In his Affirmative Relief Announcement of June 18, 2024, President Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security will take action to ensure that U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together. This specifically covers spouses and children who entered the United States without inspection and are, thus, labeled “undocumented” and without status in the United States. USCIS has announced that it will begin accepting applications on August 19, 2024.
This new process will help certain noncitizen spouses and children apply for lawful permanent residence – status that they are already eligible for – without leaving the country and being possibly subject to a 3 or 10 year bar to re-enter the United States.
In order to be eligible, noncitizens must have entered the United States without inspection and– as of June 17, 2024 – have resided in the United States for 10 or more years and be legally married to a U.S. citizen, while satisfying all applicable legal requirements, including having no disqualifying criminal history and not posing a threat to national security or public safety. Additionally, certain noncitizen children of applicants may also be eligible.
More specific details about eligibility and the application process will be published in a forthcoming Federal Register publication.
Those who are approved after DHS’s case-by-case assessment of their application will be afforded a three-year period to apply for permanent residency. They will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and be eligible for work authorization for up to three years. This will apply to all married couples who are eligible.
Our firm will provide more details as they become available.
If you have any questions please contact: Anthony F. Siliato, Scott R. Malyk, Lin R. Walker, or Stacey A. Simon.