{"id":5239,"date":"2021-02-02T06:40:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T12:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/?p=5239"},"modified":"2026-04-08T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:47:07","slug":"what-is-the-ten-year-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/what-is-the-ten-year-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Ten-Year Bar?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welcome back to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kreizelman Burton &amp; Associates<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 series on immigration terms and abbreviations. I\u2019m <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/attorney-profiles\/erin-cobb\/\">Erin Cobb<\/a>, and we\u2019re going to be talking about the 10-year bar. What it is, when it applies, and what you can do about it will be all be discussed in today\u2019s post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, who does the 10-year bar apply to? The simplest way to think about it is that it applies to someone who is here without status for more than one year. However, that is oversimplifying things. Really, it applies to someone who is here and has accrued unlawful presence for more than one year. Now, unlawful presence is a special word with a special meaning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Congress and immigration services have set out some special situations where someone might be here without any status, but sill does not accrue unlawful presence. Some of the most common of these situations include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DACA<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have a pending asylum application, except if you\u2019ve worked without permission<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019re under 18, no matter your status<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019re in valid visa status\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ve filed to extend or change your visa status, such as a visitor to a student, and are still waiting on a decision<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your visa is one that is valid for the duration of status or D\/S, like some F, J, or M visas<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are in the U.S. without status, and none of the situations apply to you, you are occurring unlawful presence. If you have more than one year of unlawful presence and depart the country, you will have to wait outside for 10 years before you can even apply to come back in. There is, however, a waiver available that can prevent this 10-year bar from blocking you. If you can show that your permanent resident or U.S. citizen spouse or parent would suffer extreme hardships if you are not permitted to return immediately. This waiver is known by a couple of names. Commonly, we refer to it as an <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/immigration-lawyers-chicago\/waivers-of-inadmissibility\/\">unlawful presence waiver<\/a> or an I-601 waiver, as that is the form that is used for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is another waiver that can help you lessen the penalties and time you\u2019d have to spend outside the U.S. This waiver is called a provisional waiver. This is a great option for many because you can apply for the waiver before leaving the country. The standard is the same as the I-601 waiver, but it takes out some of the risk and length of time you\u2019d have to wait outside the country prior to applying to enter again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While there are additional bars that prevent immigrants from entering the country, this is the most common. As you can tell, this is all quite complicated, and the effects can be both life-changing and long-lasting. So, if you are thinking about departing the U.S. to apply for your immigrant visa, please be sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/services\/immigration-lawyers-chicago\/\">talk to an immigration attorney<\/a> first to have everything in place before you go. This can help you complete the immigration process faster once you can re-enter the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As always, if you or someone you know is in need of an immigration lawyer, please do not hesitate to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact the attorneys at Kriezwelman Burton &amp; Associates<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We are here to help you navigate the complex world of immigration.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to Kreizelman Burton &amp; Associates\u2019 series on immigration terms and abbreviations. I\u2019m Erin Cobb, and we\u2019re going to be talking about the 10-year bar. What it is, when it applies, and what you can do about it will be all be discussed in today\u2019s post.\u00a0 So, who does the 10-year bar apply to? &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/what-is-the-ten-year-bar\/\" class=\"more-link\">Seguir leyendo<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u00abWhat is the Ten-Year Bar?\u00bb<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":5241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1,32,40],"tags":[154,180,237],"class_list":["post-5239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green_cards","category-immigration-law","category-non_immigrant_visas","category-visas","tag-chicago-immigration-attorney","tag-deportation-defense","tag-ten-year-bar","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11845,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239\/revisions\/11845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krilaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}