Skip to main content

TPS, Advance Parole and Adjustment of Status--The New Options.

In a recent case, the Board of Immigration Appeals opened up an entire new area for individuals who have until now found themselves ineligible to obtain permanent residence without leaving the United States, or going through a complicated and unpredictable waiver process.

In Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012), the Board of Immigration ruled that an individual who came into the US illegally but who is now on an adjustment of status applicant, who obtains a travel documents (advance parole) through USCIS and then leaves the US and reenters on that Advance parole, is eligible to adjust status IN the US (with an available immigrant visa), and is NOT subject to the 10 year bar waiver typically associated with his departure after having been illegally in the US for longer than 1 year. This is an AMAZING development and unexpected good news for several hundred thousand people. TPS status holders are eligible for the same type of advance parole document.

What does this mean in practical terms? This is best understood by example:
  • Maria is a Honduran national (or any other current TPS holder) who came into the United States without a visa;
  • Subsequently, Maria becomes eligible for AND obtains TPS through the normal USCIS process;
  • Maria decides to travel to her home country either for family illness or because of long family separation. She files for and properly obtains from USCIS an "advance parole" or a travel document allowing her to leave and reenter the US to resume her TPS;
  • Maria leaves the US and timely returns on the Advance Parole;
  • Maria is married to a US Citizen, has a US Citizen child older than 21, or is the beneficiary of an immediately available immigrant visa through other family or through an employer (and has no unlawful employment--their are exceptions);
  • Maria can file an adjustment of status in the US without having to pay a fine, and without having to file for an unlawful presence waiver, because she now has both lawful status AND a lawful entry!
This is a huge change in the way the law functions. If you have TPS and are married to a US Citizen, or have a US Citizen child over the age of 21, you are now eligible for permanent residence without processing in your home country and without having to file a waiver! You simply need to obtain the advance parole, briefly travel, reenter, and then file for adjustment. A word of warning, immigration laws are complicated, and there are ALWAYS exceptions to a general rule. Criminal convictions will doom you. Consult and use an immigration attorney to assist BEFORE making your plans to ensure a successful conclusion to your case.

Comments

  1. Is this really true for TPS holders that would just face an unlawful presence bar?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Does this Covers Also a DACA Holder ?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Are An Immigrant (even a US Citizen), Here Are 9 Things You Should Know

Are you a Naturalized U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident, Visa Holder, or an Undocumented Immigrant? We recommend you take the following steps to protect yourself in our current version of America. The last couple of weeks have reminded immigrants, even naturalized U.S. citizens, that they were not born in the United States. Our office has received countless phone calls, emails, and social media messages from people worrying about what their family’s future in the United States holds. Most people want to know what they can do now to protect themselves from what promises to be a wave of anti-immigration activity by the federal government. Trump's Executive Order on Interior Enforcement has some provisions that should make most Americans shiver.  We recommend the following actions for each of the following groups: Naturalized U.S. citizens. In particular if you have a foreign accent, and you are traveling within 100 miles of any US Border (including the oceans

Seven Reasons Why the Georgia Legislature Should Repeal HB-87

Recently the Alabama Attorney General called on the Alabama State Legislature to repeal parts of Alabama's horrid anti-immigration law ( HB 56), because of the "unintended" consequences of the bill (frankly, what happened was not unintended). Because of the similarity between the two laws, Georgia's Speaker of the House, David Ralston was asked whether Georgia Legislature would repeal part or all of HB 87, Georgia own anti-immigration law. HB 87 has caused almost a half a billion dollars in damage to the Georgia economy (along with untold suffering in Georgia's immigrant communities) without any noted or reported positive effect. Speaker Ralston plainly stated that the Georgia Legislature would NOT do anything to repeal HB 87 . While it understandable why a politician would not admit that a pet bill he shepherded and pushed through the state legislature was simply bad law, it is also clear that Speaker Ralston is facing a challenge on his RIGHT in th

How To Stop Illegal Immigration

In the midst of the never ending political season, we hear much rhetoric about immigration, and what candidates will "do" to fix what everyone considers to be a broken (not failed, just broken) immigration system.  Most of the candidates, however, put a condition on fixing this broken system by saying that:  "FIRST, we must secure the border and end illegal immigration, then we will talk."   What will it take to accomplish this precondition to solve a the acknowledged problem. There are two types of "illegal" immigration to the United States.  The first is what everyone already considers to be illegal immigration--those who enter the United States without a visa through our thousands of miles of borders.  Proposals to fix this particular type of illegal immigration range from alligators and moats, to automatic firing machine guns, to “beautiful” walls, to limitless numbers of border patrol agents.  The second type of "illegal" immigratio