A blog about U.S. immigration matters by Paul Szeto, a former INS attorney and an experienced immigration lawyer. We serve clients in all U.S. states and overseas countries. (All information is not legal advice and is subject to change without prior notice.)

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Proposal: Expand Provisional Waivers to All Applicants / Hardship to LPR Relatives Allowed



On July 14, 2015, DHS proposes to expand its current provisional waiver process in two important ways.

First, DHS proposes to allow all eligible foreigners to apply for a provisional waiver. Currently, provisional waivers are only available to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.  

Secondly, hardship to lawful permanent resident relatives may also be considered in the adjudication of the waiver application.  In order to be eligible for a provisional waiver, an applicant must demonstrate with evidence that his or her citizen spouse or parent will suffer extreme hardship if the waiver application is denied. The new rule proposes to expand these so-called "anchor relatives" to include also LPR spouses and parents.

This is only a proposed rule and DHS is seeking public comments on it.  The effective date will be published with the final rule in the future.  Applicants may not file applications based on the proposal.

1 comment:

Paul Szeto said...

The proposed expansion was published in the Federal Register on 7/22/15. Public comments were received, and according to USCIS in a recent liaison meeting with AILA, USCIS is currently reviewing these comments and will publish the Final Rule in the future (no date has been set yet).