the elements of his or her claim and/or rehabilitate the
doubted testimony or documentation. An applicant’s
failure to present corroborating documentation, or
inability to explain why such evidence is reasonably
unavailable, may suppor t an adverse credibility
determination and may be fatal to his or her claim for
relief.
Similarly, while an applicant’s credible testimony alone
may be enough to carry his or her burden of proof, the
federal courts have held that an IJ may nonetheless
require corroborating evidence to support the alleged
facts where it would be reasonable to expect that such
corroboration would be available.
Related to the issue of corroboration is the probative
weight to be afforded to evidence. In this regard, the
federal courts have noted that, while there is not a finite
set of guidelines for demonstrating the authenticity of
documentary evidence, the weight afforded to evidence
does lie largely within the discretion of the IJ.
In other words, separate from the decision of whether to
consider evidence at all, the trier of fact has significant
authority to determine the evidentiary value of the
supporting documentation.
DEALING WITH ALLEGATIONS
OF INCONSISTENCIES IN EB-5
ADJUDICATIONS
Identifying inconsistencies in the record are a common
way in which USCIS questions an EB-5 petitioner’s or
applicant’s credibility. This is not entirely surprising
since EB-5 filings can be many hu