Opinion ID: 3037057
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The VWP Regime

Text: [1] The Visa Waiver Program authorizes the government to waive visa requirements for citizens of certain favored countries. See 8 U.S.C. § 1187.6 Under the terms of the VWP, as a condition of entering the United States without a visa, Mrs. Freeman had to leave within 90 days and, under the nocontest clause, agree to waive any right:
gration officer’s determination as to the admissibility of the alien at the port of entry into the United States, or (2) to contest, other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal of the alien. 5 Throughout this opinion we refer to the citizen spouse as the husband and the alien spouse as the wife/widow. However, neither the immigration laws we review nor our holdings make any distinction between the sexes. 6 Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory citations herein are to Chapter 8 of the United States Code. FREEMAN v. GONZALES 4515 § 1187(b). We have described the no-contest clause as “the linchpin of the [Visa Waiver] program,” which “assures that a person who comes here with a VWP visa will leave on time and will not raise a host of legal and factual claims to impede [her] removal if [s]he overstays.” Handa v. Clark, 401 F.3d 1129, 1135 (9th Cir. 2005). Notwithstanding that the nocontest clause severely restricts an alien’s ability to seek review of a removal decision, the alien may still claim that she is not subject to the VWP procedures at all or that the law requires that she be brought before an immigration judge (IJ) prior to removal. See id. at 1133. [2] Although the no-contest clause was designed generally to limit the rights of alien visitors and prevent them from challenging their removal, the INA does not entirely preclude such visitors from seeking to extend their stay. Specifically, § 1255(c)(4) provides that a VWP visitor may seek to adjust her status to that of a permanent resident through an immediate relative petition, the procedure invoked by the Freemans. See Faruqi v. Dep’t of Homeland Security, 360 F.3d 985, 98687 (9th Cir. 2004) (noting that VWP visitors are eligible “for adjustment of status . . . on the basis of either (1) an immediate relative petition or (2) an application for asylum.”); see also 8 C.F.R. § 245.1(b)(8). Once an adjustment of status application is filed, certain procedural safeguards are in place to ensure fair adjudication of the application. See generally 8 C.F.R. § 245. Mrs. Freeman argues that once she (and her husband) initiated the adjustment of status process by filing the necessary forms, her right to remain in the United States and to challenge any adverse decision became subject to the procedural protections governing adjustment of status applications. Accordingly, the district director erred in applying the VWP no-contest proviso to her in denying her adjustment of status application. The government, however, insists that the VWP no-contest proviso remains in force and precludes Mrs. Freeman from challenging her removal order and the district 4516 FREEMAN v. GONZALES director’s determination that she is no longer a qualifying spouse. It argues that only asylum seekers are exempted from the no-contest clause under the express terms of § 1187(b)(2), and Mrs. Freeman is not seeking asylum.7 We think the government’s position ignores the interplay between the adjustment of status regime and the visa waiver program, which explicitly allows VWP visitors to file an adjustment of status application pursuant to an immediate relative petition. See § 1255(c)(4). As we shall explain, the text and purpose of this complex statute, along with DHS’s action in Mrs. Freeman’s case, persuade us that once a VWP visitor properly files an adjustment of status application, the VWP no-contest clause does not deprive the visitor-applicant of the procedural guarantees afforded any applicant seeking adjustment of status. See 8 C.F.R. § 245.2.