What is the Ten Years Law?

The Ten Years Law is one of the most common defenses in Immigration Courts. Cases involving this law are difficult to win. In this article, we explore what can be done if fighting a case under the Ten Years Law.

For people who are in Immigration Courts, in the nightmare of having to fight for their rights, one of the most common defenses is the Ten Years Law.

The Ten Years Law, officially Cancellation of Removal 42-B; from which you may have probably heard coming from lawyers, notaries, brothers-in-law, neighbors, or friends, is based on if you have a son/daughter, spouse, or parent who has certain health conditions, and have at least 10 years present in the US, you might be able to fix your migratory status without leaving the US.

It might not be that easy. Following, we explore how the Ten Year Law work, what is needed for an application through the Ten Years Law, and what can be done in case of fighting a case under the Ten Years Law.

Applicability for the Ten Years Law

In order to apply for the Tean Years Law, there must be a case with Immigration Courts. If there is no removal case open at Immigration Courts, there is no way to apply under the Ten Years Law.

At times, when notaries and lawyers try to submit a weak asylum process that doesn’t meet the requirements for it to be approved, cases end up denied and the applicant ends up at Immigration Courts. This can be risky since it’s difficult to win a case via the Ten Years Law.

The first thing to know is that there is a limit. Not everyone can win cases via the Ten Years Law, or Cancellation of Removal 42-B. Only four thousand cases per year are approved. Reason for which there will be people fighting for cases for which there will be actually no approbation given this limit.

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Requirements for applying under the Ten Years Law

In order to apply under the Ten Years Law, three main requirements must be met:

* Ten or more years of unlawful presence

For many, it won’t be that hard to demonstrate ten years of unlawful presence, since some people might have not just ten, but fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty years living in the US.

* Ten years of clean record

It must be demonstrated to have a clean record for at least the last ten years within the US. A requirement that, for a considerable percentage of people, might not be hard to demonstrate.

* US citizen or legal resident son/daughter, spouse or parent who will suffer extreme difficulties

It must be demonstrated having a US citizen or legal resident son/daughter, spouse, or parent that will suffer extreme difficulties if the applicant isn’t able to stay in the US.

** Here is where most cases get difficult via the Ten Years Law, and is when the limit of four thousand cases per year start making many people’s’ situation difficult

The fact that a son/daughter presents a form of autism, attends to special education, presents ADHD, depression or emotional problems can make some people believe they have great possibilities of winning a case via the Ten Years Law. However, what judges, in most cases, are looking for is something more severe than autism or special education.

It is not declared that these cases will not succeed, however, under the Ten Years Law, the four thousand approved cases per year limit must be considered. Generally speaking, judges are quite strict when approving these types of cases, and can be difficult to succeed with.

There are attorneys who prefer not to submit 42-B cases. It is an alternative that can be considered almost a miracle given how difficult is it to succeed with these types of cases.

The Ten Years Law is meant to cover cases in which a son/daughter has cancer or some disability that can lead him/her to death. These kinds of extreme situations are the ones judges are looking for in order to approve 42-B cases.

Each case is different, for which is recommended to consult with an Immigration Attorney. It is also recommended to have special attention to these cases since there can be people who try and put the situation like a very easy one.

There can be a rumor in the immigrant community that if having ten years of unlawful presence and a son/daughter with certain conditions, it’ll be easy to win a case at Immigration Courts, when is actually not.

Another thing that can affect 42-B or Ten Years Law cases, is DUI. Bear in mind that is a requirement to have at least 10 years with clean record within the US. If there is more than one DUI in the record, this can prevent being able to demonstrate 10 years of clean record.

It must be taken into account that there are other migratory procedures that can be more viable, like Humanitarian Visas. Any of the three humanitarian visas (U visa, T visa, and VAWA visa) can work for those who have a pending process through the Ten Years Law., or asylum application.

What can you do if you have a weak case under the Ten Years Law or asylum?

First, a good preparation of the case. Contact the Final Court in advance. An experienced immigration attorney will be able to negotiate certain deals with immigration prosecutors based on case merits.

At times, this might give a way to prevent a deportation order and look for another way to fix the migratory status through USCIS or based on another migratory strategy. For which it is important to look for agreements and negotiating with immigration prosecutors when possible.

The other thing is to look for a second migratory process; another way that lets fixing the migratory status. Bear in mind that humanitarian visas can be a viable strategy. Even though not everyone can fix their migratory status via humanitarian visas, these can give a way to fix migratory status without leaving the US.

The reason why is it important to look for a way to fix the migratory status without leaving the US is that, in case the pardon needs to be requested at the consulate due to an unlawful entrance or a crime within the US, the risks of leaving the country can be high; sometimes even implying a 10-years bar.