President Barack Obama's immigration executive actions provided new regulations and policies to immigrant visas and provisional waivers.

In a memorandum by U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Leon Rodriguez, the executive actions affects I-601A provisional waivers to "all statutorily eligible classes of relatives for whom an immigrant visa is immediately available."

Current immigration laws instruct certain undocumented immigrants -- usually the spouse or child of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident -- residing in the U.S. and eligible for immigrant visas to leave the country for an interview at the U.S. consulate in their native country. If the undocumented immigrant returns to their native country to await an immigrant visa, they also risk either a 3-and-10-year bar from entering the U.S. Exemptions have been in place to allow some undocumented individuals to waive the 3-and-10-year ban "if they can demonstrate that absence from the United States as a result of the bar imposes an 'extreme hardship' to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent spouse or parent."

Since 2013, the provisional waiver could be applied while in the U.S. Prior to that year, undocumented immigrants had to wait until they left the U.S. for the consulate interview and then apply for the waiver. The 2013 waiver was only valid for spouses and children of U.S. citizens.

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"In 2013, we did not initially extend the provisional waiver to other statutorily eligible individuals -- i.e., the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents and the adult children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents -- to assess the effectiveness and operational impact of the provisional waiver process," wrote Johnson.

According to Johnson, the purpose for the provisional waiver's expansion is "family unity." Johnson also called for the USCIS to provide additional guidelines on how "extreme hardship" should be defined. He noted the current statute for "extreme hardship" does not define the term. The DHS secretary stated that a definition for the phrase would "provide broader use of this legally permitted waiver program."

Johnson provided some factors for the USCIS to define "extreme hardship," stating, "Factors that should be considered for further explanation include, but are not limited to: family ties to the United States and the country of removal, conditions in the country of removal, the age of the U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent, the length of residence in the United States, relevant medical and mental health conditions, financial hardships, and educational hardships.

No deadline has been provided for the USCIS to adopt the new guidelines.

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