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The I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver: Why is a game changer?

Prior to March 4th, 2013, if you were an undocumented immigrant of an immediate relative of a US Citizen and you wanted to adjust status via a family visa, you had to leave the United States for lengthy periods of time until a waiver for unlawful presence was approved. Then you could enter on an immigrant visa. This caused separation of some families for years at times. Effective March 4th, 2013, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they will begin accepting another inadmissibility waiver 601 A Waivers. This new form is called the 601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver.

The Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver was implemented so that undocumented immigrants would not be separated from their families in the US for lengthy periods of time. For example, Mathur is an undocumented immigrant who has been in the US for 10 years but married to a US citizen. Prior to the implementation of the 601A wavier, Mathur would have to leave the country for years prior to being able to apply for entry as an immigrant. Under the new 601A provisional waiver, Mathur can apply for the waiver in the US. He can wait for it to be approved while he stays in the US. And once approved, he can leave the US for a few days or weeks for consular processing. After a few days or weeks once the consular processing is completed, he could reenter on an immigrant visa.

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