OFAC has released a periodic update of the list of Cuba Service Providers . Please note the summary of changes at the end of the document to see, for example, which Service Providers are newly added to the list.
Archive for the ‘Family based Immigration’ Category
OFAC has updated Cuba Service Providers
Monday, March 8th, 2010Treasury Amends Cuban Assets Control Regulations
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today issued a final rule amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515 (CACR), to implement the President’s initiative of April 13, 2009, to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future, promote greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba, and increase the flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people.
Today’s amendments to the CACR change the rules in three major areas: (1) family visits; (2) family remittances; and (3) telecommunications. These amendments also make certain technical and conforming changes to the CACR.
Family visits. OFAC has eased restrictions on travel-related transactions for visits to “close relatives” who are nationals of Cuba by issuing a general license.
Travelers may visit “close relatives” (including, for example, aunts, uncles,cousins, and second cousins) who are nationals of Cuba.
There is no limit on the duration of a visit to these “close relatives.”
There is no limit on the frequency of visits to these “close relatives.”
Authorized expenditure limits for travel within Cuba have been increased to match the expenditures allowed for all other authorized categories of travel to Cuba — specifically, the current State Department “per diem rate” for Havana (for use anywhere in Cuba) plus amounts for additional transactions directly incident to visiting close relatives in Cuba. The current “maximum per diem rate” is $179. For future updates to this rate, travelers may check the Department of State’s Office of Allowances web site (http://aoprals.state.gov).
Travelers may be accompanied by persons who share a common dwelling as a family with them.
Remittances. OFAC has also eased restrictions on remittances (including from inherited blocked accounts) to “close relatives” who are nationals of Cuba by issuing a general license.
Persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States may send remittances to “close relatives” (including, as noted above, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins) who are nationals of Cuba. These amendments do not affect the prohibition on remittances to a “prohibited official of the Government of Cuba” or a “prohibited member of the Cuban Communist Party,” as defined in the CACR.
There is no limit on the amount of such a remittance.
There is no limit on the frequency with which persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States may send such remittances.
Authorized family travelers may carry up to $3,000 of such remittances to Cuba.
Remittances for emigration-related purposes continue to be subject to separate restrictions.
Remittances may be made from depository institutions. To facilitate this, depository institutions are permitted to set up testing arrangements and exchange authenticator keys with Cuban financial institutions.
Telecommunications. Certain telecommunications services, contracts, related payments, and travel-related transactions are authorized by general licenses. The CACR amendments ease the telecommunications rules in three broad areas, as well as allow travel-related transactions for the specific purpose of conducting business in all three areas.
Persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction may contract with and pay non-Cuban telecommunications services providers to provide services to particular individuals in Cuba (other than prohibited officials of the Government of Cuba or prohibited members of the Cuban Communist Party, as defined in the CACR). For example, an individual in the United States may contract with and pay a U.S. or third-country telecommunications company to provide cellular telephone service for a phone owned and used by that individual’s friend in Cuba. Moreover, a U.S. telecommunications services provider may enter into a contract with a particular individual in Cuba to provide telecommunications services to that individual.
Telecommunications services providers that are persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction are generally licensed (1) to make payments incident to the provision of telecommunications services between the United States and Cuba and the provision of satellite radio or satellite television services to Cuba and (2) to enter into and perform (including making payments) under roaming services agreements with telecommunications services providers in Cuba.
Transactions incident to establishing facilities to provide telecommunications services linking the United States and Cuba, including fiber-optic cable and satellite facilities, are authorized by general license. The Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce licenses the exportation and re-exportation of goods and technology for the establishment of telecommunications facilities linking the United States and Cuba.
Two general licenses have been added authorizing, with certain conditions, travel-related transactions incident to authorized telecommunications transactions. One of these licenses authorizes, with certain conditions, travel transactions incident to the commercial export of telecommunications-related items that have been authorized by the Department of Commerce. The second license authorizes travel transactions incident to participation in telecommunications-related professional meetings.
