US to Parole in Certain Family Beneficiaries from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras

 

Today, DHS announced a Family Reunification Parole (FRP) Process for certain individuals from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

The FRP process allows beneficiaries of approved family immigration visa petitions to be paroled into the U.S. to wait for available visa numbers.

Family members of U.S. citizens and lawful residents may apply for immigrant visas to immigrate to the U.S. based their family relationship.  However, due to the limited immigrant visa numbers allocated by Congress, many beneficiaries have to wait for a long time before visas are available.  

The new FRP program allows these beneficiaries to enter the U.S. under "parole" status to wait for their turn to apply for a green card.  Their family-based I-130 visa petition must be approved first before they may request for parole. Further, they must be outside the U.S. and are otherwise eligible to be paroled.  DHS will review their requests for parole on a case-by-case basis. 

Parole means that somebody is physically allowed to enter but legally not considered here.  DHS usually exercises its parole authority based on urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.  Here, the intent is to discourage illegal migration through the U.S.-Mexico border.

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule a legal consultation.)