Every form of relief from removal
Deportation defense is a checklist, not a single argument. Before anyone concedes a charge or gives up, every item on this page gets checked against the facts. Some of these end the case without any application. Some produce a green card. Some only buy time. Here is the whole list, what each one requires, and who decides it.
Current as of September 2026. We re-check this page every quarter and after any rule change.
The list below is in the order a defense actually works through it: first the arguments that the case should not proceed at all, then the applications the judge can grant, then the relief that other agencies decide while the court waits, and finally the option of leaving on your own terms.
Ending or pausing the case without relief
Not sure where to start? Use the screener
Eight questions, nothing sent anywhere, and a reading list of the pages on this site most likely to matter for a case like yours.
Open the screener →Contest the charge
If you were admitted, DHS must prove deportability by clear and convincing evidence under INA 240(c)(3)(A). If it cannot sustain the charge, the case is terminated. Nothing else on this page is needed.
Read →Suppress the evidence
Evidence obtained through an egregious Fourth Amendment violation or by coercion can be excluded. Without the I-213 and the statements in it, the government may not be able to prove alienage at all.
Read →Motion to terminate
Where the charge fails, the notice is defective and not cured, you are prima facie eligible to naturalize, or the 2024 regulation otherwise requires or permits it, the judge ends the case.
Read →Dismissal by DHS
The government can move to dismiss its own case under 8 C.F.R. 1239.2(c). Whether it will depends on enforcement priorities that change, and the request has to be made case by case.
Read →Administrative closure
The case comes off the active docket, usually while USCIS decides a petition that would resolve it. Not a grant of anything, but often the difference between a removal order and a green card.
Read →Defective Notice to Appear
A notice that omits the hearing time or place does not stop the clock for cancellation and may support rescission of an in absentia order. The objection has to be timely.
Read →Applications the judge can grant
Cancellation for permanent residents
Green card for 5 years, 7 years of continuous residence after any admission, no aggravated felony. Discretionary. One time only. INA 240A(a).
Read →Cancellation for non-permanent residents
Ten years of physical presence, good moral character, no disqualifying conviction, and exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a citizen or resident spouse, parent or child. Capped at 4,000 a year. INA 240A(b)(1).
Read →VAWA cancellation
For people battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by a citizen or resident spouse or parent. Three years of presence, extreme hardship, and a lower bar than the ordinary form. INA 240A(b)(2).
Read →The 212(h) waiver
Waives crimes involving moral turpitude, a single small marijuana possession, multiple convictions and prostitution grounds. Extreme hardship, or 15 years and rehabilitation. Not for murder or torture.
Read →Former 212(c) relief
Repealed in 1996, but still available to permanent residents who pleaded guilty before April 1, 1997. Seven years of lawful domicile, and less than five years served for an aggravated felony.
Read →The 212(i) fraud waiver
Waives fraud or willful misrepresentation on a showing of extreme hardship to a citizen or resident spouse or parent. A false claim to citizenship cannot be waived.
Read →The 237(a)(1)(H) waiver
Waives deportability for fraud at the time of admission, for the spouse, parent, son or daughter of a citizen or resident. No hardship showing required.
Read →Adjustment of status in court
A green card granted by the immigration judge, who has exclusive jurisdiction over a respondent's I-485. Requires an approved petition, a visa number, and admissibility, with waivers filed alongside.
Read →Removal of conditions before the judge
When USCIS denies the I-751 joint petition or waiver, the judge reviews it fresh and DHS bears the burden on the facts supporting termination. INA 216.
Read →Asylum, withholding and CAT
Protection from persecution or torture, raised on Form I-589 before the judge. Different standards, different bars, and no one-year rule for withholding or CAT.
Read →Registry and NACARA
Registry for people here since before 1972. NACARA special-rule cancellation for certain Salvadorans, Guatemalans and former Soviet-bloc nationals.
Read →Voluntary departure
Leave at your own expense within 120 days (early) or 60 days (at the end), with no removal order. Miss the date and the penalties are severe. INA 240B.
Read →Relief that runs alongside the case
The immigration judge cannot grant these, but can continue or administratively close the case while USCIS decides them, and a grant usually ends the proceedings.
U visa
Victims of qualifying crimes who helped law enforcement. Requires a certification. Capped at 10,000 a year with a long wait.
Read →T visa
Victims of a severe form of trafficking. Capped at 5,000 a year.
Read →Special Immigrant Juvenile
Under 21, unmarried, with a state court order finding abuse, neglect or abandonment by a parent.
Read →Temporary Protected Status
For nationals of a designated country. A USCIS denial can be renewed before the judge.
Read →The family petition
The I-130 that makes adjustment possible is decided by USCIS, never by the judge. Our family practice at visa4love.com handles it.