New general license for TSRA travel-related transactions. The new amendments to the CACR also implement provisions of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009. Pursuant to section 620 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, which amended the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), there is a new general license for travel-related transactions incident to agricultural and medical sales under TSRA.
This new general license authorizes, with certain conditions, travel-related transactions that are directly incident to the commercial marketing, sales negotiation, accompanied delivery, or servicing in Cuba of agricultural commodities, medicine, or medical devices that appear consistent with the Department of Commerce’s export or reexport licensing policy.
A traveler may rely on this general license if he or she is regularly employed by a producer or distributor of the agricultural or medical items or by an entity duly appointed to represent such a producer or distributor, and if that traveler’s schedule of activities is consistent with a full work schedule.
Under the new general license, written reports must be submitted to OFAC at least 14 days before departure for Cuba and within 14 days of return.
USCIS Changes filing locations for I-485 & I-360
Friday, February 26th, 2010USCIS has once again changed filing locations for some of it’s most popular applications and petitions. Please double check before you file.
Beginning February 25, 2010, most applicants must submit Form I-485 to a USCIS Lockbox
facility, depending on the eligibility category under which they are filing, as provided in the form
instructions. USCIS Service Centers will forward all Form I-485 applications to the appropriate
Lockbox facility until March 29, 2010. USCIS will accept previous versions of Form I-485 until
March 29, 2010. After March 29, 2010, USCIS will only accept the Form I-485 dated “12/03/09.”Any
previous versions of the the form that are submitted will be rejected. After the transitional period,
the Service Centers will return any incorrectly filed Form I-485 with instructions to send the
application to the correct location.
At this time, applicants should not concurrently file Form I-485 with an Immigrant Petition for Alien
Worker (Form I-140) at a USCIS Lockbox facility. Refer to the Form I-140 filing Instructions for
information on how to file forms concurrently.
When filing Form I-485 at a Lockbox facility, you may elect to receive an email and/or text message
notifying you that USCIS has accepted your application. To receive notification, you must complete
an E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance (Form G-1145), and attach it to the first page of
your application.
Revised Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or
Special Immigrant, and Revised Filing Locations
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that it has
posted a revised Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360). The new
form is dated “12/30/09,” and due to the changes, no previous versions of the form will be
accepted 30 days after publication. In addition to the revised form, there are changes to filing
locations. The changes are part of an overall effort to transition the intake of benefit request forms
from USCIS Service Centers to Lockbox facilities. Centralizing form and fee intake allows USCIS
to provide more efficient and effective initial processing of applications and fees.
Beginning February 25, 2010, applicants must file a Form I-360 with either the Vermont Service
Center, the Nebraska Service Center, or at a USCIS Lockbox facility. Where applicable, USCIS
Service Centers will forward Form I-360 petitions to the appropriate Lockbox facility until March 29,
2010. After the transitional period, the Service Centers may return incorrectly filed Form I-360 with
instructions to send the petition to the correct location. USCIS will accept previous versions of
Form I-360 until March 29, 2010. After March 29, 2010, USCIS will reject previous versions of the
form submitted.
When filing Form I-360 at a Lockbox facility, you may elect to receive an email and/or text message
notifying you that USCIS has accepted your petition. To receive notification, you must complete an
E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance (Form G-1145), and attach it to the first page of
your petition.
USCIS Expedite Criteria
Friday, February 26th, 2010All expedite requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and are granted at the discretion of the Director. The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the expedite criteria have been met. The criteria are as follows:
- Severe financial loss to company or individual
- Extreme emergent situation
- Humanitarian situation
- Nonprofit status of requesting organization in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States
- Department of Defense or National Interest Situation (Note: Request must come from official United States Government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to our Government)
- USCIS error
- Compelling interest of USCIS
If you are filing your application or petition:
You must provide a written explanation as to why the application or petition needs to be expedited. You may include supporting evidence with the request. Write “EXPEDITE REQUEST” at the top of your letter. When you file your application or petition, place your expedite request letter on the top of your documents.
