The Biden Administration’s Keeping Families Together initiative is officially live. The program allows certain spouses of US citizens, who did not lawfully enter the US, to apply for a green card without having to worry about traveling abroad with risky waiver applications.

Applicants applying for parole in place need to provide evidence of physical presence in the US. Such evidence may include, but is not limited to:

• Tax returns
• Rent documentation
• Deeds to property
• Medical records
• School records
• Religious records
• Insurance documents
• Employment records

For employers, USCIS has provided helpful guidance assuring companies that there is no liability to companies providing letters confirming employment in support of such applications, even if the employee does not have work authorization.

An employer may, as they determine appropriate, provide individuals requesting parole in place under this process with documentation verifying their employment. This information will not be shared with ICE for civil immigration enforcement purposes under section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (relating to unlawful employment of noncitizens), except in cases involving unscrupulous employers who exploit undocumented workers by engaging in illegal acts ranging from the payment of substandard wages to imposing unsafe working conditions and facilitating human trafficking and child exploitation, and who therefore may be a DHS worksite enforcement priority as described in the Oct. 12, 2021 memorandum entitled “Worksite Enforcement: The Strategy to Protect the American Labor Market, the Conditions of the American Worksite, and the Dignity of the Individual.”

This means that employers can support eligible applicants without concern for triggering future I-9 or other enforcement actions. 

For more information, please reach out to your designated Meltzer Hellrung attorney.