While the three-year bar and 10-year bar pertain to the length of time you cannot enter the United States, the five-year bar references how long a qualified non-citizen must wait to obtain Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage. Simply, after receiving “qualified” immigrant status, a person has to wait five years before they qualify for either of these programs.
Qualified non-citizens consist of:
- Green card holders
- Asylees
- Refugees
- Cubans
- Haitians
- Victims of trafficking
- Members of federally recognized Indian tribes or American Indians born in Canada
- Battered non-citizens
- Those paroled into the U.S. for at least one year
- Those granted withholding of deportation
- Citizens of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau living in a U.S. state or territory
Medicaid and CHIP
Medicaid is designed to help low-income patients pay their medical expenses. The assistance program offers government support to those most in need to ensure they receive the medical care they need.
CHIP provides low-cost health coverage to children who are from families that:
- Earn too much to qualify for Medicaid
- Cannot afford private insurance
In some instances, CHIP is also available to pregnant women.
States have the option to remove the five-year ban for lawfully residing children or pregnant women. In all, 29 states have removed the five-year waiting period. However, Arizona is not one of them.
How Can an Immigration Attorney Help?
If you have received a three- or 10-year bar, an immigration attorney can help you file the correct waivers to potentially have your bar lifted. One such waiver is the extreme hardship waiver.
Extreme Hardship Waiver
The extreme hardship waiver requires attention to detail and a thorough explanation of the hardships that someone you are responsible for would suffer if you are not admitted to the United States. An attorney can help you with this waiver, including how to avoid items considered common consequences.
According to USCIS, common consequences are:
- Family separation
- Economic detriment
- The ability to pursue fruitful employment
- Inferior medical services
- Worse educational opportunities
- Difficulty adjusting to life
If your application only describes common consequences, you would likely not qualify for extreme hardship.
