Immigrant Visas

Waivers For Visa Ineligibility

Information for Applicants

May 2005

Consular officers determine that certain individuals are permanently ineligible for a visa because of serious violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)*. In some cases, these individuals may apply for a waiver (i.e. an exception) of these penalties. All waiver applications are adjudicated by the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS).

The Embassy will process your waiver application and forward it to BCIS for adjudication. Alternatively, you may apply for a waiver directly with a BCIS office.
If you wish to apply in Dhaka for a waiver, you must

• be eligible for a waiver.  (If you are eligible, it will be indicated on your blue refusal sheet),
  
• submit a complete Application for Waiver of Ground of Excludability (Form I-601),
  
• submit a complete and detailed written statement from both the beneficiary and the petitioner regarding extreme hardship,
  
• pay the required fee (currently U.S. $250, or equivalent Taka),
  
• be fingerprinted, and
  
• be interviewed by a Consular Officer (through the Waiver Questioner).
  

The consular section accepts waiver applications any working Thursday between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. Bring your blue refusal sheet to gain admittance. Ask for the Immigrant Visa (IV) Unit.

At your Waiver interview, you will be questioned about your personal and family situation, and about your actions which violated American immigration law.  The interviewing officer will draft a report of the interview and forward the report and your file to the BCIS regional office in New Delhi. After BCIS adjudicates the Waiver Application, it will inform the Embassy of the result, and the Embassy will then contact you at your last contact address in your visa file.

From the time the Embassy sends your Waiver Application to BCIS until the time we receive a reply, the Embassy will have no further information on your case.  It can take many months for BCIS to adjudicate your application. Waivers are not a priority for the U.S. Government.

In cases of involving visa fraud, illegal entry and overstay, and alien smuggling, the Embassy and BCIS have little sympathy with claims by offenders that they are naïve, poor, or uneducated, or that their criminal acts were planned and executed by other individuals.  If you do not know or cannot remember the background details pertaining to your violation of American law, you should find out before you face these questions during your waiver interview.  If you cannot provide these details, you are wasting your time and money on the waiver application.

* Most serious violations under the INA carry a bar to all immigration benefits until the applicant is ninety years of age. When the State Department finds an applicant to be in violation of the INA, it rules that person ineligible for a visa.  When the INS finds a violator, it rules the person inadmissible for entry into the USA. For practical purposes, these terms are the same thing.