Monday, February 13, 2012

USCIS Issues Proposed New Rules Governing I-601 Hardship Waiver Petitions for Immediate Realtives

I have received numerous phone calls over the last few weeks regarding the publicity surrounding the announcement from Homeland Security and their proposed new rules governing the pre-adjudication of I-601 Hardship Waiver petitions and the granting of provisional waivers if the requirements are met.

What is critical to understand at the moment is that this is merely a notice of a proposed rule change and it will not take effect until it is approved and incorporated into the CFR's. (Code of Federal Regulations). Please find a link to the entire publication below.

Also, the proposal explicitly states "USCIS would grant a provisional waiver if the alien meets the eligibility requirements described in this Notice . . The provisional waiver, however, would not become effective unless and until the alien departs from the United States."

DHS Proposed Rules on Hardship Waivers