The Three and Ten-Year Bars to Admissibility – What are They?
Q. What are the “bars” to admissibility? A. There are many grounds of inadmissibility in the INA. That is, the statute specifies many reasons for which a person can be refused admission to the United States. Most of these are set out in section 212(a) of the INA. To be granted an immigrant visa, whether through adjustment or consular processing, an intending immigrant must be admissible. This means he or she must not be barred by any provision of the INA. The IIRAIRA added many new grounds of inadmissibility. Two new bars to admissibility are the “three-year” and “ten- year” bars. Q. What is the “three-year bar?” A. The “three-year bar” is found at new INA section 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(I). It says that a person who was “unlawfully present” in the United States for more than 180 days after April 1, 1997, who departed from the United States voluntarily, before removal proceedings began, and who then seeks admission to the United States is inadmissible for three years. There are exceptions and