Read →Deferred action and ICE stays
Not relief from the court. A request to ICE not to execute an order, on Form I-246, decided in ICE's discretion.
Read →Side by side
The table is a starting point, not a substitute for the individual pages. "Status" means whether a grant results in lawful permanent residence.
| Relief | Key requirement | Who decides | Status | Aggravated felony bar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Termination | Charge not sustained, or a regulatory ground | Judge | None, case ends | No |
| LPR cancellation | 5 years LPR, 7 years residence | Judge | Keeps green card | Yes |
| Non-LPR cancellation | 10 years, hardship to a qualifying relative | Judge | Green card | Yes, and other convictions |
| VAWA cancellation | 3 years, abuse by a citizen or LPR | Judge | Green card | Yes |
| 212(h) waiver | Extreme hardship, or 15 years | Judge, with adjustment | With adjustment | Murder and torture excluded; LPR bar |
| 212(c) relief | Plea before April 1, 1997 | Judge | Keeps green card | Only if 5+ years served |
| 212(i) waiver | Extreme hardship to spouse or parent | Judge, with adjustment | With adjustment | No |
| 237(a)(1)(H) waiver | Qualifying relative, otherwise admissible | Judge | Keeps status | No |
| Adjustment of status | Approved petition, visa available, admissible | Judge | Green card | Only through inadmissibility |
| Removal of conditions | Good-faith marriage, or a waiver ground | Judge reviews USCIS | Keeps green card | No |
| Asylum | Well-founded fear, one-year rule | Judge | Green card after a year | Yes |
| Withholding, CAT | More likely than not | Judge | No path to a green card | Partly; CAT deferral never barred |
| Registry | Here since before 1972 | Judge | Green card | Through inadmissibility |
| Voluntary departure | Leave within 60 or 120 days | Judge | None | Yes |
| U visa, T visa, SIJS, TPS | Varies | USCIS | U, T and SIJS lead to a green card | Varies |
Most applications filed with the immigration court carry a government filing fee paid through the EOIR Payment Portal, which are not our legal fees. The 2025 reconciliation law added or raised several of them: as of September 2026, Form EOIR-42A is $710, Form EOIR-42B is $1,640, and an I-485 filed with the court is $2,980, each for filings postmarked on or after February 1, 2026. The EOIR forms and fees page is authoritative and we confirm every figure with you before anything is filed.
How the list gets used
- Read the Notice to Appear against the statute. A defect can change the stop-time analysis and support termination, but only if raised in time.
- Decide what to admit. An admission at the master calendar is hard to take back. If the government has not proven something, do not concede it.
- Run the criminal record through the categorical approach. The answer decides which items below are open and which are closed, and it is often not the answer the Notice to Appear assumes.
- File everything you qualify for, in the alternative. The judge rules on each. A denial on one is not a denial on the others.
- Build the record for appeal. After Urias-Orellana v. Bondi, appellate review of the facts is deferential. What is not in the record is gone.
Asylum, withholding and CAT are the largest single category of relief in immigration court and the law moved fastest there. Our asylum site carries the full treatment, page by page.
Defensive asylum at asylumadvocate.com →
visa4love.comAdjustment in court starts with a family petition that USCIS has to approve. Our family immigration site handles the I-130 and everything around it.
Family petitions at visa4love.com →
Common questions
Can I apply for more than one form of relief?
Yes, and you usually should. Applications are filed in the alternative, and the judge rules on each one. A person might contest removability, move to terminate, and file for cancellation of removal and asylum all in the same case. What you cannot do is file late: the judge sets the deadline for applications, and a missed deadline can mean the application is deemed abandoned.
Which relief gives me a green card?
Cancellation of removal for non-permanent residents, adjustment of status, registry, and a grant of asylum followed by adjustment a year later all lead to permanent residence. Withholding of removal and CAT protection do not. Voluntary departure, administrative closure and termination end or pause the case but confer no status on their own.
Does a criminal conviction end all of these?
No, but it changes the list. An aggravated felony conviction bars cancellation, asylum and voluntary departure, among others. A single crime involving moral turpitude may be waivable under 212(h). Whether a particular conviction counts is decided under the categorical approach, which compares the elements of the statute of conviction to the federal definition, and that analysis is often where a case is won.
What if the government's own case is weak?
Then you may not need relief at all. For a person who was admitted, DHS must prove deportability by clear and convincing evidence. If it cannot, the case is terminated. Contesting the charge comes before applying for relief, and conceding a charge that the government could not have proven is one of the most common and most avoidable mistakes in removal defense.
Tell us where your case is. We will tell you what is still possible.
You get a free case review with an attorney, in your language. We speak English, Russian, Spanish and Uzbek in-house, and we bring in a live interpreter for anything else. We will tell you what stage you are at, which forms of relief are open to you, what your deadlines are, and whether we can help. If we cannot, we will say so.