A Federal court in Texas has extending its existing order pausing adjudications under the Biden administration Parole in Place program for spouses of US citizens who entered the US unlawfully.

The judge in the matter extended the pause on the program for an additional 14 days, to September 23, 2024.

The Parole in Place program seeks to assist those who are married to a US citizen but who still have no way – or no practical way -to apply for US permanent residence based on the marriage because they had entered the US without lawful inspection.  Once admitted lawfully, an individual married to a US citizen can apply while in the US without having to leave – even if their immigration status has since expired or they have otherwise violated that status.

A person not lawfully admitted would have had to leave the US to process at a US embassy or consulate abroad, and by leaving would typically incur a reentry bar prohibiting readmission for a period of years even of the marriage-based permanent residence case was otherwise approvable. While there is a process for waiver of these reentry bars, not everyone will qualify for a waiver and they are extremely time-consuming and expensive even where an individual might qualify.

The Parole in Place program, announced in late June by the Biden Administration, and beginning August 19, 2024, addresses this problem by creating what is essentially a fictional lawful “admission” to the US for someone who is present now but had entered without lawful inspection and admission.  This would allow such a person to complete the process of obtaining permanent residence while here in the US.  A similar program already exists for unlawfully-entered parents of US citizen members of the US military.