USCIS has expanded a measure that allows certain immigrants to apply for permanent residency without leaving the United States.
A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that starting August 29, eligible immigrants for the green card who have not yet applied for the document because they fear leaving the United States to receive the “waiver” for having entered the country without a visa will be exempt from this step and may apply for the document without leaving American soil.
The measure will benefit immediate relatives of American citizens or green card holders, such as spouses and parents.
Until now, all individuals who crossed the American border, entering the country without a visa, when becoming eligible for permanent residency, were required to return to their countries of origin and apply for legalization documents from there. The problem is that U.S. immigration rules impose a penalty on those who cross the border illegally. Depending on how long a person has remained in the United States without legal status, they could be banned from re-entering the country for up to ten years. This penalty prevented many eligible immigrants from applying for the green card. Many feared being away from their relatives for years and years.
This measure opened an exception for some immigrants who were immediate relatives of citizens who could prove that their absence would cause great hardship to their relatives. For example, in the case of a single father of minor and dependent citizen children. If there are no other relatives, who would take care of the children during his absence? In similar and quite specific cases, Immigration granted the so-called “waiver” or a “renunciation” of the need to leave the country.
The current measure is extending this right to the “waiver” to a larger group of immigrants. Not only immediate relatives but all eligible for legalization through family ties will be able to request it.
To qualify under the new rules, the immigrant still has to prove that their absence could cause enormous hardship to their citizen or legal resident relatives.
To ensure that you are one of the beneficiaries of this new measure, consult a lawyer you trust.
For more information, visit the USCIS website: www.uscis.gov/