After almost a year of waiting, the new Provisional Waiver rule was released on January 3, 2013 with an effective date of March 4, 2013. The new rule allows foreign nationals who have been unlawfully present in the United States for more than 180 days to complete the majority of the process and waiting in the United States. Before the rule, which will take effect on March 4, 2013, spouses, parents and children of US Citizens would often times have to wait months to years outside the United States to ask for a waiver (pardon). Now, the immigrant petition, waiver and national visa center (NVC) processing will all be done while the family can remain together in the United States.
Eligibility to apply:
- You must be present in the United States at filing and be fingerprinted;
- Your only immigration violation is that you were unlawfully present (undocumented) for 180 days or more in the U.S.;
- Your visa petition must be filed by a US Citizen Immediate Relative (spouse, parent or child over 21);
- You must show extreme hardship to your US Citizen spouse or parent(s), not to your child(ren);
- You must file Form I-601A with an approved I-130 and proof the immigrant visa fee has been paid to the Department of State (NVC).
Below are the regulations as published in the Federal Register. All the reasons you may want to consider hiring an attorney are in those details.
Ricky Malik, Esq.
Immigration Attorney