I-601A Psychological Evaluation

The person evaluated is the qualifying relative, a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent, not the waiver applicant. The I-601A standard turns on the extreme hardship that relative would suffer, so the evaluation centers on the relative’s mental health, caregiving and support role, and the consequences of separation or relocation. The applicant, usually a spouse or adult child who entered without inspection and needs the provisional waiver before consular processing, is not the person evaluated.

USCIS does not list a psychological evaluation as a filing requirement for the I-601A waiver. Attorneys request one anyway because extreme hardship is, at its core, a clinical question, and a written evaluation gives the adjudicator documented evidence for it rather than assertion alone. If your immigration lawyer has suggested that your spouse get a psych eval for your case, this is the document they mean: a forensic report that names the hardship, ties it to standardized findings, and connects it to the USCIS factors. The decision to include it stays with your attorney; Kipu Terra provides the evaluation itself.

Many families know the I-601A by its everyday name in Spanish, “el perdón de los 10 años.” The waiver is requested before the applicant travels abroad for the consular interview, so families can ask for it without a long separation while the case is pending. Among the requisitos on the legal side, the psychological evaluation is the clinical piece: it documents the extreme hardship to the qualifying relative. Eligibility itself, and what the ten-year bar means for a given case, are questions for the referring attorney, not for the evaluation.

The evaluator builds the hardship picture from three sources: the relative’s own account, direct clinical observation, and standardized test results. The report ties concrete detail (sleep, work, finances managed jointly, health conditions, the relative’s role in the household) to the two scenarios USCIS weighs side by side: the hardship of separation if the family is split, and the hardship of relocation if the relative leaves the United States to keep the family together.

Every evaluation includes the PHQ-9 for depression and the GAD-7 for anxiety. When the history calls for it, the evaluator adds the PCL-5 with the LEC-5 for trauma, the PSS-14 for chronic stress, caregiver burden, or anticipatory hardship, and the WHODAS 2.0 to quantify functional impairment across daily-living domains. Complex cases may add Beck, PAI, or MMPI measures. Diagnostic impressions follow DSM-5-TR criteria.

The evaluation is a remote forensic immigration assessment via secure video (Google Meet, free, works on any internet or phone connection). Kipu Terra serves families nationwide from its New Mexico home base, so where you live in the United States does not limit access. Because a forensic immigration assessment is not therapy or treatment, it is not tied to a treating-clinician license in your state; the evaluator prepares an impartial report for USCIS, and the referring attorney remains the source for any legal question about your case.

A standard I-601A evaluation is $750 with a 3 to 7 business day turnaround. Expedited service is $1,050 in 48 hours, and same-day emergency service is $1,650. Complex, RFE, or supplemental cases run $750 to $1,250. Pricing is flat and published, and the client pays Kipu Terra directly for the evaluation. Full pricing lives on the pricing page, and the process page walks through each step of an evaluation.

Kipu Terra provides the psychosocial evaluation only. It does not prepare the waiver application, the client’s personal declaration, or legal arguments; those stay with the attorney. Questions about eligibility or filing strategy are for the referring attorney.