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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing I-601 Waivers of Inadmissibility and the process of obtaining such Waivers as I see it could be evolving into 2026. I like taking the opportunity at the end of a given calendar year to make a tranche of videos frankly on things that are sort of the fundamentals. For those who keep track of this channel on a regular basis, and I never thought in a million years that that would happen, and I'm amazed that it has and I am very thankful, frankly humbled by it, but yeah, I never thought in a million years there would be such an audience for these videos, but there is. And one thing that I constantly do is forget that many people, they're not up to speed on sort of the basics of some of the things we are talking about on this channel, one of those being I-601 Waivers. What are they?

Well in the event that someone is filing for example for an Immigrant Spouse Visa, a CR-1 Visa for example, or a Fiancé(e) Visa, like a K-1 Fiancé Visa and it is determined that that foreign spouse or fiancé(e) has a legal ground of inadmissibility on their record. For example, they might have overstayed a Visa in the United States previously which makes them inadmissible for a certain period of time, depending on the underlying duration of the overstay. Meanwhile, there could be other findings: crimes involving moral turpitude for example, which can be as innocuous as things like - I had a case involving usage of a "forged" parking pass which somebody was cited for, and it was on their record, and that was found by the US Embassy. They determined that was a crime involving moral turpitude; it required an I-601 Waiver. There are other types of Grounds of Inadmissibility which may come up as well including but not limited to things like prostitution, things like substance or possession of controlled substances, there's fraud and misrepresentation - that's a big one, that's a very problematic ground of inadmissibility - but again, if it's determined that there is a ground of inadmissibility in a given case, then under those circumstances the only remedy may be usage of an I-601 Waiver which then needs to be processed through the Department of Homeland Security and if approved, notwithstanding the fact the Visa was denied based on a finding of inadmissibility, that Visa can then thereafter be granted based upon the Waiver. 

So the underlying process of I-601 Waivers has not really fundamentally changed, nor do I think it will going into 2026. That said, under this Administration which I think is going to be placing a great deal more scrutiny on these types of cases, I could see things sort of evolving as time goes on. That being said, we'll certainly be keeping you updated on this channel. Also, if you get a finding of inadmissibility or your loved one gets a finding of inadmissibility, it is overwhelming and there's a lot of complexity that goes into this stuff. Look, Immigration Law is narrow and deep and when you get into inadmissibility, it gets really picayune with respect to the nuances of these laws. So the thing to take away from this video is if you feel yourself overwhelmed by all of this stuff, it might not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.