If you have already filed your application or petition:
You can contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283. The NCSC will take a “service request” and forward your expedite request to the office with jurisdiction over the application or petition. You also have the options of 1). visiting your local office by scheduling an InfoPass appointment or 2). writing a letter to the local office or service center.
If you have an attorney, it is always best to have the attorney handle this and all other communications with USCIS for you.
Q&A on Hatian Adoptions
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010Introduction
On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti experienced an earthquake of devastating proportions. This set of questions and answers provides information for United States citizens that have adopted a child or are in the process of adopting a child from Haiti prior to Jan. 12, 2010.
Questions and Answers
Q. I am in the process of adopting a child from Haiti, what can I do to bring the child to the United States?
A. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano has authorized the use of humanitarian parole for the following categories of orphans in Haiti:
Category 1 Cases
Description: Children being adopted by U.S. citizens prior to Jan. 12, 2010, who have been legally confirmed as orphans available for inter-country adoption by the Government of Haiti (GOH) through an adoption decree or custody grant to suitable U.S. citizen adoptive parents.
Required Criteria
•Evidence of availability for adoption MUST include at least one of the following:
◦Full and final Haitian adoption decree; or
◦GOH custody grant to prospective adoptive parents for emigration and adoption; or
◦Secondary evidence in place of the above.
•Evidence of suitability MUST include one of the following:
◦Approved Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition; or
◦Current FBI fingerprints and security background check; or
◦Physical custody in Haiti plus a security background check.
Please note, some of the children in this category will receive immigrant visas and others will receive humanitarian parole, depending on the completeness of the cases. Those who enter with immigrant visas will enter as aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence. Those who enter with humanitarian parole will need to have their immigration status finalized after arrival through an application for adjustment of status.
Category 2 Cases
Description: Children who have been identified by an adoption service provider or facilitator as eligible for intercountry adoption, were matched to prospective American adoptive parents prior to Jan. 12, 2010 and meet the below criteria.
Required Criteria
• Significant evidence of a relationship between the prospective adoptive parents and the child; AND of the parents’ intention to complete the adoption, which could include the following:
•Proof of travel by the prospective adoptive parents to Haiti to visit the child;
•Photos of the child and prospective adoptive parents together;
•An Adoption Service Provider (ASP) “Acceptance of Referral” letter signed by the prospective adoptive parents;
•Documentary evidence that the prospective adoptive parents initiated the adoption process prior to Jan. 12, 2010, with intent to adopt the child (filed Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, and/or Form I-600, Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative, completed a home study, located an ASP to work with in Haiti, etc.).
• Evidence of the child’s availability for adoption, which would include the following:
•IBESR (Haitian Adoption Authority) approval;
•Documentation of legal relinquishment or award of custody to the Haitian orphanage;
•Secondary evidence in place of the above.
• Evidence of suitability MUST include one of the following:
•Approved Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition; or
•Current FBI fingerprints and security background check.
If the child you have adopted or are adopting meets these criteria, please send U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) detailed information about the adoption case at HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov. This e-mail address is dedicated to collecting information about adoption cases still pending in Haiti. Please include the name of the prospective adoptive parent in the subject line of the e-mail. Once we have your information, we will contact you with further information.
Q. How do I request Humanitarian Parole for the child I am in the process of adopting?
A. If you want to request humanitarian parole for a specific child you are in the process of adopting from Haiti, please send the request to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov. Please include the name of the prospective adoptive parent in the subject line of the e-mail. You do not need to file Form I-131 or submit a fee for these cases.
Q. If parole is authorized, how will my child get out of Haiti?
A. The Department of State and Department of Homeland Security are coordinating the transport of Haitian orphans with approved travel documents to ensure their safe arrival into the U.S. Currently, children are traveling by both military and private aircraft. We urge families not to make individual arrangements and to assist us in coordinating with the orphanages on the ground. To obtain more information on the process for scheduling appointments for Orphan Screening at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, please see Q&A below on scheduling.
