USCIS Announces Its Intent to Implement Stateside Processing of Unlawful Presence Waivers

On January 6, 2012 the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will be issuing new regulations for how unlawful presence waivers will be processed for certain immediate relatives filing immigrant visa applications abroad.  The announcement was delivered in a notice to be published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2012.

Specifically, the new procedure will allow certain individuals to file for a provisional unlawful presence waiver and await adjudication while in the U.S.   If approved, they will still have to depart the U.S. to undergo visa processing as well as attend an interview at a U.S. consulate abroad.  In order to receive a provisional waiver, one will still need to demonstrate that a lengthy bar from the U.S. would cause their U.S. citizen spouse or parent “extreme hardship.”  As announced in the January 6, 2012 notice, the new regulation will change the application process only for immediate relatives whose U.S. citizen spouse or parent would suffer extreme hardship if the bar is not waived.

Szabo, Zelnick & Erickson, P.C.

USCIS Inspections