Can I get cancellation of removal if I've been here 10 years and have U.S. citizen children?

2 min read · May 17, 2026

Possibly — INA § 240A(b)(1) requires 10 years of physical presence, good moral character, no disqualifying conviction, and exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a U.S. citizen or LPR spouse, parent, or child.

Non-LPR cancellation of removal under INA § 240A(b)(1) is the most common form of relief sought in immigration court by people with long residence and no other obvious pathway. It is defensive only — meaning the applicant must be in removal proceedings to apply for it — and it is discretionary, meaning even a qualifying applicant can be denied.

The four statutory requirements

1. 10 years of continuous physical presence in the U.S. immediately before the stop-time event (service of an NTA or commission of a triggering offense).
2. Good moral character for the entire 10-year period under INA § 101(f).
3. No disqualifying conviction — no inadmissibility ground under § 212(a)(2) involving moral turpitude or controlled substances, no deportability under § 237(a)(2) or (3), and no aggravated felony.
4. Exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a U.S. citizen or LPR spouse, parent, or child — a qualifying relative. Hardship to the applicant themselves does not count.

The hardship standard is the cliff

"Exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" is a far higher bar than "extreme hardship" (the I-601A standard). The BIA's leading cases — Matter of Recinas, 23 I&N Dec. 467 (BIA 2002) and Matter of Monreal, 23 I&N Dec. 56 (BIA 2001) — describe hardship that is substantially beyond the ordinary hardship of family separation. Winning records typically combine:

• A qualifying relative with a serious documented medical condition requiring U.S.-specific treatment.
• A qualifying child with significant educational, developmental, or psychiatric needs that would be devastated by relocation.
• Country-conditions evidence that the home country cannot reasonably accommodate the qualifying relative's needs.
• The applicant being the sole or primary caregiver for the qualifying relative.

The 4,000-grant annual cap

Cancellation of removal grants for non-LPRs are statutorily capped at 4,000 per year nationwide. When the cap is hit (which happens in most fiscal years by spring), additional grants are reserved — the case wins on the merits but the decision sits until new fiscal-year allocations open. Bond may be granted in the meantime.

Stop-time and the priority date trap

The stop-time rule under INA § 240A(d)(1) ends the 10-year clock when (a) the NTA is served on the applicant or (b) the applicant commits a removable offense. Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S. Ct. 2105 (2018) held that a non-compliant NTA does not stop the clock — a doctrine that has saved many of our cancellation cases by adding 2–4 years of qualifying presence.

How we handle this

The hardship record is the case. We commission a medical evaluation, a psychiatric evaluation of the qualifying relative, country-conditions reports tailored to the family's circumstances, and forensic-economics analysis where relevant. We build a hardship memorandum that maps each piece of evidence to the Recinas and Monreal factors. The merits hearing typically runs 3–6 hours; the preparation runs 12–18 months.