DC VAWA Cancellation of Removal

To be eligible for a VAWA cancellation of removal, you need to meet requirements that include a physical presence for a period of time, good moral character, and extreme hardship. Below is more information on each of these requirements including what it means and how you can establish that you meet these requirements.

Our lawyers have experience dealing with VAWA issues and understand what it takes to approach a cancellation of removal from this perspective. For more information call and schedule a consultation with a DC cancellation of removal lawyer today.

Physical and Continuous Presence

The clock starts when you began your physical presence in the United States, so basically, the day that you entered and began continuously residing in the US. However, it will be considered broken if you depart the United States for extended periods of time, but again, if you have a departure for less than ninety days and an aggregate of less than a hundred and eighty days, you won’t break that physical presence requirement.

Good Moral Character

Good moral character is defined in the same way in that it is in all other immigration applications where it’s a requirement just like the non-LPR cancellation. Again, it’s not precisely defined, but there are certain actions and criminal offenses that will disqualify you from proving this and you’re subject to the same rules as everybody else for this. So, proving good moral character involves proving that your criminal record does not disqualify you, and, if you don’t have a criminal record, it just involves submitting affirmative evidence that you qualify like letters from people who know you, proof that you have paid taxes for long periods of time, proof of other good works, and generally anything that can show that you’re a positive and responsible member of the community.

Extreme Hardship

Extreme hardship in VAWA applications can be based on the abuse. So, you can show that you have already been harmed by the abuse you suffered in the United States and how maybe accessing therapy or victim services resources will be more difficult in your home country. You can also show how you might be more susceptible to being subject to domestic violence again if you’re deported to your home country.

If you’re from a country in, for example, Central America, you may be much more susceptible because the laws that protect people from domestic violence are very weak there, so that’s something that you can use. It’s definitely easier to prove hardship in VAWA cancellation cases than it is in non-LPR cancellation cases, especially because you can use the hardship yourself.

Evidence and Documentation to Show Abuse

It’s completely different in every case. In some cases, there will be hospital reports and police reports and a lot of hard evidence such as photographs that show the abuse. On the other hand, in some cases you’re not even going to have physical abuse at all, so you’ll have to prove it in other ways. Also, one common issue is that there are many people who have been totally isolated due to the abuse, and it may be an absolute secret. Discussing the abuse with anyone outside the home may not even have been done, so there’s very little evidence that we can submit aside from their own statements. These are harder cases to prove and you definitely need an immigration attorney.

If we are lacking in hard evidence, one strategy is to send people to a therapist or counselors after the fact, once they begin preparing a case. This is usually something the victims need and will benefit from anyway, and the counselors can write up a statement attesting to the effects the abuse has had on the applicant. Sometimes, they can even testify in court.