The purpose of the 601A provisional waiver is to greatly reduce the amount of time that U.S. Citizens are separated from their immediate relatives who must take part in consular processing of their immigrant visa abroad. The provisional waiver allows for eligible applicants to apply for the 601A provisional waiver while they are still in the United States. If granted the 601A provisional waiver, the applicant may remain in the United States until they must attend their immigrant visa interview at the consulate outside of the United States. This new process is expected to decrease the amount of time that U.S. citizens are separated from their immediate relatives while they are in the process of becoming lawful permanent residents of the United States.

The provisional waiver is only available to immediate relatives of U.S. Citizens, which include spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens. The waiver is granted upon demonstrating that the immediate relative’s U.S. spouse or parent will suffer from extreme hardship without the presence of the immediate relative.

To file Form I-601A, the individual must:

• Be 17 years or older.
• Be the beneficiary of an approved immigrant visa petition classifying that they are an immediate relative of a U.S. Citizen
• Have a pending immigrant visa case with DOS for the approved immediate relative petition
• Have already paid the Department of State immigrant visa processing fee (IV Fee) for the case that is associated with the approved immigrant visa petition.
• Be able to explain how a refusal of their admission to the United States will cause extreme hardship to their U.S. citizen spouse or parent
• Be physically present in the United States to file their application and provide biometrics

You are not eligible for a provisional unlawful presence waiver if:

• You are subject to one or more grounds of inadmissibility other than unlawful presence inadmissibility.
• DOS acted before January 3, 2013 to schedule your Immigrant Visa interview for the approved immediate relative petition that your provisional unlawful presence application is based off of
• You are in removal proceedings that have been administratively closed
• At the time of filing your waiver, you are in removal proceedings that have been administratively closed but they have then been placed back on the EOIR calendar to continue your removal proceedings
• You do not meet one of the requirements outlined in the Form I-601A and Its Instructions

The processing time for the 601A provisional waiver can vary. However, for the most part, applications will receive a decision in less than six months although some applicants may receive faster decisions while others may receive slower decisions.

At the Law Office of Spojmie Nasiri, we have extensive experience with Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers and have helped many of our clients get their I-601A provisional waiver petitions approved. With the vast amount of experience we have, we know exactly what needs to be done to ensure that our clients are given the best chance of having their Form I-601A provisional waiver approved.  If you or a loved one is interested in finding out if you are eligible for I-601A waiver, please contact our law office to get up to date information from an attorney you can trust.