Effective March 4, 2013 the Provisional Stateside Waiver is available to inadmissible immigrants. This waiver promotes family unity, in the sense that this waiver allows the applicant to remain in the United States while the Waiver is being processed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
This waiver allows immediate relatives of US Citizen to apply for a waiver of the three and ten year bars for unlawful presence before leaving the United States. The Provisional Stateside waiver addresses only one ground of inadmissibility as established in the laws of the US. The ground states that an applicant who has accrued unlawful presence in the US of 180 days or more, is barred from returning to the US for three years (INA §212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I)); applicants who have accrued 1 year or more of unlawful presence are barred from returning to the US for ten years (INA §212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II)).
Applicants can be found inadmissible under a variety of grounds, i.e., crimes, fraud/misrepresentation, health problems, immigration violations, etc. cannot apply for the provisional stateside waiver as they would not qualify as this waiver only addresses unlawful presence.
Who is eligible to apply for the Provisional Stateside Waiver Form, I-601A?
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Are physically in the US;
- Are at least 17 years old at the time of filing;
- Are the beneficiary of an approved I-130 Petition for Alien Relative or I-360, Petition for Amerisian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant that classifies you as a an immediate relative to a US citizen. Immediate relatives are your US citizen spouse, parent;
- Your case has not been scheduled for an interview date before January 13, 2013. In other words that the Department of State did not take action in your case;
If you feel based on the preceding information that you in fact would be eligible for a provisional waiver, contact Ramirez+Ramirez, LLC to discuss how we can assist you.
