Inadmissibility Issues

This library contains information about U visa waivers of inadmissibility, including I-192 briefs, appeals, decisions, sample documents and more.

    I-192 Waivers

    I-192 Form & Instructions 

    USCIS link to I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Non-Immigrant.

    Overcoming Inadmissibility for U visa Applicants

    Article written by Gail Pendleton on the new standard for the waiver, as well as potential strategies for U visa applicant. Here for Overcoming Inadmissibility for U visa Applications in Word version. 

    Immigration Intake Form: Flagging Inadmissibility

    This intake provides important questions to ask to your client, and can be used as an intake form to determine how your client will best be served or if there is a case. Here for Immigration Intake Form: Flagging Inadmissibility in Word version. 

    RFE Excerpt on U Inadmissibility Waiver Factors

    This is an excerpt from a standard VSC request for evidence on U Inadmissibility waivers. Here for RFE Excerpt on U Inadmissibility Waivers in Word version.

    Sample Inadmissibility Questionnaire

    Bilingual questionnaire that provides important questions to ask to your client. Here for the Sample Inadmissibility Questionnaire in Word version.

    Sample U Visa Roadmap Cover Letter

    ASISTA staff put together a basic cover letter sample to include with your U visa application. You will also notice an area in the cover letter to include relevant legal arguments if you are petitioning for an I-192 waiver. Here for the Sample U Visa Roadmap Cover Letter in Word version.

    Sample U Visa Index Template

    In conjunction with the basic cover letter above, ASISTA staff put together a basic document index template. Here for the Sample U Visa Index Template in Word version.

    9- NIJC U AOS RE Response Re: Record of Conviction (July, 2016)

    Response to VSC in regards to RFE re Record of Conviction submitted by Jennifer Scarborough, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, National Immigrant Justice Center.

    Memo on Police Reports in Affirmative Cases (June 2, 2017)

    Memorandum from Sanctuary for Families' Immigration Intervention Project (IIP) in response to Vermont Service Center (VSC) Requests for Copies of Police Reports Detailing Arrest, June 2, 2017. Here for Memo on Police Report in Affirmative Cases in Word version.

    I-192 Appeals, Briefs, Decisions & Samples 

    AAO Decision on U Inadmissibility 

    This AAO decision makes clear that, although it can't review inadmissibility waivers, it can review inaccurate inadmissibility determinations by VSC.

    Brief to AAO Re: Gang Affiliation (August 4, 2017)

    AAO Brief filed by Attorney Will Miller at Catholic Charities Atlanta, August 4, 2017. Here for Brief to AAO on Gang Affiliation in Word version.

    (d)(14) Legal Argument Sample 1 (November 2016)

    This brief, among other things, raises the legal argument that CIS violates the law when it refuses to implement the Congressionally-mandated (d)(14) U waiver standard, a legal argument the AAO should exercise jurisdiction to review. Here for (d)(14) Legal Argument Sample 1 in Word version.

    (d)(14) Legal Argument Sample 2 (August 2015)

    This brief, among other things, raises the legal argument that CIS violates the law when it refuses to implement the Congressionally-mandated (d)(14) U waiver standard, a legal argument the AAO should exercise jurisdiction to review. Here for (d)(14) Legal Argument Sample 2 in Word version.

    Amicus Brief on CIS Reliance on Arrests 

    Amici curiae submitted this brief because United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") has rendered a decision that denies important protections to immigrants who are victims of domestic violence and creates a dangerous precedent for the use of uncorroborated and unreliable evidence in immigration proceedings.

    Criminal Issues in Immigration

    Excerpts from "Living with Silvia-Trevino" (July 14, 2009)

    Excerpts from the article "Living with Silvia Trevino" by Norton Tooby and National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild 2009. All rights reserved. Research was completed on this version of this article on April 27, 2009. It was revised again on July 14, 2009.  This article is a collective effort, based as it is on a number of conversations as well as the collective wisdom expressed on the internet. Our thanks especially go to Joseph Justin Rollin, Portland, Oregon, and Kathy Brady, Senior Attorney, Immigration legal Resource Center, San Francisco, California. Portions were derived from N. Tooby, J. Rollin & J. Fosters, Crimes of Moral Turpitude (2008). Here for Excerpts from "Living with Silvia-Trevino" in Word version.

    Representing U Visa Applicants with Criminal Convictions or Criminal History

    Practice guide by Annie Benson and Jonathan Moore on representing U visa applicants with criminal issues.

    Marmolejo-Campos v. Holder (9th Cir., 2009)

    Re: Marmolejo-Campos v. Holder, 559 F.3d 903 (9th Cir., 2009)

    BIA Interim Decision Re: Sanudo (BIA 2006)

    Re: Renato Wilhemy Sanudo 23 I&N Dec. 968 (BIA 2006).

    Matter of Silva-Trevino (A.G. 2008)

    Re: Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 687 (A.G. 2008)

    Practice Advisories

    Fee Waiver Form in Effect December 2, 2019 (December, 2 2019)

    This project was supported by Grant No. 2017-TA-AX-K061 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

    Practice Advisory: Tips for Representing U Visa Respondents (July 2019)

    ASISTA and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recently published a new in-depth practice advisory that contains updates in policy and survivor-based advocacy strategies for U visa applicants at different stages of removal proceedings. This includes strategies for helping U visa applicants with final or prior orders of removal, those currently in removal proceedings, and options for survivors if they receive unfavorable decisions in immigration court. This advisory will be updated should new or additional policy developments impact its content.

