Court held in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas (2024) that the revocation itself cannot be reviewed in court, although a denial of a new petition can be.

Lawyers who do this work appear in federal court records. The federal Court Public Docket system (PACER) and CourtListener, a public archive, can be searched for "1154(c)" or "I-130" together with "arbitrary and capricious," the legal phrase used in these suits. The attorneys listed as counsel for the plaintiff have actually filed these cases. AILA's lawyer directory (ailalawyer.com) has a federal litigation filter, and AILA's Federal Court Litigation Section and the National Immigration Litigation Alliance are networks these lawyers often belong to.

Because the shortest deadline runs in days from the Board's decision, timing is a significant factor in deciding when to consult a lawyer.

This is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.