Client Approval: I-601A Provisional Waiver Approved within 3 Months for Mexican Client

We recently received approval of the I-601A Provisional Waiver that we prepared and submitted for a Mexican applicant married to a U.S. citizen husband within 3 months of its submission to the USCIS.

Our I-601A Provisional Waiver application package prepared by our law firm included a complete set of USCIS forms requesting consideration of the I-601A Provisional Waiver; a 25 page waiver statement detailing relevant case law favorable to my client’s situation and presenting the extreme hardships that applied to this case; and a comprehensive collection of exhibits to prove the extreme hardships being presented.

To be eligible for the I-601A Provisional Waiver for Unlawful Presence, an applicant must fulfill ALL of the following conditions:

1. Be 17 years of age or older.
2. Be the spouse, child, or adult child of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
3. Have an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, or Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant.
4. Have a pending immigrant visa case with the Dept. of State for the approved immediate relative petition and have paid the Dept. of State immigrant visa processing fee.
5. Be able to demonstrate that refusal of your admission to the United States will cause extreme hardship to your U.S. citizen or lawful permanent spouse or parent.
6. Be physically present in the United States to file your application for a provisional unlawful presence waiver and provide biometrics.
7. Not have been scheduled for an immigrant visa interview by Dept. of State before January 3, 2013.
8. You are inadmissible ONLY for unlawful presence in the United States for more than 180 days but less than 1 year during a single stay (INA Section 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I)), or unlawful presence in the United States for 1 year or more during a single stay (INA Section 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II).

An applicant is NOT eligible for the I-601A Provisional Waiver for Unlawful Presence if any of the following conditions apply:

1. You are subject to one or more grounds of inadmissibility other than unlawful presence.
2. You have a pending Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status with the USCIS
3. You are in removal proceedings, unless your removal proceedings have been administratively closed and have not been placed back on the Dept. of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review calendar to continue your removal proceedings at the time you file the Form I-601A.
4. You are subject to a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion, or to the reinstatement of a prior order of removal, deportation, or exclusion
5. You are subject to a Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) order reinstating a prior order of removal, deportation, or exclusion
6. Dept. of State initially acted before January 3, 2013, to schedule your Immigrant Visa (IV) interview for the approved immediate relative petition upon which your provisional unlawful presence waiver application is based, even if your immigrant visa interview has been canceled, you failed to appear for the interview, or your interview was rescheduled on or after Jan. 3, 2013.
7. You fail to establish that the refusal of your admission would result in extreme hardship to your U.S. citizen spouse or parent, or that your application should be approved as a matter of discretion

In this case, the applicant is a Mexican national who entered the U.S. without inspection at the age of 19 to find a more secure life in the United States.  Since entering the U.S., she learned English, obtained gainful employment, and has remained law-abiding to the present day.  She met her U.S. citizen husband, fell in love with him, and had a son together.

The favorable factors of this case discussed in detail in our I-601A Provisional Waiver application include:

• The medical condition of the couple’s U.S. citizen son who suffers from anemia.
• The medical condition of the U.S. citizen husband who suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, partly as a result of the burden he has taken on to financially support his younger brother and his parents.
• The financial crisis that this family is undergoing, including declaration of bankruptcy by the U.S. citizen husband’s parents.  The parents subsequently rely upon the joint-income of their son and daughter-in-law (the U.S. citizen husband and his Mexican wife, respectively) who work to support the parents, themselves, their son, as well as the U.S. citizen husband’s younger brother.
• The financial strain placed upon the U.S. citizen husband as he and his wife struggle to pay his parent’s mortgage for the family home where the entire family all reside
• The employer-provided health insurance that the U.S. citizen husband and their infant son rely on to receive treatment for their medical conditions, and its termination should he be forced to re-locate to Mexico to be with his wife
• The extensive family ties of the U.S. citizen husband in the U.S. including three brothers, two sisters, and an extended family of cousins, aunts, and uncles, all who reside in close proximity with each other.
• The close-knit and interrelated relationships between the family members that would lead to a spiral of psychological distress upon the entire family should the applicant be forced to return to Mexico

This case is an important one because it demonstrates that cumulative hardships and individual circumstances can “add up” to meet the extreme hardship standard.  While any single hardship in this case may not be considered “extreme” in and of itself, it was only by meticulously demonstrating how they interrelate with each other and create “downward spiral of expanding and worsening hardships” (my description) that we obtained approval of this I-601A Provisional Waiver.