News Flash!

On January 6, 2012, the Obama Administration announced a long overdue and much welcome change to how the unlawful presence waivers of the spouses and children of American citizens will be processed.  Untold thousands of relatives of American citizens are stranded outside the United States while awaiting months and often years for unlawful presence applications to be processed by USCIS, causing the fabric of American families to be shredded during the interminable wait for the approval of a waiver before an immigrant visa can be issued.  The proposed change would enable spouses and minor children to file the unlawful presence waiver while waiting in the United States and, after approval, traveling to get an immigrant visas.  This change will allow American citizens to be with their families while awaiting adjudication of the waiver.  This streamlined procedure will apply only if the only ground of inadmissibility is unlawful presence and the petitioner is an American citizen.  Extreme hardship will still be proven.