Do You Know Which Ins Forms To File For Inadmissibility Waiver?

By Author: Nancy Mervin
Total Articles: 56
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In the United States some of the inadmissible nonimmigrant applicants and aliens who are not eligible to be admitted as an immigrant or adjust status in US must file Form I-601 in order to seek a waiver of certain grounds of inadmissibility. They must submit all 11 pages of the INS Forms. The Filing Fee is $585.

Who should file Form I-601?

Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility may be filed by anyone of the following aliens:

1. Outside US if an applicant has an interview with the consular officer but was found to be inadmissible.

2. Applicant who has applied for adjust of status

3. Visa applicant of K1 or K-2 type visas.

4. Applicant who have applied for K-3, K-4 or V visas.

5. Applicant who has applied for Temporary protected status (TPS).

6. Applicant under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief act.

7. Applicant under Haitian refugee Immigrant fairness act.

8. Self - petitioner under the Violence against women’s act (VAWA)

9. Applicant ...
... who wants to adjust the status but is inadmissible since he/she already has not got a waiver to enter US on some ground with regards to the T non immigrant status.

10. Applicants who are seeking waiver on the following grounds:

a) Under Immigration and Nationality act (INA) section 212(a)(1) on health related grounds.

b) Under INA section 212(a)(2) certain criminal grounds.

c) Under INA section 212(a)(3)(D) as immigrant member in Totalitarian party.

d) Under INA section 212(a)(6)(C) misrepresentation or fraud immigration except INA section 212(i) waiver not available in case, under INA Section 212(a)(6)(C)(ii) you are not admissible to US if you had claimed falsely to be a US citizen on or after September 30, 1996.

e) Under INA section 212(a)(6)(E) applicant is smuggler or under INA section 212(a)(6)(F) if applicant is being subject of civil penalty.

f) Under INA section 212(a)(9)(B) if applicant is on 3 or 19 years bar.

g) If applicant filed for TPS on certain grounds of inadmissibility.

h) Under INA section 212(a)(9)(A) applicant who is alien previously removed and under (9)(C) if alien is unlawfully present after previous immigration violations, applicant who filed for NACARA or HRIFA adjustment or VAWA self petitioner.

i) Under INA section 212(a)(1) public health and INA section 212(a)(4) public charge T non immigrant visa holders who apply for adjust of status may receive waiver but not for applicants who are inadmissible under INA section 212(a)(3)security related grounds, INA section 212(a)(10)(C) international child abductors or INA section 212(a)(10)(E) former citizen who renounced US citizenship to avoid taxation.

The Form I-601 must be filed at a USCIS Lockbox facility along with complete Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance if you want to receive an e-mail and/or text message that your Form I-601 has been accepted. To the first page of your application it has to be clipped.

Filing procedure update from USCIS

In the United States USCIS will Centralize Filing and Adjudication for Certain Waivers of Inadmissibility. Individuals abroad who have applied for certain visas and have been found ineligible by a U.S. Consular Officer would from June 4, 2012 be able to mail requests to waive certain grounds of inadmissibility directly to a Lockbox facility of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Applicants must send their waiver applications and this change affects where individuals abroad, who have been found inadmissible for an immigrant visa or a nonimmigrant K or V visa.

Applicants experience processing times from one-month to more than a year currently depending on their filing location. Faster and more efficient application processing and consistent adjudication will be provided by this centralization to customers. It does not reflect a change in policy or the standards by which the applications are adjudicated, it is part of a broader agency effort to transition to domestic filing and adjudication.

Individuals will now be able to track the status of their case online by filing waiver applications with a USCIS Lockbox. Filings for INS Forms I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility would be affected by the changes.

Immigrant visa waiver applicants in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, will have the option to either mail their waiver applications to the USCIS Lockbox in the United States or file in-person at the USCIS office in Ciudad Juarez during a limited six-month transition period. As a proactive act, with the huge caseload pending in mind, the USCIS will significantly increase the number of officers assigned to adjudicate the residual cases filed before June 4 for those filed during the interim six-month transition period. As a testing process USCIS has already transferred applications from Ciudad Juarez to other USCIS offices in the United States.