Source: https://cliniclegal.org/issues/inadmissibility-and-waivers
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 16:34:42+00:00

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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a grant of Temporary Protected Status itself constitutes an “admission” for purposes of INA § 245(a) adjustment of status eligibility. While this is potentially promising news, advocates in the 9th Circuit should wait for guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on how the decision will be implemented.
The USCIS circulated draft guidance on October 7th interpreting the term “extreme hardship” and explaining how it should be applied to waiver applications.
Read updates on: Fee Waivers (Form I-912), Expansion of the Provisional Waiver Program, Board of Immigration Appeals Recognition & Accreditation, USCIS Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, Draft Extreme Hardship Policy Guidance for Waiver Applications.
The USCIS published a proposed rule in the Federal register on July 22, 2015 that would expand the current provisional waiver program in two significant ways. The agency is allowing the public 60 days to comment on the proposed regulatory change.
The concept of admission is central to many critical issues in immigration law. If your client was “admitted,” he or she may qualify to adjust status under INA § 245(a). If your client was “admitted,” he or she is subject to the grounds of deportability, not inadmissibility, and the government will have the burden of proof. And if your client was “admitted,” this may impact on available remedies for relief from removal.
Unlawful voting has serious consequences for noncitizens. The BIA confirmed this in a precedent decision finding that a noncitizen is removable under INA § 237(a)(6)(A), regardless of whether the alien knew that he or she was unlawfully voting in violation of 18 USC § 611(a). Matter of Fitzpatrick, 26 I&N Dec. 559 (BIA 2015).
If you represent U visa and U status applicants, you already know that immigration judges have no jurisdiction over applications for U status or for applications for adjustment of status under INA § 245(m). By statute, USCIS has exclusive jurisdiction over theses applications, including waivers of inadmissibility under INA § 212(d)(14), the waiver provision that exclusively applies to the U status applicants.
If you represent LPRs in removal proceedings, you will want to take a close look at the Board's recent decision in Matter of Abdelghany, 26 I&N Dec. 254 (BIA 2014), which presents a new framework for analyzing LPR eligibility for INA § 212 (c) waivers. It will likely result in more LPRs qualifying for this relief.

References: § 245
 § 245
 § 237
 § 611
 § 245
 § 212
 § 212