lawfully admitted definition
lawfully admitted means more than admitted in a procedurally regular fashion. It means more than that the right forms were stamped in the right places. It means that the alien’s admission to the status was in compliance with the substantive requirements of the law. What is lawful depends on the law and not on administrative inadvertence or error. The BIA can no more amend or vary a statutory requirement through negligence or mistake than it can do so intentionally in deliberate defiance of a congressional mandate.