What is “Extreme Hardship” in the Immigration Process?

If you are in deportation proceedings, you may be able to suspend your deportation by demonstrating “extreme hardship” to you or certain qualifying family members. Extreme Hardship can be a very broad and confusing category to define but there are some grounds that have been used in the past that can guide your case against deportation. In order for your deportation proceedings to be removed, you must be able to document and fully demonstrate that your deportation would cause extraordinary difficulty to you and your qualifying family. You will most likely be filing the I-601 waiver in order to challenge any grounds that have made you ineligible for residence status and have led to your possible deportation.

Family members that qualify as part of your argument for extreme hardship, besides the applicant, are the applicant’s U.S. citizen or resident parents, children, or spouse. In order for you to claim extreme hardship will be done to your spouse, children, or parents they must have a permanent residence card( green card) or are U.S. citizens. You cannot claim extreme hardship to non-resident family members or family members whose relationship to you does not qualify as relevant to deportation proceedings. Keep in mind your family member’s immigration status when building your case for extreme hardship.

Extreme hardship can be financial, psychological, marital, familial, medical, and more. You can use the age, quantity, and immigration status of your eligible family members to build your case. For example, you could include information and documentation about your citizen children in your defense. Your own immigration history, length of time living in the U.S., and your barriers to adjusting your status are also relevant. You can also argue that deportation would cause you or your family an unusual amount of psychological trauma.

Social factors about your life in the U.S. can also be used to build your defense against deportation. For example, you can demonstrate how much you have integrated into your community in the U.S. and the ties you have built to that community. You can also document your or your family’s medical condition and discuss the availability of relevant medical treatment outside the U.S.

Financial Hardship is an additional front to overturn your deportation proceedings. Demonstrating financial hardship can include your ability to find work outside the U.S., the financial impact on your family your deportation would cause, the economy in the country where you would be deported, and so on. Merely demonstrating that deportation would result in the loss of a currently held job is not enough to demonstrate extreme hardship. You must be able to show extraordinary financial adversity would result from your deportation.

Expecting or approved refugees or asylees can also demonstrate extreme hardship by arguing against the threat of abuse following deportation, the political or social climate in the country to which you would be returned, and inadequate domestic violence or trauma services in your home country. Your applications for asylum and deportation proceedings are separate and could be happening at the same time or separately from your removal. If you are granted asylum but your removal proceedings are not lifted, your asylum may be enough to change your status to permanent resident. You should discuss your deportation proceedings with the asylum officer assigned to you.

You can demonstrate the grounds of your extreme hardship through proper documentation. The more documentation you have, the stronger your case against deportation will be. Documentation can include medical records, financial records, academic records, birth and marriage certificates, and so on.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that building your case against deportation on any of these particular grounds will result in the cancellation of deportation. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services Board will review your petition against deportation on a case-by-case basis. Extreme hardship is broadly defined as hardship that would be much greater than would normally come from deportation. Because of this, there is no single way to have your deportation proceedings cancelled on this ground. The general aim of building your case for extreme hardship should be to show how fully you have become tied to your community in the U.S. and how you would find extraordinary barriers to re-establishing your life in the country where you would be deported.

For more information and help with deportation defense, contact immigration attorney Phillip Kim