hi i am at the aila conference, my name is margaret. and i am a paralegal for tsang & associates.
i’m here with attorney joseph, and we have just attended a presentation about i-601 and i-601a waivers.
we were very excited about this presentation because they spoke a lot about waivers
and our office does many of these cases. we are going to explain under what circumstances you can use a waiver
the first waiver they talked about is the i-601a
and it’s generally used when there is only an issue in regards to unlawful entry/presence,
in order to qualify, you must have a qualifying relationship,
whether your spouse or parent is a lawful permanent resident or a u.s. citizen.
you must also prove that if the foreign national must return to their country of origin,
the qualifying relative would suffer extreme hardship.
one thing to keep in mind is that currently, these cases are taking at minimum, three years to be adjudicated.
the presenters also shared that usually when these cases sent to uscis, generally about 50% receive requests for evidence,
i was very surprised to hear that because in our office we have never received an rfe
and i think it’s because we always prepare a detailed checklist and present as much evidence from the beginning.
the key thing to remember is that when you are submitting this application it’s a human reading it,
this officer might be a thousand miles away in a little dark room, with a hundred other cases just like yours,
what makes your case stand out, you have to make them be able to read it and kind of cry.
we all watch the same movies and the same soap operas, we know what is a good story.
your goal in order to improve your chance of success, is to provide this compelling story to help the officer really understand you, to prove this extreme hardship.
the second topic they spoke about was the i-601.
it’s similar to the i-601a in a few ways, however there are some differences.
ike the i-601a, you must have a qualifying relationship, and you must also prove extreme hardship.
the difference is however, that if you have unlawful presence, and you also have another violation for example a dui,
in this case you wouldn’t be eligible to file an i-601a you would need to file an i-601.
generally, these cases are processed outside of the u.s. but there are unique circumstances under which you can concurrently file an i-485 along with an i-601,
joseph will talk about that, but before we get to that, i also wanted to
share a key takeaway that the presenters shared which is that when it comes time to attend your medical exam,
you have to remember that the staff is also working on behalf of the government,
so you don’t want to disclose more information that is necessary,
so for example, if they start asking about your drinking habits, do not start to share information that can result in problems or in a denial.
one key update is that 485, adjustment of status officers, can also adjudicate 601 cases,
so if you are in the united states, you can file i-485 adjustment of status as well as an i-601 and ask the officer to approve it.
now this is just my opinion but usually the 485 uscis officer interviewing you is a little stricter on the 601 requirements,
they aren’t going to exercise as much discretionary to approve the case just because usually they don’t see that many i-601 cases,
so because they don’t see that many, they hold it to a much higher standard, in my opinion, so if you have a great case, if you have a good case
then this is the way to go, but if you don’t have that strong of a case then maybe file the i-601 the traditional way.
thank you so much for watching, these are the new updates pertaining to i-601 and i-601a.
We love doing i-601 and i-601a cases. Sometimes, we spend six months to a year preparing it, it’s really telling your love story and your life,
o I wish you the best, good luck with everything, take care, bye bye.