In October 2013, Verma LAW FIRM was retained by a client who illegally crossed the U.S. border ten years ago and has since been living in the U.S. with her U.S.-born husband and two children. Her husband filed an I-130 petition (first step of the family green card process) for our client and it was approved in 2004. However, since our client entered the U.S. illegally, she was not eligible to complete the last step of the green card application (I-485) within the U.S. On the other hand, if she were to apply for the green card with the U.S. consulate overseas, her departure from the U.S. would trigger a ten-year bar of inadmissibility.
If our client were to leave the U.S., her husband would suffer extreme hardship, both financially and emotionally. Our client is a mother of two young children, one of whom has serious learning issues. Her husband’s job requires him to work for long and irregular hours. Our client therefore is primarily responsible for taking care of her children, including taking one of them to after-school special programs to help him cope with his learning issues. If our client were to leave the U.S., her husband would not be able to take care of the children. Nor would he be able to afford a nanny. We decided to file an I-601A application for a waiver of inadmissibility for our client. We successfully proved to the USCIS that our client’s departure from the U.S. would result in extreme hardship to her U.S. citizen husband. In August 2014, USCIS granted our client the waiver of inadmissibility. As such, the ten-year bar of inadmissibility is waived and our client can depart the U.S. and apply for a green card at the U.S. consulate overseas.