UPDATE #2: President Biden’s Parole Program for Undocumented Spouses

A federal judge paused Biden’s new Parole in Place (PIP) program for 14 days starting Monday August 26, 2024. As we anticipated, a lawsuit challenging the legality of the program has been filed by Texas, among others.

Applications for PIP can still be filed with USCIS, but we will not receive decisions during the 14-day pause starting August 26th, and possibly until mid-October when the judge will further consider the case. 

If we determined you are eligible, we recommend working on filing your application promptly so you’ll have the best chance of getting an approval in case the program is reopened briefly, then permanently closed in October. 

If you believe you may be eligible but have not had an attorney review the particulars of your circumstances, we recommend you have a consultation right away. 

There are a few things that could happen with the PIP program:

• The program could continue as before, and we begin to see approvals again after 14 days, or after October. There have been applications approved that were filed during the first week before the pause was initiated by the judge. This is our hope. 
• The pause could be continued until October, when the judge will review more arguments about the case. In this case, we can continue to file the applications, but USCIS will not be able to approve any applications. 
• Biden PIP could be permanently stopped in mid-October, but USCIS might be allowed to approve cases that were filed before it stopped. This is another reason we recommend continuing to file now. 
• The last and worst option is that the program will be ended definitively. This could mean that USCIS has to deny all pending applications. There will be no refunds for the filing fees or legal fees in this case, so it’s important to understand this risk. 

For background on the program, please see our August 19, 2024 email or check USCIS here: LINK We remain hopeful that the program will go forward in October, or possibly sooner. But we of course can’t make any guarantees because that is ultimately up to the federal judge here.