USCIS recently announced that the spouses, parents, and children of US citizens who have accumulated unlawful presence and who have filed immigrant visa applications, can apply for provisional waivers, prior to leaving the United States. And they need to return to their countries of citizenship to get their visas and to appear for immigration interviews and Form I-601A, must be filed by the dependents of US citizens, who seek to obtain provisional unlawful presence waivers. But people who are eligible must not file their petitions now as the USCIS will start accepting the petitions only on March 4th, 2013. Similarly, this waiver is only meant for immediate relatives of US citizens who have accumulated unlawful presence and not for the immediate relatives of Green Card holders.
You can file Form I-601A for a provisional unlawful presence waiver if you meet certain eligibility requirements. If your answers to the below mentioned questions are “Yes”, you can file Form I-601A and obtain a provisional unlawful waiver.
• Are you above age 17?
• Are you a US citizen’s immediate relative who does not belong to the preference category?
• Has the USCIS approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative or Form I- 360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, that was filed for you?
• Have you paid the immigrant visa processing fee to the US Department of State and is your approved immigrant petition pending with the DOS?
• Will you be able to prove that if you are removed from America, your US citizen relative would experience extreme hardship?
• Will you be present in America at the time of filing Form I-601A for a provisional unlawful presence waiver and submit biometric information?
• You have not been required to report for an immigration interview before 3rd January 2013.
• Do you meet all the requirements to file Form I-601A?
If you answered “Yes” to all the questions above, then you are eligible for this waiver and you may file Form I-601A as soon as the USCIS starts accepting provisional unlawful presence waiver applications.