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Obtaining Waivers of Inadmissibility: From Consultation to Application

1h 1m

Created on March 20, 2018

Intermediate

Overview

The last major overhaul of immigration law, the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IRAIRA), was passed in 1996 and went into effect on April 1, 1997. While the change in the law occurred over twenty years ago, the design of the law makes the impact cumulative, increasing the aggregate repercussions every year. One of the primary changes of the 1996 law was the dramatic expansion of inadmissibility, a type of disqualifier for certain immigration benefits such as a visa or permanent residence. One of the new types of inadmissibility created by IRAIRA is a ten year bar for previous unlawful presence of more than a year.

In the year 2000, only about 5300 immigrant visa applicants were denied a visa on this ground at the consulates. In the year 2016, this inadmissibility ground was applied to almost 43,000 immigrant visa applicants, an eight-fold increase. For many types of inadmissibility, most notably unlawful presence, the foreign national can apply for a waiver, or exception, of that inadmissibility.

Including all grounds of inadmissibility, the number of waiver applications filed annually now rivals the number of affirmative asylum applications filed, making waivers of inadmissibility a major area of immigration law and arguably a new field of law in itself. In this presentation, by immigration practitioner Laurel Scott, who specializes in waivers of inadmissibility, the viewer will be introduced to inadmissibility, procedures for applying for waivers, and standards for approval.


Learning Objectives:
  1. Identify and explain the most common grounds of inadmissibility
  2. Review the complex filing procedures for waivers in the context of the underlying visa or adjustment of status cases
  3. Discuss how to prepare a winning case

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