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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawHow Does Pregnancy Impact an I-601 Waiver Application?

How Does Pregnancy Impact an I-601 Waiver Application?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the I-601 waiver; specifically we are discussing pregnancy of the waiver applicant.  

Usually when I deal with I-601's, mostly our practice within Immigration is in a family context so we're dealing with 601's in the context of for example a K-1 fiancée visa, a K-3 marriage visa, a CR-1 marriage visa, or an IR-1 marriage visa.  In all of those contexts, where an I-601 is necessary, we are dealing with an underlying family based case.  Pregnancy can come up because you have, in these cases we are presuming an American male and a foreign female, that foreign female can become pregnant or give birth to a child during the processing of a given visa application. This is especially the case where you are dealing with a later I-601 adjudication because that later adjudication will add time on to the overall processing time of that given case. The question that I've had come up over the years is "How does a pregnancy impact the I-601?" Well it depends. I don't mean to be purposely vague in this video and I actually really kind of batted it back and forth whether or not to even make this video but I did think it was rather pertinent and it does come up rather, not frequently but it does come up from time to time, when an I-601 is processing that a pregnancy happens or a child may come about during the processing of that 601 waiver application. 

So the thing to take away from this video is it's going to be circumstantially dependent so I don't want anything to be taken hereafter as set in stone with respect to all cases.  The child may or may not actually be directly involved in the analysis of whether or not a waiver should be approved. In many cases, the existence of a child, a US citizen child specifically, born to the foreign national who is being adjudicated for the 601, often times the existence of that child only factors into the adjudication in a tangential manor.  It's not really directly pertinent to that analysis.  That being said, there are multiple ways in which an I-601 waiver can be issued under multiple different aspects of the Immigration Nationality Act.  So again, circumstances vary and that pregnancy or that child being in existence, it's going to depend on the specific sections of the specific legal ground of inadmissibility.  But for the most part, their existence is only going to impact the adjudication in a tangential manner. 

But as I have said in other videos with respect to pregnancy and the Visa process, it is almost commonsensical.  It doesn't hurt the case by any stretch of the imagination.  Yes it may change things with respect to financial considerations, especially in the context of the 601 that may or may not be beneficial to the applicant in the adjudication process.  It may have an impact, again tangentially, in terms of the familial relationship with all parties concerned and the qualifying relatives associated therewith.

But that being said the thing to take away from this it is really a pretty good idea if this is a major issue and you're looking at a 601, contact a legal professional, get some insight into this because 601's are a complicated matter. They are becoming even more complicated in light of the recent changes to USCIS policy regarding Request for Evidence etc. so the thing to take away from this video is contact a Legal professional under those circumstances in order to get better insight with respect to exactly how a pregnancy impacts the 601 process.  But again there are certain commonsensical aspects and I hope that some of the information provided in this video has at least guided folks in a direction to be able to sort of find their way preferably to somebody who deals with these matters on a regular basis in order to navigate their family into the most advantageous situation possible within our immigration system.