White House Confirms New Waiver in place for Undocumented Family Members of US Citizens

President Obama continues to strive for new steps in his administration to slow the pace of immigrant deportations, which have surged during his first term.

His first major implementation was the DREAM act, announced in June of 2012, which would cease the deportation of those bought to the USA as children who fulfilled certain requirements and were otherwise generally law-abiding residents.

The latest progression is a waiver application for undocumented immigrants who have a spouse, parent or child with US citizenship: a rule change was confirmed in January 2013, which will allow qualifying undocumented family members to apply for a waiver from within the USA rather than leaving the country and applying for a waiver forgiving their unlawful presence, before then applying for an immigrant visa, which was previously the case.

The previous policy was such that, if an individual was unsuccessful in their waiver application, they could be barred from entering the United States for up to ten years, depending on the case. The risk of being barred was thought to have deterred many from applying.

This new waiver will come into action on March 4th of this year. Applicants must only return to their native country for a brief period for the consular process, which greatly reduces the risk previously involved, since any news of rejection would be delivered whilst the applicant was still in the USA.

For those with approved applications, it will mean spending far less time abroad, as the applicant will leave the country already having received their waiver.