INA §212(d)(3) provides U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the authority to waive most grounds of inadmissibility for individuals entering the United States as nonimmigrants. CBP’s Admissibility Review Office (ARO) adjudicates applications for nonimmigrant waivers.

Nonimmigrant waivers are broken down into two subcategories. Waivers under INA §212(d)(3)(A)(i) are filed at a U.S. Consulate in connection with a visa application. There is no specific form or a filing fee for these waivers. Consular officers may recommend approval of the waiver, but the ultimate decision is made by the ARO. In these cases, since nonimmigrant visas are limited to only a single nonimmigrant category, and waiver approval is annotated on the face of the visa, the waiver is valid only in connection with the visa with which it was issued.

Waivers filed under INA §212(d)(3)(A)(ii) are issued to individuals who are visa-exempt, i.e., Canadian citizens, and are submitted to CBP on Form I-192, with the appropriate fee at the port of entry, and forwarded to the ARO for adjudication. Because these waivers are not issued in connection with a visa, CBP has indicated that applicants who intend to enter the United States on different occasions in different nonimmigrant categories (i.e., B-1 and then E-2) must indicate this on Form I-192 . CBP will list all of the nonimmigrant categories for which the waiver has been approved on the I-194 approval notice. While nonimmigrants can only enter the U.S. in one nonimmigrant classification at a time, waivers for Canadians can be issued with a validity period up to five years.