Orphanage directors should first schedule an appointment before taking their group of children to the Embassy for processing. Individuals or groups that appear at the Embassy without prior coordination may be turned away.
Q. If humanitarian parole is authorized, may I travel to pick up a specific child?
A. The Department of State (DOS) Travel Warning urges U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Haiti. Communications and transportation in Haiti are extremely limited and nearly all available resources are dedicated to the immediate search and rescue of Haitians. Updates to the DOS travel warnings for Haiti are available online at http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4632.html
Once a child receives a visa or is authorized for humanitarian parole, we encourage you to work with your U.S. adoption agency and the orphanage staff in Haiti to identify an escort to bring the child to the United States.
Should you intend to travel to Haiti, USCIS strongly urges you to contact USCIS through Haitianadoptions@dhs.gov before traveling to ensure that all the paperwork necessary for your child to be paroled into the U.S. has been completed and that, if you have not been fingerprinted, you are fingerprinted in the U.S. Getting fingerprinted in Haiti may delay the processing of your case.
Q. Many documents were destroyed in the earthquake. What kind of secondary evidence can be submitted in the place of primary documents?�
A. Secondary evidence may include, but is not limited to, copies of records or correspondence referring to the existence of the destroyed or missing document, as maintained by an Adoption Service Provider or the prospective adoptive family, as well as affidavits of individuals with knowledge of the document or event.
Q. I am a prospective adoptive parent in the process of adopting a child in Haiti, but the adoption was not finalized prior to the earthquake. If DHS authorizes humanitarian parole for a child who was not legally adopted in Haiti, how will I obtain the legal authority to take the child into my home?
A: If you received an order from the Government of Haiti granting custody of the child to you, then the child may be paroled into your custody upon verification of the order, your identity and that of the child after the child’s arrival in the United States.
If you have not received a formal order granting you custody from the Government of Haiti, then the child may be placed in your care but some additional procedures must be followed first. These procedures are intended to protect children and ensure that those without final adoptions are placed with families that are able to care for them. These additional procedures may take a little time, but they are critical for keeping children safe. Children who cannot be placed with prospective adoptive parents will be well cared for. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has contracts with organizations around the country to care for unaccompanied children who are not U.S. citizens. For more information on this process, please review Information for Prospective Adoptive Parents available on the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services website.
Whether you become a sponsor or not, you will need to adopt the child under the adoption laws of your place of residence in order for the child to acquire permanent residence in the United States. More information regarding the process for finalizing the adoption in the U.S. will be provided on the USCIS website once available. If your child is over the age of 14, please contact us immediately by forwarding an email to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov. To ensure that your request is processed correctly, please follow the instructions below:
1. In the subject line of your email type: “Child in U.S. – Over age 14″
2. In the body of the e-mail be sure to include:
•Your full name
•Your home address
•Your child’s name
•Your child’s date of birth
•Information about how to best contact you
Q. I am a prospective adoptive parent in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. What should I do if my Fingerprint Clearance has expired?
A. USCIS will review each prospective adoptive parent’s request for humanitarian parole on a case-by-case basis. If we determine that your fingerprint clearance(s) has expired, you do not need to take any action. USCIS will electronically rerun your prints. (Please do not send a request for updated fingerprint to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov.) If you have not been fingerprinted by USCIS at any stage of your adoption process, please send an e-mail message to HaitianAdoptions@dhs.gov and we will arrange a fingerprint appointment for you. Please include “FP Request” in the subject line of the e-mail.
