There’s many different kinds of immigration waivers. These are things that you might have to ask forgiveness for from immigration. Immigration has a book of all of their laws called the Immigration and Nationality Act. It includes a list of problems that a person might have in their immigration history or in their past that could impact their immigration application.
Many people are concerned with whether or not they would need a waiver or they’re eligible or they have a problem in their immigration past or in their history that could impact their case.
What we do as immigration attorneys when we meet with clients, we go through all of the things in their past that could possibly impact their application and we look at the Immigration and Nationality Act to decide if you are eligible or you have something in your immigration past or in your history that would need a waiver.
There are some things in the Immigration and Nationality Act that can be forgiven and there’s other things that cannot be forgiven.
A lot of people ask about, “If I had a tourist visa denied in the past, will I need a waiver? Is that a problem?” A waiver is needed if there was fraud or misrepresentation in your past. Meaning if any time in the past, you’ve ever lied to immigration or misrepresented something to immigration, then you would have to ask for a waiver for that.
Staying in the country without documents sometimes needs a waiver. It’s very fact-specific but some people need a provisional waiver to ask for forgiveness for that time in the US without documents.
To determine whether or not you’d need one, you want to talk to an immigration attorney so they can go through your past and help you understand whether or not you’re eligible and whether or not you need a waiver.
How can you apply for a waiver?
That depends on the type of waiver you need. There are different types of waivers. It will depend on what case or issue you had that goes against the Immigration and Nationality Act.
A lot of people ask, “What do I have to show to be forgiven? Do I just have to show that I’m a good person or what would immigration be looking for in a waiver?” Again, it depends. In general, one of the main things that we have to prove to immigration is not only that the person deserves it, that they are a person who made a mistake in the past but they don’t have any other criminal history and they regret that mistake.
We also have to show that their US citizen spouse or lawful permanent resident spouse would suffer if the person isn’t able to receive their green card to be able to live together in the United States.
Immigration waivers are a very complex area of immigration law. If you think you have something in your immigration past that could cause a problem, talk with an immigration attorney. Immigration attorneys will help you go over in detail about your past and they’ll help you to understand whether or not you have an option to ask forgiveness from immigration.