Lautenberg Act Asylum application and K1 Visa interactions

[Shiran 1,134]

I understand that applying for refugee or parolee status under Lautenberg Act will not in any way speed up the process, but is there a reason to not do it? My fiance is Jewish in former USSR country with severe ethnic tensions. My entire family (parents and siblings) were granted entrance into US under Lautenberg act many many years ago.

[GreatDane 366]

13 minutes ago, Shiran said:

I understand that applying for refugee or parolee status under Lautenberg Act will not in any way speed up the process, but is there a reason to not do it? My fiance is Jewish in former USSR country with severe ethnic tensions. My entire family (parents and siblings) were granted entrance into US under Lautenberg act many many years ago.

It is not a current program offered - it stopped being offered in 2012. K1/CR1 is the best option for your case.

 

A provision of the Lautenberg Amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act previously allowed certain religious minorities from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania who were denied refugee status and subsequently paroled into the United States on a humanitarian basis to apply for lawful permanent resident status (green card) after acquiring one year of physical presence in the United States, without regard to visa availability.

This provision expired after Sept. 30, 2011 and USCIS announced in July 2011 that it had stopped authorizing parole for new applicants under the program to ensure that all individuals who were authorized parole under this program would be able to travel to the United States by the deadline. Though the Lautenberg program was later renewed by Congress, USCIS, as a matter of policy, has not re-started the parole program.   Individuals who had been offered parole under this provision were required to arrive in the United States by Sept. 30, 2011, though this deadline to travel was later extended to September 30, 2012.