Georgetown Law & UBN Life on Hold

applicant and must: properly file an application (form I-485) and be admissible to the U.S. or eligible for a waiver. Additionally, the family member’s eligibility expires when the principal applicant is no longer an LPR. This means that the family member must apply before the principal loses LPR status or naturalizes. This requirement created by USCIS policy (and not the statute) is critical because the principal applicant must remain an LPR when the family member applies. This means LRIF principal applicants may have to delay naturalizing to U.S. citizenship--a punitive consequence of an otherwise generous provision. All other criteria that apply to the principal applicant apply to the family member, except the continuous physical presence requirement. Documentation and Evidentiary Requirements Documentation is required to supplement a LRIF application and establish that an applicant meets the criteria described above. The burdensome evidentiary requirements demonstrate the barriers to LRIF’s success in granting Liberians relief. These requirements are described below. Full List of documentation. Below is a full checklist of all the documents that should be included in an application. These include: • Properly filed Form I-485 with the correct fee; • Two identical color photographs of the applicant taken recently; • Copy of government-issued identity document with photograph; • Copy of the birth certificate; • Copy of passport page with admission or parole stamp; • Copy of the arrival/departure record (Form I-94) or copy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection admission or parole stamp on the travel document; • Properly completed Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record (Form I-693); • Evidence of being a Liberian national; • A list and any evidence of all arrivals to and departures from the United States; • Evidence of the continuous physical presence in the United States beginning on November 20, 2014, and ending on the date the applicant properly files a LRIF application; and • A completed application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (Form I-601) if applicable. Liberian Nationality. Examples of evidence establishing this include either: 1. an unexpired Liberian passport; or 2. a Liberian certificate of naturalization. These are only examples, so there may be other ways to establish this. However, because of USCIS’s poor implementation, using one of these two is recommended.

Life On Hold: Black Immigrants & the Promise of Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness

32