07/30/2024
On June 18, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a key step toward fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to promoting family unity in the immigration system. DHS will establish a new process to consider, on a case-by-case basis, requests for certain noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens who have been continuously physically present without admission or parole in the United States for 10 years or more; have no disqualifying criminal convictions; do not pose a threat to national security and public safety and pass vetting; are otherwise eligible to apply for adjustment of status; and merit a favorable exercise of discretion.
If paroled, these noncitizens will generally be able to apply for lawful permanent residence without having to leave the United States and be processed by a U.S. consulate overseas. DHS estimates that 500,000 noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens could be eligible to access this process; on average, these noncitizens have resided in the United States for 23 years. Approximately 50,000 noncitizen children of these spouses are estimated to be eligible to seek parole under this process.
For more information on this new process visit www.USCIS.gov.