Q. Is there any other way I can help orphans in Haiti?
A. We understand that some Americans want to respond by offering to open their homes. We certainly appreciate this generous impulse, but note that it can be extremely difficult to determine whether children are truly orphans. Children may be temporarily separated from their parents or other family members, and their parents or other relatives may be looking for them. In the first instance, we believe it is most important to focus on re-uniting separated children with their relatives. Some individuals may wish to assist by contributing to a reputable relief or humanitarian organization working in that country. More information can be found at the following Web sites:
•Department of State – http://www.state.gov or http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/earthquake/index.htm
•United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – http://www.usaid.gov
•International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – http://www.icrc.org
•Interaction – http://www.interaction.org
Q. I have heard the Government of Haiti has stopped allowing orphans to leave Haiti. What will happen to my child if I am still in the process of adoption?
A. The United States government is working closely with the Government of Haiti to establish an efficient and transparent procedure to allow eligible children to depart quickly while also ensuring the best possible protection of unaccompanied and separated children.
The government of Haiti has not stopped allowing orphans to leave Haiti. USCIS is continuing to process cases that meet the DHS Secretary’s criteria for category 1 and 2, however we are unable to issue travel letters for each child to depart until we receive approval from the Government of Haiti (GOH). Once approval is received, we are able to issue travel documents to authorized children.
Q. Once the children in an orphanage have been screened, and evaluated, should the orphanage director bring the children to the U.S. Embassy?
A. We recommend against attempting to enter the U.S. Embassy, particularly with a group of children, without first scheduling an appointment in advance. There is a possibility that you may be turned away and scheduled to come back another day.
USCIS is proactively scheduling appointments at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince to screen Haitian children who were adopted or were in the process of being adopted by U.S. citizens prior to the January 12 earthquake. Whenever possible, we will schedule all children from the same orphanage/facility, at the same time.
To obtain more information on the process, please review the How to Schedule an Appointment for an Orphan Screening at the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince fact sheet at www.uscis.gov.
Q. What are the medical screening requirements for adopted children from Haiti?
A. Before internationally adopted children come to the United States, they are usually required to go through a medical exam. However, due to the lack of available medical screening facilities and the burden of emergent medical needs in Haiti as a result of the January 12 earthquake, we anticipate that many children arriving as humanitarian parolees will not have completed their medical exams before they depart Haiti. Medical examinations are not required as a part of the humanitarian parole program.
As a result, it is important that all arriving adoptive children from Haiti undergo a medical screening process soon after arrival to screen for infectious diseases and other general health concerns. Additional guidance regarding medical exams for adopted children from Haiti is available from the Department of Heath and Human Services, Centers for Prevention and Disease Control Web: Information on Haiti Earthquake. �
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Q. If my child is traveling from Haiti, are there any specific provisions I should know when he or she arrives in the United States?
A. Please note that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer must inspect all individuals traveling to the United States when they arrive at a port of entry. For more information on the process for obtaining the legal authority to take into your home your child or the child you are in the process of adopting, please review the questions above or the Information for Prospective Adoptive Parents available on the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) website.
Q. I submitted the original adoption decree and other documents to the USCIS field office in Port-au-Prince. How do I get these documents back after my child arrives in the United States?
A. To request the return of original documents submitted to establish eligibility for an immigration benefit, please fill out Form G-884, “Return of Original Documents,” which is available to download from the forms section on USCIS’ Web, http://www.uscis.gov/forms.
2010 Poverty Guidelines will not be revised until at least March 1, 2010
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
On December 19, 2009, the President signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-118), which included a provision affecting the poverty guidelines. Section 1012 of the law states that:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall not publish updated poverty guidelines for 2010 under section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) before March 1, 2010, and the poverty guidelines published under such section on January 23, 2009, shall remain in effect until updated poverty guidelines are published.
The Congressional Record (House) (December 16, 2009, p. H15370) provides the following explanation of Congressional action:
Section 1012 includes a provision to freeze the Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines at 2009 levels in order to prevent a reduction in eligibility for certain means-tested programs, including Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and child nutrition, through March 1, 2010.
