A Federal Court in Texas yesterday enjoined the Biden Administrations Parole in Place program for spouses of US citizens who had not been lawfully admitted to the US.  This is essentially just a 14-day pause on the program to allow time for the court to further consider.

While it still possible to file such applications and have them accepted by USCIS, and it still possible for USCIS to continue the process of determining whether the applications are approvable, USCIS can’t at this time approve the applications.

Effectively, this places the program on hold until further court action or the 14-day pause ends or is extended.

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.