Extreme hardship

Extreme hardship is a legal term in the United States, primarily in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
United States Immigration and Nationality Act.
The term "extreme hardship" is mentioned in a number of statutes of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1952 and amended a number of times over the past sixty years. The terms "extreme hardship" and "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" are not synonymous but obviously different from each other.
Under the INA, effects of certain grounds to deportability and inadmissibility can be waived by immigration officers under the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security or by immigration judges under the U.S. Attorney General. Their decisions can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and then reviewed by authorized federal judges. Several waivers are available by the statute of immigration codes while some other require showing "extreme hardship" potentially caused to a qualifying family member (the US citizen or legal permanent resident's close relatives) of the defendant (person excluded from admission or being removed).