Suzanna Ooi-Woon Chan v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Suzanna Ooi-Woon Chan petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals finding her deportable. We affirm.

Chan, a native and citizen of Malaysia, married a lawful permanent resident of the United States while in this country on a student visa. After she had returned to Malaysia, her husband filed a visa petition to accord her preference status pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §§ 1153 (a)(2) and 1154(a). The petition was approved April 8, 1971. On January 28, 1972, while still in Malaysia, Chan was served with a petition for annulment of her marriage. On March 22, 1972, she obtained an immigrant visa for the United States, apparently unaware that on that same date her marriage was annulled in California. She was admitted to the United States on April 9, 1972.

Five years later, the Immigration and Naturalization Service discovered that her marriage had been annulled when Chan revealed this fact in applying for naturalization. Deportation proceedings were commenced against her on July 21, 1978. The immigration judge ruled that Chan was not deportable. The Board of Immigration Appeals reversed. It held that Chan could have been excluded at the time of her entry to the United…