CASE: I-601 Hardship Waiver of Inadmissibility
APPLICANT / BENEFICIARY: Kenyan
LOCATION: Lakewood, WA
Our client came to the United States from Kenya as a B-2 visitor. Later, she married to U.S. citizen husband. With our office’s legal assistance, her husband filed an I-130 petition for her and she concurrently filed an I-485 adjustment of status application in June 2023. The I-130 petition was approved; however, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence in July 31, 2024, and requested our client to submit I-601 waiver application because he was found inadmissible due to her misrepresentation on her B-2 visa application.
There is a seminal BIA case that deals with this waiver. In Matter of Cervantes, 22 I & N Dec. 560 (BIA 1999), the BIA identified the factors to be considered in determining whether a qualifying relative would suffer extreme hardship if the alien were denied admission. Those factors include: the presence of LPR or USC family ties both within and outside the United States; the conditions in the country to which the qualifying relative would relocate and the extent of the qualifying relative’s ties to that country; the financial impact of departure from the United States; and significant conditions of health, particularly when tied to the unavailability of suitable medical care in the country to which the qualifying relative would relocate.
Our client’s I-601 application had a good chance since our client’s U.S. Citizen husband has extreme medical hardships. In the I-601 brief and supporting documents, our office included extensive medical reports of her husband. We argued that if she was removed from the United States, extreme hardship to her husband is clearly foreseeable and evident. Also, it would be extremely difficult for her to get the same level of physical therapy and satisfactory access to medical services in Kenya in case he joins our client there.
On October 21, 2024, our office submitted our client’s I-601 waiver application which included the brief in support, her husband’s medical records, and other documents that demonstrated hardship to her husband if she is removed from the United States.
Eventually, her I-601 waiver was approved on December 23, 2024. On January 4, 2025, the USCIS also approved our client’s I-485 adjustment of status application as well.