On March 16, 2017, CLINIC was pleased to welcome staff from the National Benefits Center to our two-day training on inadmissibility grounds and waivers conducted in Kansas City. In a presentation and Q&A session on provisional waivers, Assistant Center Director Robert Blackwood, along Section Chiefs Crystal Kelley and Dale James, reported on how the provisional waiver adjudication process has changed with the new extreme hardship guidance and the elimination of the “reason to believe” assessment of other grounds of inadmissibility.

The concept of admission is central to many critical issues in immigration law. If your client was “admitted,” he or she may qualify to adjust status under INA § 245(a). If your client was “admitted,” he or she is subject to the grounds of deportability, not inadmissibility, and the government will have the burden of proof. And if your client was “admitted,” this may impact on available remedies for relief from removal.

In 1996, Congress amended INA § 212(h) to bar waiver eligibility for an alien with an aggravated felony conviction if that individual had "previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence..."

Unlawful voting has serious consequences for noncitizens.  The BIA confirmed this in a precedent decision finding that a noncitizen is removable under INA § 237(a)(6)(A), regardless of whether the alien knew that he or she was unlawfully voting in violation of 18 USC § 611(a).  Matter of Fitzpatrick, 26 I&N Dec. 559 (BIA 2015).