USCIS · United States

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Form I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver

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Quick answer

Form I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver, lets certain immigrant visa applicants ask USCIS to forgive the 3- or 10-year unlawful presence bar before they leave the United States for their consular interview, based on extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen or green-card-holder spouse or parent. The applicant completes and mails the 9-page form to USCIS. JustFill fills the I-601A PDF online; you print, sign, and mail it.

Form
Form I-601A
Issued by
USCIS
Country
United States
Cost to fill
Free

What is Form I-601A?

Form I-601A lets certain immigrant visa applicants ask USCIS to waive the 3- and 10-year unlawful presence bars (INA 212(a)(9)(B)) before — not after — they leave the United States for their consular interview. Anyone who accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence would normally trigger those bars the moment they depart, which is exactly what consular processing requires; the provisional waiver is decided while you are still in the U.S., cutting the family separation from potentially years to the length of a visa-interview trip. To qualify you must be physically present in the United States, at least 17 years old, and have an immigrant visa case pending with the Department of State — an approved I-130, I-140, or I-360 with the immigrant visa fee paid, or selection in the Diversity Visa program — and you must show that refusing your admission would cause extreme hardship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. The current edition (01/20/25) runs 9 pages across 9 parts and is filed on paper only. An approved I-601A is not a status: it grants no work permit and no protection from removal, and it covers unlawful presence — no other ground of inadmissibility.

Download the Form I-601A form PDF — free

The current form (Edition 01/20/25, 9 pages) and its separate 20-page instructions are free downloads on uscis.gov/i-601a. Keep the edition date and page numbers visible at the bottom of every printed page — USCIS may reject a form with missing or mixed-edition pages.

Get the official Form I-601A PDF from USCIS

Who fills out Form I-601A?

  • Principal beneficiaries of an approved Form I-130, I-140, or I-360 who are consular processing and have paid the Department of State immigrant visa fee
  • Spouses and children of those principal beneficiaries (derivatives), once their own immigrant visa fee is paid
  • Diversity Visa program selectees and their derivatives with a KCC case number, while the DV case is still active
  • Only people physically present in the U.S., at least 17 at filing, and inadmissible solely for unlawful presence of more than 180 days
  • Not eligible: anyone with a pending Form I-485, or in removal proceedings that are not administratively closed

Field-by-field breakdown

What each section of Form I-601A asks for. JustFill’s AI will detect these fields automatically when you upload the PDF — review the breakdown below so you know what to enter.

Part 1 — Information About You

A-Number, Social Security number, USCIS Online Account Number, full name and other names used, U.S. mailing and physical address (a U.S. address is required), sex, date and place of birth, your last entry and any previous entries into the U.S., and yes/no questions covering removal proceedings, voluntary departure, and criminal or security-related history

Part 2 — Biographic Information

Ethnicity, race, height, weight, eye color, and hair color — used at the biometric services appointment every applicant must attend

Part 3 — Information About Your Immigrant Visa Case

One checkbox for your basis to immigrate (Diversity Visa selectee, I-130 immediate relative or family preference, I-140 employment, or I-360 special immigrant/widow(er)), then the USCIS receipt number of the approved petition, the DOS/NVC consular case number or KCC DV case number, and the petitioner's name

Part 4 — Information About Your Qualifying Relative

The name of the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent who would suffer extreme hardship, a relationship checkbox, and a second qualifying relative if you have one — children do not count here

Part 5 — Statement From Applicant

Free-text space to explain, in detail, the extreme hardship your qualifying relative would face and why USCIS should approve the waiver as a matter of discretion; overflow continues in Part 9

Part 6 — Applicant's Statement, Contact Information, Declaration, Certification, and Signature

Whether you read English or used an interpreter or preparer, your phone numbers and email, and your signature — USCIS rejects unsigned forms, and you must be physically in the United States when you file

Part 7 — Interpreter's Contact Information, Certification, and Signature

Completed only if an interpreter translated the form for you: their name, address, contact details, language, and signature

Part 8 — Contact Information, Declaration, and Signature of the Person Preparing this Application

Completed only when someone other than you — for example an attorney or accredited representative — prepared the form on your behalf

Part 9 — Additional Information

Extra space for any answer that did not fit, keyed by the page, part, and item number it continues

Common mistakes to avoid

  • 1Naming a U.S. citizen child as the qualifying relative in Part 4 — only a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent counts for the I-601A extreme hardship test
  • 2Leaving out your full name, U.S. physical address, or date of birth, or forgetting to sign Part 6 — all rejection triggers listed in the USCIS instructions
  • 3Not attaching proof of the immigrant visa case: the petition approval notice (or DV selection) plus the DOS immigrant visa fee receipt
  • 4Filing while a Form I-485 is pending or while in removal proceedings that are not administratively closed — USCIS will deny the application without refunding the fee
  • 5Printing pages from mixed or outdated editions — USCIS warns it may reject the form if the edition date and page numbers are not visible on every page

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Related forms

USCIS

Form I-130

Form I-130: Petition for Alien Relative

USCIS

Form I-864

Form I-864: Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA

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Form I-485

Form I-485: Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Form G-28

Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative

Frequently asked questions

$795 under the current USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055). The fee is $0 for VAWA self-petitioners and Special Immigrant Juveniles. Fees change periodically, so confirm the current amount on the G-1055 page at uscis.gov before you mail anything.
No. The I-601A is paper-only — you mail the signed form with the fee to the USCIS Chicago lockbox address shown under "Where to File" on uscis.gov/i-601a. You must have a U.S. address and be physically inside the United States when you file.
Only a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. Hardship to your U.S. citizen children, however serious, does not by itself satisfy the I-601A standard — one of the most common reasons applications fail.
The I-601A is filed from inside the U.S., before you depart for your consular interview, and waives only the 3- and 10-year unlawful presence bars. Form I-601 is the broader waiver for other grounds of inadmissibility, generally filed after a consular officer has found you inadmissible.
No. Approval grants no immigration status, no employment authorization, and no protection from removal. It only provisionally waives the unlawful presence bar, and it takes effect once you depart the U.S. and complete your immigrant visa interview abroad.
Yes. After you file, USCIS schedules you at an Application Support Center for fingerprints and a photo. If you miss it, USCIS may treat the application as abandoned and deny it under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(13).

Official source: Form I-601A on USCIS’s website

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