Difference between Lawful status, Period of authorised stay and unlawful Presence.
Lawful status
Lawful status can be defined as a legal right given by US Authorities to the foreign nationals to remain in the US. The period of lawful status is specific and most of the time it is denoted by the visa. Anyone who is allowed to enter or is legally authorised to stay in the US has a lawful status whether it is citizen, Lawful permanent resident or Foreign nationals with temporary non immigrant visa. Lawful status of foreign nationals is determined in two ways. Firstly, A valid I-94 form which determines the foreign nationals visa status inside the US and his time duration of stay in the US. I-94 form shows that a foreign national has entered the boundaries of the USA after a legal inspection. Secondly, A foreign national must adhere to the rules and regulations of his visa. For example if someone is on a visitor's visa then he is not entitled to carry on business, If someone has arrived on a student Visa then he is not entitled to work. The examples of lawful statuses are lawful permanent residents, Temporary non immigrant foreign nationals, Students visa holders, Temporary non immigrant workers etc. If a foreign national has applied for changing the status of his visa prior to its expiry then he will remain in lawful status.
Period of authorised stay
When the specific period of visa of a foreign national expires then they don’t have the lawful status. Even if the foreign nationals don’t have lawful status then they may be granted an authorised period stay in the US by the secretary of homeland security. When the foreign nationals apply for changing their Visa status or extending it then the period of authorised stay comes into sight. When the visa of foreign nationals expires and their petition for change of status of visa is under review then they are granted a period of authorised stay by United States Citizenship and immigration services (USCIS). The Lawful status and period of authorised stay sounds synonymous but they are different. When the foreign nationals visa expires but their application for change of status of visa is under review by USCIS then they fall out of lawful status and fall in period of authorised stay.
Unlawful Presence
When any foreign nationals' legal right to stay in the US expires and he is present there then it is known as unlawful presence. Whenever foreign nationals visa expires then the permit to stay also expires, sometimes the people also apply for change of status of their Visa. If the foreign nationals have no pending application for change of status of visa then after expiry of his visa the unlawful presence will commence. Foreign nationals who enter the US without inspection are also unlawfully present there. The unlawful presence must be avoided as it can affect the future petitions or re entry to the U.S. The unlawful presence can also accrue bars on re entry to the U.S. It is very pertinent to understand nuances of these three terms if planning to travel or staying in the U.S.
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