With the upcoming changes to the I-601 Extreme Hardship Waiver coming this year, allowing applicants to file the Waivers inside the US, we wanted to provide some statistics on the status of cases currently filed overseas.
As you may know,if you are a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident who is married or engaged to an undocumented immigrant you may think you can easily legalize your spouse. This may be harder than you thought. There are times when your loved one will be deemed “inadmissible” and therefore unable to simply file through you for a green card. In such a situation it may be possible to file an I-601 Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility for them. This consists of filing an I-601 immigration form and evidence of hardship.
So what is the current approval rates and processing times for I-601 applications:
1. at all overseas district offices; and
2. at the field offices within each district, specifically for those filed in Ciudad Juarez (CDJ).
According to AILA, good reports received on decreased processing times for I-601s adjudicated at the USCIS offices in Athens, Anaheim, Lima, Guatemala City, and Bangkok. Attorneys have also noticed a significant increase in processing times of triage cases at CDJ, Mexico.
Preliminary data for Forms I-601 in FY2011 are as follows:
Received: 23,124 (Includes reopened cases after I-290B)
Completed: 21,352
Pending end of year: 9,072
Approval Rate total: 84%
Approval Rate Bangkok District: 54%
Approval Rate Rome District: 50%
Approval Rate Mexico City District: 88%
Approval Rate Ciudad Juarez 90%
(Includes Mexico F.O., Monterrey F.O., and HQ Components)
Processing Times:
Percent of cases completed within 6 months (excluding time due to waiting on applicant – for example, to respond to RFE): 74% (Target was 70%) [Note that 73% were processed within 6 months actual processing time)
Percent of cases pending more than 6 months (excluding time due to applicant delay): 5%
This fiscal year, decreased the number of I-601s pending more than 6 months by 82%.
More updates will come shortly, tolearn more about I-601 Waivers, watch our videos here and a process video here.