Humanitarian Parole

The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security may, in his discretion, parole into the United States temporarily, under such conditions as he may prescribe on a case-by-case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit, any alien applying for entry to the United States.

Humanitarian Parole cannot be used to circumvent normal visa-issuing procedures, nor as an instrument to bypass preference immigrant visa availability or processing for refugee status. Absent urgent circumstances, unless all other legal immigration avenues (such as applying for a non-immigrant visa) have first been exhausted by an alien, parole will not be approved. Parole is an extraordinary measure, sparingly used to bring an otherwise inadmissible alien into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a very compelling emergency.