Expansion Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers

The provisional unlawful presence waiver, 601A, the process allows immediate relatives who only need a waiver of inadmissibility for unlawful presence to apply for that waiver in the United States before they depart for their immigrant visa interview.

As of August 29, 2016, the following significant changes went into effect:

• Children and spouses of U.S. Permanent Residents (or green card holders) can apply for the I-601A waiver in addition to relatives of United States citizens. This means that the I-601A provisional waiver of unlawful presence is available for those who have an immigrant visa available to them based on family, employment, or diversity petitions;
• The USCIS has stopped denying waivers for a reason to believe that a beneficiary may be inadmissible due to some other grounds except for the unlawful presence;
• The waiver is available to those whose consular visa appointments were scheduled before January 3, 2013;
• The waiver is available to those who have final removal orders, but only if such individuals filed and received conditional approval of the I-212 form application and permission to apply for admission.

Please Note: The waiver also becomes available to derivatives, such as spouses and children, who accompany or join the principal applicant.