WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY

If it is discovered that you lied or misrepresented a material fact at any point, you will be inadmissible for fraud. In order to obtain a fraud waiver, you must show extreme hardship to either a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident spouse or parent. Children are not qualifying relatives for this type of waiver. Fraud waivers are notoriously hard to obtain. 

criminal waivers can forgive many types of convictions. An applicant will have to show extreme hardship to their U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident spouse, parent, or child OR to show that more than fifteen years have passed since the conviction and the person is rehabilitated and is not a danger to the United States. Certain violent and serious crimes will have a higher level of hardship to prove. A common issue many people face is that there is no waiver for drug convictions except for one conviction involving 30 grams or less of marijuana.

Unlawful presence is time that someone has been in the United States without any lawful status or after overstaying their lawful status. Someone with less than six months of unlawful presence will not need a waiver. Someone with between six months and one year of unlawful presence will have a three year ban on admissibility. Someone with more than one year of unlawful presence will have a ten year ban on admissibility. Someone who has more than one year of unlawful presence  or a removal order who departs the country and then enters unlawfully will have a permanent unlawful presence bar. There are three types of unlawful presence waivers. All unlawful presence waivers require you to show extreme hardship to a U.S. Citizen of Lawful Permanent Resident spouse or parent (not children). The provisional waiver allows you to apply from within the United States as long as you have no other grounds of inadmissibility. The standard waiver requires you to apply once the consulate has denied your application. And for those who have a permanent bar, they can apply for a waiver at the consulate after they have spent at least ten years outside of the United States. 

There are two types of removal orders. An expedited removal order usually occurs at the border or at the airport and is issued by an officer, not a judge. Someone with an expedited removal order will be inadmissible for five years and require a waiver prior to the five years. A regular removal order issued by a judge will make someone inadmissible for a period of ten years and a waiver will be required prior to the ten years. The inadmissibility period beginsbeings once you actually depart the country, not once the order is issued. 

If someone is issued a removal order by a judge for failing to appear in court this is called an “in absentia” order. An “in absentia” order will make you ineligible to apply for any immigration applications for ten years. Also, if someone is granted voluntary departure and the file to depart in the time authorized by the judge, the voluntary departure will convert into a removal order. This removal order will also make you ineligible to apply for immigration applications for ten years.