Half a Million Migrant Spouses of US Citizens Get Pathway to Green Cards

Around half a million undocumented immigrant spouses of United States citizens, along with thousands of stepchildren, now have the ability to apply for permanent resident or “green card” status.
The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it was opening the pathway to permanent residency for some husbands and wives who entered the U.S. without admission or parole.
Under the new pathway, which began August 19, the children of those noncitizens, also born outside the U.S., may also be eligible.
“Too often, noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens – many of them mothers and fathers – live with uncertainty due to undue barriers in our immigration system.” Ur M. Jaddou, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a press release.
DHS estimates that more than two thirds of noncitizens without lawful immigration status but who are married to U.S. citizens were previously not eligible to apply for what is known as adjustment of status.
Instead, they have been forced to leave for their home country and apply there, often waiting many years for a visa to return to their spouse and family.
For those who fit DHS’ new criteria, that will now not be necessary.
DHS said that spouses who have been present in the U.S. without admission or parole, and have been continuously present since at least June 17, 2014 through to the date of filing paperwork, would be allowed to apply.
They must also have a legally valid marriage to a U.S. citizen, which was entered into on or before June 17, 2024.
Other criteria includes having no disqualifying criminal history and the government must not believe them to be a threat to public safety, national or border security.
It is thought around 500,000 spouses will be able to apply, using the United States Citizenship and Immigration Serice’s Form I-131F.
Non-citizen stepchildren will be eligible if they were under the age of 21 and unmarried on June 17, 2024 and have also been continuously present in the country for the 10 years leading up to that date.
Similar criteria on criminal history and public safety apply to noncitizen stepchildren, with an estimated 50,000 eligible currently.
DHS said that those who lack legal status, but were admitted into the U.S. by immigration authorities, are not eligible to apply.
In 2021, President Biden asked DHS to investigate ways to remove barriers to immigration for groups like these. The department said that this new scheme would “promote family unity” while also removing hurdles to legal status.
It is also hoped that the plan will enhance the U.S. economy, by allowing these spouses to legally work.
DHS also argues the pathway will enhance diplomatic and foreign policy objectives, increase national security and ease pressure on limited government resources.
“This process to keep U.S. families together will remove these undue barriers for those who would otherwise qualify to live and work lawfully in the U.S., while also creating greater efficiencies in the immigration system, conducting effective screening and vetting, and focusing on noncitizens who contribute to and have longstanding connections within American communities across the country.” Jaddou added.
The move was widely welcomed by immigration advocacy groups, as well as immigration lawyers.
“As immigration attorneys, we see every day how outdated laws keep U.S. citizens’ families in long-term legal limbo, enduring an arduous bureaucratic process to gain lawful residency,” American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) President Kelli Stump said in a press release.
“By taking this action, the administration is using its congressionally enacted authority to put families first and implement sensible solutions,” Stump continued. “This program is overdue, and we are excited and hopeful to witness what meaningful change this will bring to our clients and their US citizen family members.”
The National Immigration Center for Enforcement, which campaigns for tougher measures on border security, said the program showed how Democrats had failed the American people.
“Illegal aliens come first, American families come last in Kamala Harris’s America,” the group posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The scheme is similar to others initiated under the Biden administration which allow “parole in place”, including for citizens of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.
It means that USCIS can determine cases while an individual remains in the U.S. without fear of deportation but does not guarantee approval.
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