New Procedures Concerning I-601A Waiver
At the AILA DOS Liaison Committee’s December 12, 2013 meeting with the Department of State (DOS), representatives from the National Visa Center (NVC) commented on the evolution of the process for notifying the NVC of an applicant’s intent to file an I-601A provisional unlawful presence waiver. When the process was announced in January and rolled out in March, applicants were instructed to notify the NVC or consular post of their intent to file an I-601A. USCIS would notify the NVC when the application had been received, and the NVC would hold the case until the waiver application had been adjudicated. At present, however, the NVC only accepts notification of I-601A filings from USCIS. NVC also stated that if a practitioner or applicant notified the NVC of his or her intent to file an I-601A but failed to do so within 6 months, the NVC will forward the case to the consular post and proceed with scheduling the interview even though no I-601A has been filed. If you receive a notification that your case has been scheduled for an interview and you have not yet filed an I-601A waiver application, you must contact the post directly, inform them of your intent to file an I-601A, and ask for the interview to be canceled.