If you are in Immigration Proceedings, have been issued a Notice to Appear or an Immigration Judge has issued a deportation order against you, Hannaford Immigration Law may be able to help you and represent you in Immigration Court or with re-opening or appealing your case. Please see the following grounds upon which you may be eligible for relief from deportation. Please contact us at Hannaford Immigration Law and we will help you to explore your options.
Waiver
A waiver of removability may be available if you can establish that removal from the United States would cause hardship to you or to one of your close family members. Additionally, if you are a lawful permanent residents who has lived in the United States for a long period of time, you may be eligible for a waiver even if none of your relatives live in the United States.
Cancellation of Removal for Permanent Residents
If you are a lawful permanent resident, you may be eligible for cancellation of removal under INA §240A(a) if:
- You have been an LPR for a minimum of five years
- You have resided continuously in the U.S. for a minimum of seven years after being admitted to the U.S. in any status (prior to the institution of removal proceedings)
- You have not been convicted of an aggravated felony;
- You are not inadmissible from the U.S. on security grounds.
Cancellation of Removal for Non-Permanent Residents
If you are a non-permanent resident, you may be eligible for cancellation of removal under INA §240A(b) if:
- You have been physically present in the U.S. for a continuous period of ten years prior to the institution of removal proceedings.
- You have been a person of good moral character for ten years.
- You are not inadmissible under criminal and security grounds or deportable due to marriage fraud, criminal grounds, failure to register and falsification of documents, or security and related grounds.
- Removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to your spouse, parent, or child who is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
Adjustment of Status
If you are a deportable alien who is the parent, spouse, widow or child of a U.S. citizen, you may be eligible to adjust your status to that of a lawful permanent resident. If you obtained conditional permanent residence based upon marriage to a U.S. citizen or the marriage of your alien parent, to a U.S. citizen, your legal status may be terminated by the INS if you fail to meet certain requirements. However, once INS places you under deportation proceedings, you may renew your applications for permanent residence before an Immigration Judge.
Legalization and Registry
If you are present in the United States and you qualify for legalization or “amnesty” by the INS, you have attained the legal right to remain in the United States.
If you have resided continuously in the U.S. since prior to January 1, 1972, you may be eligible for “registry” and therefore for legal permanent residence. To be eligible for registry, you must be a person of good moral character who is not deportable on certain aggravated grounds and who is not ineligible for citizenship.
Voluntary Departure
Even if no form of relief from deportation is available to you, you may still be eligible for voluntary departure. By electing voluntary departure, you could avoid future difficulties should you wish to return to the United States that would otherwise be imposed by deportation. However be aware if you do not intend to depart the United States within the given time the consequences can be severe.
To be eligible for voluntary departure, you must not be deportable on aggravated grounds, must have the means to pay for their departure from the U.S., must agree to depart within a period of time granted by the Immigration Judge, and must be able to establish good moral character during the previous five-year period.
Asylum, Withholding of Removal and the Convention Against Torture
You also cannot be removed if you can establish that you fear returning to your home country. This is a very large area of law and can be applied for as well as used as a defense in the courts and as such has its own page. More details on Asylum can be found here.
