Immigration Bars
Policy Brief

Immigration bars prevent immigrants who leave the U.S. from returning legally for many years, sometimes permanently

Immigration bars refer to penalties that are applied for certain violations of immigration law. The immigration bars are part of the larger set of conditions under which a person might be denied entry (or reentry) to the United States because they are inadmissible, or ineligible to receive a visa.

Many immigration bars are triggered when an individual leaves the United States, even voluntarily, making them inadmissible for a set time. This affects people who are eligible for a legal immigration pathway but are ineligible to adjust their status from within the U.S., because they initially entered the U.S. without authorization (as opposed to overstaying a visa). Instead, they have to leave and go through consular processing, which involves an interview at a consular office to determine if they can receive a visa to return to the U.S. The immigration bars are triggered when they depart, preventing them from reentry until the bars run out or a waiver is granted.

The three- and ten-year unlawful presence bars are the most commonly known immigration bars. The three- and ten-year bars are applied to someone who spends time in the United States without authorization, accruing time in “unlawful presence,” and then leaves. Six months or less of unlawful presence triggers a three-year bar; someone who has more than six months of unlawful presence will be barred from reentering the U.S. for at least ten years.

If an individual has spent at least a year in the U.S. without authorization and subsequently enters (or attempts to enter) the country without authorization, they will be subject to a permanent bar, though they can request permission to reapply after ten years.

The table below describes some of the common immigration bars, such as prior removal bars that are triggered when an individual is deported (including if they are processed through expedited removal at the border), and bars for misrepresenting facts or making false claims of citizenship to an immigration officer.

Reforming the immigration bars would allow millions of U.S. citizens to sponsor their family members for legal status

Reforming the immigration bars is a narrow but meaningful starting point for bipartisan immigration reform, long supported by a host of policy experts, advocates, and lawmakers from both parties.

Reforming the bars would most directly benefit U.S. citizens hoping to sponsor their immediate undocumented family members, like spouses and parents. For many, the immigration bars are the main obstacle preventing them from securing certainty and relief for their families in the U.S.

For example, FWD.us estimates that approximately 1.1 million undocumented immigrants¹ living in the U.S. have a spouse who is a U.S. citizen who could sponsor them for a green card, with potentially hundreds of thousands outside of the U.S. separated from their U.S. citizen families. On average, these individuals have lived in the U.S. for 16 years, are 41 years old, and many have been married to their U.S. citizen spouse for at least a decade. Additionally, FWD.us estimates that as many as 90,000 DACA recipients have a U.S. citizen spouse who could sponsor them.

Recommendations for congressional and administrative action to address the immigration bars

Because the immigration bars were created by the 1996 IIRIRA law, Congress must act to fully reform them.

FWD.us supports the American Families United Act, which takes a narrow but impactful approach. This legislation would affirm that separation is a hardship for families, and it would allow immigration officers and judges to consider the impacts of the bars on U.S. citizen family members in cases involving undocumented immigrants, giving those officials more discretion to grant relief in such cases.

FWD.us also supports legislation to reform the laws around the bars themselves, including repealing the three- and ten-year bars, narrowing application of other bars for misrepresentation, and providing more access to waivers and reapplication. Such language is included in the Fairness for Immigrant Families Act (S. 819) and the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 5560) in the 118th Congress.

Reforming the bars would not change the underlying immigration laws involving unauthorized presence and entry, misrepresentation, etc.; it would simply balance the penalties in a way that promotes legal immigration and keeps families together.

There are some steps that the executive branch can take now to provide relief to families who cannot access legal immigration benefits and are facing separation because of the bars. This include adding resources to clear the backlog of provisional unlawful presence waivers, and exploring rulemaking to expand provisional processing to waivers for other inadmissibilities, so individuals can fully resolve these issues before leaving the U.S., reducing the risk that they will trigger additional bars after leaving and find themselves unable to return to their families. 

In July 2024, the Biden administration announced plans to expand access to parole in place for certain undocumented individuals who are married to U.S. citizens. Parole in place would provide access to work authorization and deportation protection; it would also allow people who originally entered without authorization to now adjust their status from within the U.S., providing them an alternative to consular processing and relief from the unlawful presence bars. The program is currently frozen by court order.

Whatever their original intent, the bars have become an obstacle to legal immigration, have contributed to the increase of the long-term undocumented population in the U.S., and are leading to family separations. Congress should begin work immediately to address and reform the immigration bars, including the three- and ten-year bars.