Parole

PAROLE IN PLACE POLICY CHALLENGED BY 16 STATES

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In June 2024, the Biden Administration announced its plan to rollout a process called Keeping Families Together, which would extend parole-in-place, which was previously limited to the immediate family members of members of the armed forces, to the spouses of US citizens who had been living in the US for ten years. Immediately after the program went live and started receiving applications on August 19, 2024, Texas and 15 additional states filed a lawsuit, and a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) asking the court to immediately block the process. The Court previously dismissed a lawsuit brought by Texas challenging another parole program from the Biden administration, the CHNV Parole Program (interchangeably, the “CHNV Parole Program” or the “Program”). The Court in that case found that the States lacked standing to bring the challenge. That parole program had a relatively small number of eligible immigrants compared to the number that qualify under the new Keeping Families Together program. On Aug. 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security, Case Number 24-cv-306, administratively stayed DHS from granting parole in place under Keeping Families Together for 14 days. Subsequently, the court issued another order and the administrative stay remains in effect through Sept. 23, 2024. Applications for parole-in-place under Keeping Families Together are still being accepted by USCIS. To apply one must submit an Form I-131F to USCIS (this form is only available for online submission). Apply online here. To comply with the district court’s administrative stay, USCIS will: – Not grant any pending parole in place requests under Keeping Families Together. – Continue to accept filings of Form I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens. – Continue to schedule biometric appointments and capture biometrics at Application Support Centers (ASCs). – The district court’s administrative stay order does not affect any applications that were approved before the administrative stay order was issued at 6:46 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 26, 2024. Parole is an exercise of DHS’s discretionary authority under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to allow certain noncitizen “applicants for admission” to be present in the United States on a temporary, case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. The INA defines an “applicant for admission,” in relevant part, as a noncitizen “present in the United States who has not been admitted.” Noncitizens who are present in the United States without admission or parole may be considered for parole in place under this process because they remain “applicants for admission.” Parole in place is available only for noncitizens who are present in the United States. If granted parole, and if otherwise eligible, these noncitizens may apply for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident without being required to leave the United States and be processed by a U.S. consulate overseas or obtaining an I-601A waiver.

United States District Court Puts New Parole In Place Policy on Hold

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On August 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in Texas v. Department of Homeland Security, Case Number 24-cv-306 administratively stayed DHS from granting parole in place under Keeping Families Together for 14 days; the District Court might extend the period of this administrative stay. While the administrative stay is in place: USCIS cannot grant any pending parole in place requests under Keeping Families Together. USCIS will continue to accept filings of Form I-131F, Application for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens, without adjudicating them. NOTE: The District Court’s administrative stay order does not affect any applications that were approved before the administrative stay order was issued. See USCIS.gov for the most up-to-date information and any updates.

USCIS BEGINS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR PAROLE-IN-PLACE FOR SPOUES OF US CITIZENS ON AUGUST 19, 2024

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USCIS Wait Times

On August 19, 2024 USCIS will begin accepting Applications for Parole in Place for Certain Noncitizen Spouses and Stepchildren of U.S. Citizens using a new electronic Form I-131F. USCIS has published webpages with additional information about these processes:  Filing Guide for Form I-131F & Keeping Families Together webpage. USCIS has also updated the Key Questions and Answers about the process on the Keeping Families Together webpage. More information about Keeping Families Together will be made available in a Federal Register notice in the coming days. The Form I-131F will only be available to file online.  Each requestor, including minors, must file a separate Form I-131F, and each requestor must have their own USCIS online account, including minors. Information on creating a USCIS online account is available on the How to Create a USCIS Online Account webpage. NOTE: There is no paper form for this process. THE ENTIRE PROCESS MUST BE DONE ONLINE. Interested to see how many people will actually be applying for this. Seems like most people who are eligible would have already done an I-601A if they really wanted to get residency. Maybe people who have pending 601A waivers who have been waiting years will apply for PIP as a backup plan or in hopes of speeding up this process. Hopefully this will cut down on the insane increase in the processing times of 601A waivers, which has more than tripled since COVID.

Process to Promote the Unity and Stability of Families (PIP Expansion)

