The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently released a first pass proposal at a rule that has been in the works since late 2014. The rule is designed to expand the accessibility of provisional unlawful presence waivers, also known as I-601A waivers. These waivers are designed to allow people who originally entered the country illegally and accrued a ban on legal reentry to get that ban waived. Currently, these waivers are only available to certain immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. This rule would expand that to other relatives who do not currently qualify.

What Are Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers?

Provisional unlawful presence waivers are a tool for people to get around what is commonly called the 3/10 bar. That bar prevents people who have entered the U.S. illegally and stayed for a certain amount of time from reentering the country for some period. A person who accrues 180 days of unlawful presence after they reach age 18 would be barred from the country for a period of three years if they left. If the person accrued a year or more of unlawful time, then that ban increases to 10 years.

In order to get the ban waived, a person must apply for a waiver. Previously, such waivers could only be acquired after the person had already left the country by going to a U.S. consulate. This changed with the introduction of the I-601A waiver.

The waivers allow qualifying individuals to apply for the waiver before they leave the country, rather than having to leave and then risk not being able to return. Although there are a variety of different requirements to qualify for an I-601A waiver, the two most significant are that the person must be an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, and he or she must be able to show that his or her absence from the country would cause his or her relative extreme hardship.

How the Rule Would Change Accessibility

The key change that the rule would make is who qualifies as an immediate relative. At present, a person must be either the spouse of a U.S. citizen or the minor, unmarried child of one.

Importantly, although the regulations state that being the parent of a U.S. citizen is enough, that is actually misleading since the extreme hardship must be caused to a citizen spouse or parent, not a child. This new rule would bring in several new categories of immediate relative. First, it would allow people who are the spouses or children of permanent residents to qualify, rather than limiting it to the relatives of full citizens. Second, it would allow adult children to also apply for the program.

Provisional unlawful presence waivers can be an important tool for easing stress on family life. If you believe you may need a waiver and are planning on leaving the country, contact a skilled Chicago immigration attorney today.

Sources:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-07-22/html/2015-17794.htm

http://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/provisional-waiver/provisional-unlawful-presence-waivers