Hardship Waiver Information

To contact us Click HERE
First, a big word of caution on this topic:  YOU NEED A LAWYER! Do not try to handle your hardship application yourself!  There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that you cannot be impartial in judging the strengths and weaknesses of your own case, and you need someone you can trust who will be able to do that for you.  Take your time to find someone you feel comfortable working with, because you will be spending a lot of time with that person, and you'll be sharing a lot of personal information.  Once more, before you go much further, make a committment that you will find a lawyer to help you with this--it's too important an opportunity to take a risk by going DIY.

Now, with that said, there are a few things you should know about hardship waiver applications.  I'm using the term "hardship waiver" as a shorthand for waivers filed on Form I-601 and I-212; I'm not going to talk here about the reasons you might need such a waiver, since recognizing the need for a waiver is very fact specific and one of the reasons you need a lawyer in the first place.  But if someone has told you that you do need a waiver (most commonly, the officer at your adjustment of status interview, or the consular officer when you went for your consular interview), here are some things you should know.

First, there is an excellent resource about the I-601 Waiver process by Texas attorney Laurel Scott here.  This provides a terrific overview of the hardship factors, and some fantastic insider advice about which hardship factors to emphasize in preparing your application. If you want to learn more, read the full article--it's long, but comprehensive and written in language that makes it accessible to everyone.

Second, get comfortable with uncertainty.  Any time you are requesting a form of discretionary relief, like a waiver, certainty goes out the window.  Processing times at any consulate other than Ciudad Juarez, where there is a special program for processing these applications, vary wildly, and applications filed with the local office following an interview can be in limbo for months, even years.  If you are filing with the local office, remember to renew your employment authorization document exactly three months before your card expires--I recommend filing online to save time--and know that you will not be able to travel abroad while your case is pending.  You can check your status in person by scheduling periodic Infopass appointments, but do not schedule less than 90 days from the last contact you had, or you'll be told that you need to wait.  After filing, you may get a request for additional evidence, which you will need to respond to within the allotted time--it may ask for very specific or very general information, but whatever is being requested, try to be as responsive as possible.

Third, be as specific as possible.  Your hardship waiver application is based on "extreme and unusual hardship," and proving that what you and your family will experience is different from what any person going through the same thing would experience is the key to a successful application.  Many people, especially US citizens, believe that the fact that they will be separated from their spouse at all constitutes an extreme hardship--and, really, it does.  Immigration law is not fair, and it is especially unfair to US citizen family members who are penalized along with the immigrant who committed the misdeed.  But in order to succeed in this process, you need to get beyond your initial feelings of injustice and focus on the unique ways in which this situation will be challenging for you.  Remember, everyone who is filing the application is facing the possibility of being separated from his or her spouse.  A helpful exercise is to think of a typical week in your life.  Maybe you have childcare responsibilities, or you care for an elderly relative; perhaps you attend school part time and work full time.  Think of the things your spouse does to help you manage these activities: does he or she drive you to visit your sick mother, or pick up the kids from school, or take care of the housework so that you can do your schoolwork in the evenings?  What would happen if he or she were not around to do these things?  Make a list of all the areas of your life that would be impacted, and be sure to provide supporting documents about each one.

This is where we meet at my office. 

Finally, sit down with your lawyer to draft an EXCELLENT hardship statement.  Your statement will be several pages long, and will introduce the person reading it to your family in a way that makes your experience real and unique for that person.  This is the most important part of the process, and this is where the real work is done.  You will go through several drafts of this statement, and you'll use it to decide which supporting documents to submit, because you'll want to be able to back up what you say here.  The hardship statement will be moving but not sentimental, powerful but not maudlin, and overall, a powerful piece of testimony that will allow the officer to understand exactly what you will experience if your spouse's waiver application is not approved.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this process further, or if you need representation in a waiver application.  I wish you the best of luck, and as always, you can reach me at christina@cruddenlegal.com