You can apply for a waiver if you are considered inadmissible to the United States throughout your immigration application procedure. However, the waiver process is lengthy, difficult, and unclear, and is known as Form I-601 . Moreover, there are no fixed promises that your waiver will be approved but again requesting one does provide an inroad for you to continue your immigration process smoothly.

What Should I Know About the I-601 Waiver?

An I-601 Waiver relates to grounds of inadmissibility, which allows a foreigner to immigrate to the US, change their status to permanent residence, or request for admission to the US into a non-immigrant status, if certain grounds of inadmissibility, situations, or manner prevent them from being otherwise admissible.

Outsiders or foreigners who think they are inadmissible for admission to the US due to certain grounds of inadmissibility may file an I-601 waiver application.

You cannot apply for a waiver for unlawful and illegitimate presence that lasted less than one year or more than one year during a single stay utilizing the I-601 application. As an alternative, you may fill out Form I-601A, which is called a provisional unlawful presence waiver application.

You may apply for the I-601 Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility under INA section 212(a)(9)(B) in case you are seeking a waiver owing to a 3-year or 10-year bar based on your unlawful presence in the country.

How Do I Apply For I-601 Waiver?

You may be able to apply for a waiver of inadmissibility if you are living overseas and a US consular officer has concluded that you are not qualified for an immigrant visa or a nonimmigrant K or V visa because you are inadmissible to the US.

If the consular officer says, you’re qualified for a waiver, then fill out the Form I-601 (and Form I-212 if you’ve been deported or removed from the US) and submit it to the USCIS. This can be done over the phone and over email. Following that, the USCIS will continue reviewing your application and notify both you and the consular officer of the outcome.

You must furnish supporting documentation and particulars for the waiver when you submit your form. This may be a time-taking affair (the typical processing period for an I-601 waiver is about 31-34 months), and all the waiver petitions are cautiously evaluated, hence you need to make sure the information you provide is correct, true, and comprehensive.

What If My I-601 Waiver Is Denied?

In case, the USCIS denies your waiver request, you still have the alternative to file a motion to reassess and reopen, or submit a fresh application for it. Again, by doing so, your chances of approval may not essentially get a boost, unless you are able to determine what might have gone wrong the first time. You can influence a new decision-maker that your qualifying relative really would experience extreme hardship, or that you otherwise meet up the standards for the waiver in problem.