East Palo Alto, CA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

Hello: It will depend on why you would need the waiver. You should just pay the ticket. ** *Consulate Processing and Waiver of Inadmissibility* In this particular case, first the Consulate Processing must be completed. This allows the petition to first be sent to the National Visa Center, and then the appropriate documents and package to go to the U.S. Consulate or Embassy. This would be the basic procedure whereby the petitioner in the United States submits a petition to allow the beneficiary to come into the United States as a lawful permanent resident. Generally speaking, from the time we submit the Consulate Processing until the interview at the U.S. Consulate or U.S. Embassy, the time is around one year. A Waiver of Inadmissibility will have to be obtained. The procedure for this will be that the Waiver will be able to be submitted to the USCIS inside the U.S., rather than outside the U.S. Additionally, once the regulations are finalized, it will be able to be submitted PRIOR to leaving the United States and if approved, a Provisional Waiver will be issued. In this case, upon exiting the U.S., you would not have to wait years for adjudication of the Waiver as the hope is that is already approved and it would simply be a matter of having the Consulate Processing interview and returning. This is an application that will include a legal brief, forms, documents, exhibits, declarations and other evidence. My firm can prepare the entire waiver, and attach all of the necessary documents. It will take several months for the decision, and if done correctly, there is a good chance of an approval. The Waiver essentially makes the crime or ground of ineligibility disappear so that entry or re-entry will be allowed into the U.S. Please note that the Waiver is the critical part of this application, and unless approved, there cannot be any other petition that will allow entry into the U.S. Therefore, the Waiver must be prepared with significant supporting documents. This provisional waiver will be submitted here in the United States while we await further processing of the Consulate Processing. Thus, while the beneficiary still must eventually exit the United States, there will hopefully be an approval of the Provisional Waiver. Keep in mind that this Waiver applies only to unlawful presence inadmissibility issues and no other grounds of inadmissibility.

Since you have an attorney, this is something you need to discuss with him/her. There could be any number of reasons for the change to a Master Hearing, including re-assignment to a new judge, clerical error, etc. Talk to your attorney.