I-601A Provisional Waiver: Statistics and Reality

Brooklyn, NY, November 12, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Recently, the National Benefit Center (NBC) of the USCIS released statistics on I-601A provisional waiver applications. The provisional waiver is one of the immigration tools implemented in the anticipation of the Immigration reform which helps maintaining family unity of the interested parties, and allows its applicants to wait for the result on the adjudication of the waiver in the United States. I-601A waiver was and still is the first step towards the improvement of the harsh Immigration laws that currently, in most situations, call for separation of family members in case of Immigration law violations.

The time period that was taken into consideration for the report by the NBC included March 4, 2013 (the date the I-601A waiver was first allowed for submission) through September 14, 2013. The applications were sorted out to those that were accepted; were rejected; were adjudicated and approved and were adjudicated and denied. Those applications that were denied, were in its turn sorted out according to the reason for the denial. The numbers look as follows:

23,949 applications received by Lockbox
75% accepted for adjudication
25% rejected
5,892 applications adjudicated by NBC
59% approved
39% denied
2% administratively closed
2,292 applications denied by NBC
48% denied due to “reason to believe” inadmissible on other ground
41% denied due to failure to establish extreme hardship

It is clear that a quarter of all the applications were rejected: it means that USCIS never considered them and sent them back the applicant usually to remedy a technical error. Often, such errors include: incorrect fee, incorrect filling out of immigration forms, including signatures; submitting the waiver on incorrect forms. Most of the time, the application gets rejected by the USCIS when the person who is filing it is acting pro-se: without an attorney. It happens because the Immigration laws and instructions are often confusing and a person without special knowledge or education has a hard time “getting it right” from the first attempt. Unfortunately, the NBC does not provide any statistics of how many of the rejected applications were successfully refilled. Often, a person “forgets” to re-file or just gives up due to frustration. As such, it is very important to read the instructions to the forms carefully to avoid the rejection and delays in the process.

Further, another conclusion that one may reach from the analysis of the provided statistics is that a hefty number of applicants did not have quality help preparing for the submission of the waiver: 48% of all the denials are attributed due to the fact that USCIS believes the applicants are inadmissible on the grounds other than simple entry without inspection. It is important to know that the I-601A provisional waiver can be used to waive only grounds of unlawful presence. All other grounds of inadmissibility such as criminal convictions; false claims of US citizenship; fraud or misrepresentation at the time of entry, cannot be waived through the I-601A submission. The statistics tells us that in many, many cases the applicants’ personal situation was not properly assessed and it might very well be that they could have avoided the expense of the waiver had they enjoyed the right legal advice.

The bottom line, is that to make sure that the I-601A waiver is effective and can be utilized, a person must first either educate himself or herself with a voluminous body of immigration law; read the instructions to the forms carefully and the FAQ by the USCIS posted on the topic and to fill out all the forms truthfully and accurately. The other alternative is to hand over the case to an experienced Immigration attorney who will guide the applicant and his/her family through the maze of the Immigration laws and regulations and will make sure that their time and money are not wasted.

Law office of Alena Shautsova is a full service New York Immigration law firm; our I-601A Provisional Waiver attorney will fight for your immigration status; we fight for your dreamed entry Into the United States of America and ability to live without pressure of being deported; we take the worries regarding your US immigration status out of your life; call us today 917-885-2261.