Earlier this week, our firm received official approval from U.S. Customs & Border Protection that our client, a Canadian citizen, had been approved for parole for a period of five weeks so that she could attend two important milestones in her U.S. citizen son’s life: his high school graduation and his 18th birthday, together with the accompanying celebrations with family and friends. 

While these activities would normally be considered permissible B-2 activities, our client could not enter the U.S. in B-2 status she is currently inadmissible to the U.S.  The previous year, our client had been issued an expedited removal order, after admitting to CBP officials that she had been residing without status in the U.S. for over twenty years and being unable to demonstrate strong ties to Canada.

Based on the recency of her expedited removal order and her individual circumstances, we advised our client to postpone filing the necessary application to seek permission to apply for admission to the U.S. after being removed (Form I-212, Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal) until she had spent minimally one year outside the U.S. as ‘punishment’.  Given the lengthy overstay and the recency of the expedited removal order, based on our firm’s experience, we felt that it would be premature to file the I-212 at this time. 

However, since these two important milestones were quickly approaching in her U.S. citizen’s son’s life, we were able to advocate to CBP that our client had sufficiently re-established her ties to Canada and despite her recent expedited removal order, would not violate the terms of her parole by engaging in unauthorized employment or by overstaying.  This parole was approved solely to celebrate these special events. 

If you or someone in your family would like more information about applying for parole, please do not hesitate to contact our office to schedule a consultation. 

By WILLIAM Z. REICH, ESQ.