The White House issued a Fact Sheet late last week that includes, among other immigration-related items, a subsection entitled “Announcing key progress on actions to keep families together” that confirms that United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will on August 19, 2024, begin accepting applications by undocumented persons for the Parole-in Place program that was announced in June of this year and which we reported in our recent Alert on June 18th. The Fact Sheet also discusses the accompanying program to grant nonimmigrant visas to undocumented graduates of U.S. universities and colleges.

Parole-in-Place

The Parole-in-Place program is intended, per the Fact Sheet, to help U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children who have been here for 10 years or more keep their families together. Under the program, some undocumented noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens may apply for lawful permanent residence through adjustment of status without leaving the country.

Eligibility for this new process will be limited to persons who (1) as of June 17, 2024, have resided in the United States for 10 or more years and (2) are legally married to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024, and (3) satisfy all applicable legal requirements, including not having a disqualifying criminal history or posing a national security concern. It is estimated that persons eligible for this process will on average have lived in the U.S. for at least 23 years.

Undocumented children of spouses eligible for this program may also apply for parole-in-place. Such children must have been physically present in the United States without receiving admission or parole and must be stepchildren of a U.S. citizen.  Both conditions must have been met as of June 17, 2024. Qualifying children must be under 21 and unmarried and must have been under 18 at the time of the parents’ marriage.

Persons who are deemed eligible for participation by the DHS will be allowed a three-year period to apply for permanent residence in the United States without fear of removal and will be permitted to remain with their families in the United States and be eligible for a grant of work authorization for up to three years.

USCIS has set up a webpage that provides current information about the Parole-in-Place program and should be updated soon to provide details on the application process, which, as noted above, will begin on August 19th. These details will include the specific application form that must be used, the application fee, and the address to which the application should be sent. It is possible that online filing of the form will be available. USCIS recommends that persons who intend to apply for the program obtain the following materials:

• • Evidence of a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024, such as a marriage certificate;
  • Documentation of proof of identity, including expired documents, including a valid state or country driver’s license or identification;
  • Birth certificate with photo identification;
  • Valid passport or any government issued document bearing the applicant’s name, date of birth, and photo.
  • Evidence of the spouse’s U.S. citizenship, such as a passport, birth certificate or Certificate of Naturalization;
  • Documentation to establish the applicant’s continued presence in the United States for at least 10 years, as of June 17, 2024 (this may include rent receipts or utility bills; school records; hospital or medical records; attestations by religious entities, unions, or other organizations, identifying the applicant by name; official records from a religious entity confirming participation in a religious ceremony; money order receipts for money sent into or out of the United States; birth certificates of children born in the United States; dated bank transactions; automobile license receipts, title, or registration; deeds, mortgages, or rental agreement contracts; insurance policies; tax returns or tax receipts).
  • Noncitizen children of U.S. citizens may provide evidence of eligibility in the form of the following documents:
    • Evidence of the child’s relationship to the noncitizen parent, such as a birth certificate or adoption decree;
    • Evidence of the noncitizen parent’s legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen as of June 17, 2024, such as a marriage certificate;
    • Evidence of the child’s presence in the United States as of June 17, 2024.

Visa Eligibility for College Graduates

The White House Fact Sheet also refers to the second mechanism announced on June 18, which would allow undocumented persons, including recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and other “Dreamers” (generally understood as undocumented persons who arrived in the United States as children, attended school here, and identify as Americans), who have earned a degree from an accredited U.S. college or university in the United States, and who have an offer of “high skilled” employment from a U.S. employer in a field related to their degree, to obtain a nonimmigrant visa that authorizes employment (such as H-1B status) with less delay.  The Fact Sheet does not provide any information about the proposed implementation of this program, other than to refer to the fact that the Department of State has updated its public guidance to allow consular officers to consider the fact that a nonimmigrant visa applicant has a university degree or a similar credential  a positive factor in the decision whether or not to grant a waiver of visa ineligibility. This suggest that an applicant under this program must travel overseas to obtain a visa and cannot regularize status within the United States. It should also be noted that this mechanism, unlike the Parole-in-Place program, does not create an avenue to obtain lawful permanent resident status in the United States.

As we noted in our earlier Alert, the measures discussed in the Fact Sheet will apply only to persons who currently do not hold lawful immigration status in the United States and will thus not have a significant impact on the ability of United States employers to continue hiring and retaining the services of foreign national workers. The flexibility granted to undocumented graduates of U.S. colleges and universities to transition to a visa status that allows employment is a welcome development for such employers, however, and will reduce the difficulties involved in regularizing the employment status of such persons.

We will continue to monitor the progress of these two initiatives and will issue a further Alert once the details of their implementation, including how to apply for participation, have been announced.