Provisional Waiver of Inadmissibility

USCIS has recently proposed to streamline the process of filing waiver applications for those individuals who are seeking to become permanent residents based on their relationship to qualifying US citizen relatives (parents or spouses). The proposed process is intended to reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from their relatives who are required to remain outside the U.S. for immigrant visa application processing and during the adjudication of waivers of inadmissibility. USCIS does not intend to modify the standard for assessing eligibility for these waivers, including whether the denial of the waiver would result in extreme hardship to a U.S.-citizen spouse or parent. Read here for more information on how a proposal becomes final rule.

Under the current law, individuals who have been accruing unlawful presence in the US would be subject to the three and ten year bar to admission as soon as they depart from the country. However, in order for them to obtain permanent residence they must depart from the US and obtain an immigrant visa at an US Embassy in their home country (called “consular processing”). The prospect of having to face a long period of separation under the current law has resulted in many people continuing to accrue unlawful presence and doing nothing for fear that they would be separated from their loved ones. With the new proposal USCIS is considering granting provisional waivers of inadmissibility to applicants prior to their departure from U.S. for consular processing of their immigrant visa applications. For more information about this proposal, contact the American Immigration Council.