DC Eligibility for Waivers of Inadmissibility
The waivers of inadmissibility are available to different people depending what type of ground of inadmissibility a person is applying for. For instance, if an individual is fighting an inadmissibility application based on a health grounds, they would be eligible only if they are the parent, child, unmarried son or daughter of a US citizen, legal permanent resident, or somebody who has been issued an immigrant visa.
In those cases, as well as the 212 (h) waiver which applies to those who are criminally inadmissible, the applicant needs a qualifying relative. In these particular cases, the qualifying relative will fall into the same category as a qualifying relative who must be a citizen or a resident. Some waivers do not require that the waiver applicant has a qualifying family member but the most common ones do.
As long as the applicant meets the requirements for the specific type of waiver being applied for, there are no limitations on who is eligible. Anyone who meets the standards for the particular waiver in which they are applying will qualify or will be eligible to apply.
Racial, religious, political affiliations, age, or any other kind of membership in a particular social group does not have any bearing on your eligibility.
Minor Applicants
A minor can apply for a waiver, however, this is not as common because typically the grounds of inadmissibility that occur while a person is still considered a minor are not going to be deemed inadmissible. For instance, many people that are convicted of crimes as minors will not be considered to be inadmissible based on the criminal inadmissibility grounds. There are some exceptions to this but it is much less common for the government to be able to prove that the ground of inadmissibility was knowing and willful.
The government is less likely to charge a minor with being inadmissible but a minor would be eligible for a waiver if they were deemed to be inadmissible.
Important to Know
The first thing is that the waiver applicant needs to be extremely certain about all of the grounds of inadmissibility that they are subject to before moving forward. The second thing is that they need to identify exactly what needs to be proved to be eligible for the waiver. For instance, do you need to show that you have a qualifying relative? Do you need to prove extreme hardship to that qualifying relative? What are the actual requirements that you’re trying to meet?
Finally, the applicant really needs to understand, particularly in cases that involve the showing of extreme hardship to a qualifying relative, is that the hardship needs to be very thoroughly documented. Letters from the applicant and the qualifying family member stating that it is going to be difficult on the family of the individual are not enough to be allowed to enter or gain lawful status.
Documenting Hardship
The applicant has to prove why their case is different and why it really meets the legal standard. Ways to accomplish this include submitting medical evidence or letters from doctors or therapists or mental health professionals that can actually document the hardship that is going to be inflicted on the US citizen relative.
Related to this, another consideration is that the government, in cases where hardships to a U.S. relative is required, does not typically care or takes into consideration the hardship on the immigrant or the intending immigrant.
With this in mind, even if the hardship will more directly affect the immigrant, it is important to show the government the lengths of hardship that will be suffered by the U.S. relative and it is very important to frame the entire application with that focus.
Granted a Waiver Effect on Visa
Being granted a waiver of inadmissibility does not automatically give a green card to the applicant. It depends on what type of status they’re applying for in conjunction with the waiver of inadmissibility. So, if an individual is applying for a waiver of inadmissibility because they want to enter the tourist visa then their tourist visa will be granted. If they are applying for a waiver of inadmissibility to enter on an employment-based visa then they’ll enter on that type of visa.
If an individual is applying for a waiver of inadmissibility in conjunction with the application for adjustment status or a green card, then once they prove that they qualified for this waiver, they must also prove to the government that they are otherwise eligible for admission and need to go through the same process that any other non-inadmissible applicant would have to go through.
So, it’s an additional requirement that is placed upon people who are applying for a status if they’re deemed inadmissible. It is filed in conjunction with the application for admission and the particular type of status that you’re applying for.