January 6, 2012 President Obama and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced their intent to change United States immigration policy in order to help keep families together during sometimes lengthy reviews of visa applications.

At this moment, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is only considering spouses and children under 21 years of age of U.S.
Citizens  to be eligible for this change in process.   The proposal does not currently help other relatives of U.S. citizens or any relatives of Lawful Permanent Residents.  Immigrant rights advocates want to create pressure to include more people.

USCIS is proposing the rule change allow spouses or unmarried children (under 21 years of age) of U.S. Citizens to apply for the waiver BEFORE they leave the United States to apply for an immigrant visa at the US consulate.  This way they will know whether the family member was approved for the waiver before they leave for their appointment at the consulate.  This will result in a much shorter processing time outside the U.S. and more people going through the process and fewer families being separated. 

Immigrant organizations are advocating for the rule change to include legal permanent residents who are petitioning family members in the Family Unity Waiver.