New Jersey Immigration Lawyer Explains When to File the I-601A
As a New Jersey Immigration Lawyer, I am often asked by clients about filing an I-601A before leaving the US. Many of our clients are married and came with no visa, or their visa expired, or they lost their passport. They can’t find their passport so they’re processing what’s called the I-601A provisional waiver case. It’s a multi-step case. The first step is the I-130 immigrant visa petition. Then the I-601 waiver, comes next.
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One of the most common questions I get is, “Now that my I-130 visa petition is approved, do I have to leave the US in order to file the waiver?” No since the I-601A provisional waiver is different than the I-601 traditional waiver. With the traditional waiver, people did have to leave the US and stay outside of the US until their waiver was approved. The beauty of the I-601A provisional waiver is that once the I-130 petition is approved, people file the 601A provisional waiver here and remain in the US until their waiver is approved.
Once the 601A waiver is approved, then we begin to deal with the National Visa Center. There’s a lot of back and forth with the National Visa Center and ultimately when they finally schedule the appointment, that’s when somebody travels. Usually, people remain outside of the US for somewhere between two to four weeks. Our firm has had huge success with clients going through the 601A provisional waiver program.
Have you had trouble with the 601A waiver program? Contact our professional New Jersey Immigration Lawyer for guidance.
This educational blog was brought to you by Susan Scheer, an experienced New Jersey Immigration Lawyer.
