Biden's Parole in Place: Everything You Need to Know

On June 18, 2024, President Biden announced a “parole-in-place” solution for spouses of U.S. Citizens who could not become citizens themselves. This program has not opened yet but when it is made available it will allow more than 500,000 people to receive temporary protections and work permits in the United States, but also allow them to apply for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status through their spouses without risking years of separation from their families. 

So currently the law allows for U.S. citizens to apply for their non-citizen spouses to obtain permanent residency, this is pretty straight forward for immigrant spouses who were paroled into the United States or was caught at the border, or who was inspected after crossing the United States border.

Spouses of U.S. citizens are generally eligible for an immigrant visa as an “immediate relative of a U.S. citizen”. The two would then adjust their status, pass the interview and then live happily ever after. However, this process is significantly harder for those that entered the United States without inspection, in the legal world they are considered to have entered without inspection “ewi”. 

Under federal law, some immigrants—namely, those who have already been “inspected and admitted”, those who entered through an official port of entry, or “inspected and paroled” into the U.S.—can apply to adjust their status to permanent residency without having to depart the country to attend an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. However, immigrants who entered without inspection do not have this option.

To get their lawful permanent resident status, they would have to leave the United States, go to a U.S. consulate abroad, and then get a new immigrant visa to reenter. If the immigrant has been in the U.S. for a while and they leave the United States it will often trigger years-long bar on legally being able to reenter the country to be reunited with their family.

To leave the country and not face this years-long ban, the immigrant would need to apply for a waiver to the bar in order to qualify to adjust their immigrant visas to come back to the United States. There is no guarantee that the waiver will be approved, and if the immigrant leaves before getting the waiver there’s no guarantee that they will be able to return, but if they don’t leave the country to go to the consulate, they essentially forfeit their lawful permanent resident application.

As of April 2024, these waivers are taking on average 41 months (3.5 years) to adjudicate these waivers.

What Biden’s new program is looking to do is allow for these EWI (entry without inspection) immigrants to be able to stay in the Untied States, get a work permit, and adjust their status without having to go through the hoops of leaving the country and triggering the bar.

This would mean that more immigrants who arrived EWI will be able to work and more importantly to the United States be able to pay taxes on the work they do. For the immigrants it means that those who entered ewi are now given the same chance and path to lawful permanent resident status as those that were paroled in or entered the U.S. through an official port of entry and was inspected. 

So, all that is great, how does an immigrant get this? Who qualifies? How long will it take? How difficult is it to get it? What proof do you need to show?

Although, some things are still unclear.

But here’s what we do know, according to the June 18th announcement to be eligible you must be:

1. Have continuously resided in the United States since June 17, 2014;
2. Were physically present in the United States on June 17, 2024;
3. Have been legally married to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024;
4. Entered the United States without admission or parole and do not currently hold any lawful immigrant or nonimmigrant status;
5. Have not been convicted of any disqualifying criminal offense;
6. Do not pose a threat to national security or public safety; and
7. Merit a favorable exercise of discretion.

Applicants will have to provide documentation proving that they meet the above criteria alongside their application form and pay a fee. However, it is not yet known exactly what forms of documentation will be accepted and what the fee will be.

The White House estimates that approximately 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens will meet these criteria and will thus be eligible to apply for the new parole program. Additionally, children of applicants who are stepchildren of U.S. citizens will also be eligible for parole with their parents, adding 50,000 more potential beneficiaries.

Parole-in-place will give these individuals a genuine opportunity to receive the permanent residency for which they have theoretically been eligible for years or decades—and allow them to work legally in the United States while waiting for their immigrant visas to be approved. It will give much needed peace of mind and permanent solutions for not only these individuals, but their U.S. citizen spouses and, often, their U.S.-born children.

If you have an immigration case or would like legal advice, schedule a consultation with me today here or call at 469-465-2344!