For the first time since the poverty guidelines began to be issued in 1965, the annual average Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) has decreased from the figure for the previous year. In the absence of this legislative change, the decrease in the annual average CPI-U for 2009 announced on January 15, 2010 (see http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf [PDF - 25 pages], Table 1A) would have required HHS to issue 2010 poverty guidelines that were lower than the 2009 poverty guidelines, which would have led to the “reduction in eligibility” referred to in the Congressional explanatory language.
A Federal Register notice about this extension of the 2009 poverty guidelines was published on January 22, 2010. (See Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 14, January 22, 2010, pp. 3734-3735.) We will provide updated information about the post-March 1 period when it becomes available.
The immigration effect of this is that the amount of money required for the affidavit of support would be lower than in 2009, but as the new figures are not released the figures are artificially higher to support other political/economic objectives.
Getting cooked in the squat
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Most people wait until everything is just right before they do anything. They refuse to go out on a limb where the fruit is. They are the people who end up like the cook’s biscuits.
Let me explain. When I was a small boy in Yazoo City, Mississippi, we lived next door to some rich folks. I know they were rich because they not only had a cook, but the cook had something to cook. In the 1930’s that was a sure sign of wealth. I was there for lunch one day, as I tried to be most every day. On this occasion, the cook brought out a pan of biscuits. Since they were no thicker than a silver dollar, I asked, “Maude, what happened to those biscuits?” She reared back, laughed, and said, “Well, those biscuits squatted to rise, but they just got cooked in the squat.”
From: “See You at the Top” by Zig Ziglar
Now what in the world does this have with getting a “green card” or any other immigration benefit in today’s environment? The current situation does not allow everybody to get their benefit in the United States. Some people are able to get what they want along with filing for a waiver at USCIS, others may have to go home and process through their consulate. Everything is not just right. Does this mean you should just wring your hands and wait for the law to change? Maybe not, we have met with many families and individual we have been able to help.
Please meet with an immigration attorney and find out what your options are, how long it will take and what it will cost. Then talk to the attorney about what happens if you do not do anything. Certain people will be better off not doing anything now, but other will find that they are eligible for benefits and can come out from living in the shadows.
USCIS Standardizes Process for Accommodating Customers with Disabilities
Thursday, November 19th, 2009U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced that it has
established a streamlined, standardized process for receiving requests for accommodations from
customers with disabilities. Customers in need of accommodations from field offices and Application
Support Centers should now call the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283
(TDD: 1-800-767-1833).
U.S. Embassy to Resume Visa Operations in Honduras
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009In support of the recent agreement reached in the political crisis in Honduras, Ambassador Hugo Llorens has instructed the Consular Section to re-open its Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) Section starting November 2, 2009.
USCIS REVISES FORM I-601
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009USCIS has revised Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Revision Date 04/06/09 N, OMB Expiration Date 04/30/11) to make it easier for applicants to complete. Applicants may now select from a list of grounds of inadmissibility on the form itself and mark all which apply to them in order to request a waiver. In addition to the list, the form includes a section where applicants can describe, in their own words, why they believe they are inadmissible. In the previous edition of Form I-601, information about grounds of inadmissibility could only be found of the form’s instructions.
The new Form I-601 and its filing instructions, including instructions on where to file and applicable fees, can be found on our website at www.uscis.gov. In accordance with 8 CFR 103.7(c)(5), USCIS may waive the filing fee in an individual case based on the individual’s inability to pay, only if the individual filing the a Form I-601 is:
• An alien who in valid T or U nonimmigrant status;
• An approved VAWA self-petitioner; or
• An alien, seeking adjustment of status, to whom section 212(a)(4) of the Act does not apply, so that the alien is not required to prove that he or she is not likely to become a public charge.
Guidance on how to request a fee waiver can be found on our website at www.uscis.gov/feewaiver.
USCIS will continue to accept the previous version of the form, dated 10/30/08 Y, through November 20, 2009. Beginning November 21, 2009 USCIS will only accept the revised Form I-601, dated 04/06/09 N, and will reject all requests using previous editions of the form.