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update

USCIS sent out an email regarding the Biden Administrations recent executive action to allow the spouses of US citizens who have been living in the US for ten years and who entered without inspection to get parole in place in order to become eligible for adjustment of status allowing them to bypass the need of obtaining an I-601A. The announcement refers to the program as the “Process to Promote the Unity and Stability of Families.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had announced this on On June 18, 2024. There are no details available yet about the process beyond the basic eligibility criteria. We still don’t know the process for applying, how the applications will be adjudicated, or anything else. The email states that USCIS will begin accepting applications on August 19, 2024. It says that if you apply before August 19, 2024, USCIS will reject the application. To get the details about eligibility and the application process will all have to wait for the final rule to be published in a forthcoming Federal Register notice. When will the Expanded Parole In Place Program begin? August 19, 2024 Who is Eligible? To be considered for a discretionary grant of parole, on a case-by-case basis, under this process, you must:     YOU CANNOT FILE ANYTHING YET AND YOU SHOULD NOT LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO IS TELLING YOU THAT YOU CAN. THE FINAL RULE HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED AND NO ONE KNOWS THE PROPER PROCEDURES AT THIS TIME. USCIS WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY APPLICATIONS BEFORE AUGUST 29TH. What You Can Do Now  Although we are not currently accepting applications, you can begin to prepare to file a parole application by gathering evidence of your eligibility, such as:   For noncitizen children of requestors, evidence of eligibility could include:  — Evidence of the child’s presence in the United States as of June 17, 2024. — Evidence of the child’s relationship to the noncitizen parent, such as a birth certificate or adoption decree;  — Evidence of the noncitizen parent’s legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024, such as a marriage certificate; and  — Evidence of the child’s presence in the United States as of June 17, 2024.   GO TO THE OFFICIAL USCIS WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION https://www.uscis.gov/keepingfamiliestogether

Biden Administration Expands Parole In Place to Spouse’s of US Citizens–Does NOT Extend Immigration Benefits to Any Immigrants Who Were not Already Eligible for a Green Card

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What is Parole-in-Place? Parole-in-Place (PIP) is an immigration policy that grants temporary protected legal status to certain undocumented individuals who are already in the United States that are present without admission or parole. It is a sort of legal fiction in which the person will be “paroled” into the US without actually having to leave and reenter. Once a noncitizen has been paroled into the US they become eligible to adjust status to that of a legal permanent resident, something that cannot be done (in most circumstances) by a noncitizen who entered the US without being admitted or paroled. PIP’s main benefit is not the temporary protection or the temporary employment authorization, rather, it is that it makes a person with an immigrant visa petition from their US citizen spouse eligible to adjust status and become a resident without having to get a waiver or leave the country. Is Parole-in-Place Something New? Traditionally, PIP has been available to undocumented family members of U.S. military personnel. It exists through Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which provides wide discretion to the Department of Homeland Security to parole someone into the US for humanitarian purposes. President Biden’s new policy expands its scope to include spouses of U.S. citizens. Does This Announcement Make Millions of Immigrants Eligible for Legal Immigration Status? No. It does not make anyone eligible for legal immigration status if they weren’t already eligible. You probably saw many headlines parroting the line from the White House’s Press Release stating “the Biden administration estimates the parole in place program will offer amnesty, and a path to legal permanent residency, to 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and 50,000 children under 21.” Those numbers seem greatly exaggerated but more importantly, the entire announcement is very misleading. The extension of parole-in-place for spouses of US citizens that have been in the US for ten years will not “create a path to legal status” for a single person. Every person who is eligible for this parole-in-place already had a path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship. This announcement will not benefit anyone who wasn’t already eligible for a green card. This might shorten the amount of time it takes for them to obtain residency, it will reduce the amount of paperwork they are required to file, and it will eliminate the need for them to depart the country and reenter legally. Since the three and ten year bars on reentry to the US due to unlawful presence were created in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, there has been “waiver” available for the spouses of US citizens. The Obama administration expanded that waiver to include spouses and children of US citizens and permanent residents (green card holders). So anyone who qualifies for parole-in-place through Biden’s new program would have been eligible to obtain legal residency already. The majority of the people who are eligible in the US probably have a waiver pending or already approved and are waiting for a visa interview. It is incredible how the media churns out AI generated articles and copy-paste news alerts that all simply repeat the information in the press release without mentioning the above. Even the articles criticizing this move fail to address this and claim that this move protects a half a million immigrants from deportation. This announcement comes two weeks after he issued a sweeping executive action that allows US officials to quickly remove migrants entering the US illegally without processing their asylum requests. That resulted in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that argues that the policy violates US immigration law. The White House’s claim that this election-year move will protect more than 500,000 people from deportation doesn’t ring true. It saves them from the inconvenience of having to obtain a waiver and attend a consulate interview in their home country. The additional claim that this will benefit “roughly 50,000 noncitizen children of immigrants under the age of 21 whose parent are married to a US citizen” seems to be referencing the minor children who would be considered paroled upon the parole-in-place of their parent, which would allow them to adjust status based on the step-child petition they would likely have from the US citizen spouse of their parent. People are divided along party lines in their support of this executive order and I see people on both sides incorrectly stating that this is some sort of unprecedented move to extend residency to a tremendous number of immigrants that are in the US without status. It’s basically just political theater. People are debating the merits of an announcement that doesn’t actually expand eligibility to legal immigration status. The media should make an attempt to explain this to people rather than reprinting hundreds of identical articles and blog posts spreading misinformation. Who is Eligible for Parole In Place? In order to qualify for parole in place, the spouse of the U.S. Citizen must: Link to the Official Department of Homeland Security Fact Sheet for this topic.