    Annotated Notes and Practice Pointers: USCIS Teleconference on Notice to Appear (NTA) Updated Policy Guidance (December 5, 2018)

    These annotated notes have been compiled by ASISTA, AILA and ILRC, commenting on the information shared by USCIS during the November 15, 2018 national stakeholder teleconference. We added practice pointers and clarification to USCIS responses.

    U Visas Cases in Proceedings

    - Sample Motions -

    BIA on Cases in Proceedings

    BIA Practice Manual (Last revised 09/23/2019)

    This Practice Manual has been assembled as a public service to parties before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

    This manual is strictly informational in nature. This manual is not intended, in any way, to substitute for a careful study of the pertinent laws and regulations. Readers are advised to review Chapter 1.1 before consulting any information contained herein.

    The Practice Manual is updated periodically. To assist readers, tables showing the update history of the Practice Manual are available in the section titled Table of Changes.

    Practice Advisory: Adjustment of Status of "Arriving Aliens" Under the Interim Regulations: Challenging the BIA's Denial of a Motion to Reopen, Remand, or Continue a Case (April 16, 2007)

    This practice advisory is the third in a series about interim regulation, adopted May 12, 2006, which give USCIS jurisdiction over the adjustment applications of an "arriving alien" parolee who is in removal proceedings.

    Practice Advisory: USCIS Adjustment of Status of "Arriving Aliens" with an Unexecuted Final Order of Removal (November 6, 2008)

    This practice advisory by Mary Kenney, is one of the three which discuss interim regulations that give USCIS jurisdiction over the adjustment applications of an "arriving alines" parolee who is in removal proceedings.

    Responding to Discovery

    Webinar Recording on Challenging Discovery 

    U Visa Discoverability: What To Do? This is a webinar training sponsored by the Family Justice Center Alliance, presented by Susan Breall, Wanda Lucibello, Jonathan Moore, Mike Agnew, and Gail Pendleton. This webinar explores different strategies about how to respond to U visa requests (or other immigration files) in criminal court and may apply to other legal venues as well.  

    Understanding and Responding to Subpoenas: A Guide for Immigration Attorneys Representing U Visa Applicants 

    Developed by Stanford Law School's Immigrants' Rights Clinic, in collaboration with Bay Rea Legal Aid. 

    Order Granting Motion for Protective Order Regarding U Visa Information (May 14, 2018) 

    We recently won a good order from a federal district court judge in Eastern Washington granting our motion for protective order regarding u visa information. The court prohibited all discovery of a u visa information and documents in a case where we represent five farmworker women on sexual harassment and retaliation claims. The decision makes clear that a pending u visa petition does not diminish the chilling effect of such discovery, and continues to rely on Rivera v. NIBCO as the guiding law on this issue in the Ninth Circuit. A great outcome in our case, and one that we hope can be used elsewhere to argue this issue. State of Washington and Diaz Silvas et al. v. Horning Brothers, NO. 2:17-CV-0149-TOR, 2018 WL  2208215 (E.D. Wash., May 14, 2018)

    Sample Motion to Quash 

    Developed by Stanford Law School's Immigrants' Rights Clinic, in collaboration with Bay Rea Legal Aid. Here for Sample Motion to Quash in Word version.

    Gang Resources

    Brief to AAO Re: Gang Affiliation (August 4, 2017)

    AAO Brief filed by Attorney Williams Miller at Catholic Charities Atlanta, August 4, 2017. Here for Brief to AAO on Gang Affiliation in Word version.

    ILRC Report: Deportation by Any Means Necessary (May 2018)

    How Immigration Officials are Labeling Immigrant Youth as Gang Members, May 2018. 

    NYIC Gang Affiliation Report (May 2018)

    Swept Up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers, May 2018.

    Practice Note on Gang Bond Hearings

    This note is for practitioners seeking release of an individual from immigration detention at an immigration court bond hearing where the detained person is accused of gang-related affiliation. It provides helpful case law for challenging the admissibility and evidentiary value of uncorroborated law enforcement reports of gang affiliation, August 3, 2017. 

    Extrinsic to ROC (Police Reports)

    U AOS RE Response Re: Record of Conviction (July, 2016)

    Response to VSC in regards to RFE re Record of Conviction submitted by Jennifer Scarborough, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, National Immigrant Justice Center.

    Memo on Police Reports in Affirmative Cases (June 2, 2017)

    Memorandum from Sanctuary for Families' Immigration Intervention Project (IIP) in response to Vermont Service Center (VSC) Requests for Copies of Police Reports Detailing Arrest, June 2, 2017. Here for Memo on Police Report in Affirmative Cases in Word version.

    Amicus Brief on CIS Reliance on Arrests 

    Amici curiae submitted this brief because United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") has rendered a decision that denies important protections to immigrants who are victims of domestic violence and creates a dangerous precedent for the use of uncorroborated and unreliable evidence in immigration proceedings.