Is It Hard to Get Approved for Cancellation of Removal?

Non-permanent resident cancellation of removal, Form EOIR-42B, is decided by an immigration judge. Among other requirements, the judge considers whether removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying relative: a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse, parent or child. Other requirements also matter, such as continuous physical presence, good moral character, and specified disqualifying offenses. Your attorney determines eligibility and how the law fits your proceeding. I do not.

Waiver cases like the I-601 ask about extreme hardship. Cancellation asks about exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. The words are not decoration; the bar is higher. Ordinary family separation, painful as it is, is not automatically enough. The record has to show what makes this family's situation exceptional, with specific evidence, and a diagnosis alone does not meet the legal standard either. The judge decides whether the complete evidence does.

The hardship is measured for the qualifying relatives, so they are the focus of the evaluation: most often U.S. citizen children and the spouse, as your attorney directs. The respondent, the person in proceedings, may also be interviewed, because their role in the family shapes the hardship picture. A caregiving parent can describe a child's daily needs.

Children are seen with care. Interviews are adapted to each child's age, parents are part of the process, and nothing is asked in a way that makes a child feel responsible for the outcome. Children are never asked to persuade the judge or to choose the family's future.

The family's possible futures are not interchangeable. The qualifying relative may stay in the United States without the respondent, or relocate with them. I explore who provides care now, how routines would change, what support is realistically available, and which treatments or school services matter. When relocation is relevant, your attorney may provide records about treatment access, education or language needs, and I consider how those facts interact with each person's clinical picture. Where the family has not decided what it would do, I document the uncertainty rather than inventing a plan.

Each relative gets individual findings. A family report should not give every person the same diagnosis or use one relative's symptoms as evidence for another. I describe who was assessed, the sources I reviewed, my methods, my findings and the reasoning behind each clinical opinion, including where information is limited or where other causes of distress exist. It is written for a courtroom reader: clinical, specific, and free of advocacy language.

I assess independently. I do not change an opinion merely because a different conclusion would help the case. Your attorney may ask for factual corrections, clarification or a declaration, and we discuss testimony when needed.

Removal cases run on the court's schedule. Tell me the hearing date and your attorney's filing deadline on the first call. Interviews generally take two to three hours in total and may be split across sessions, especially with several family members. Reports are typically ready within seven to fourteen days of the final interview. I will say honestly whether the timeline is workable before you commit to anything.