[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6480 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6480
To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain
aliens.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 24, 2023
Mr. Vasquez (for himself, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Craig, and Mr. Vargas)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain
aliens.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Our Workforce Act of
2023''.
SEC. 2. CONDITIONAL LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCY.
(a) In General.--The Secretary may adjust the status of an alien to
that of a conditional lawful permanent resident in accordance with this
section.
(b) Status Defined.--For purposes of this section, the term
``conditional lawful permanent resident'' means a status as a
nonimmigrant with a period of stay of 2 years, with employment
authorization to be provided concurrently.
(c) Eligibility.--An alien is eligible for adjustment of status if
that alien--
(1) submits an application, at such time, in such form, and
containing such information as the Secretary may require;
(2) pays such fee as the Secretary may establish;
(3) is present in the United States as of January 1, 2023--
(A) without lawful status under the immigration
laws;
(B) with deferred action granted to the alien
pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program announced by President Obama on June 15, 2012;
or
(C) with status as a nonimmigrant that has
employment authorization;
(4) has been continuously present in the United States
during the period beginning on January 1, 2023, through the
date of the application for status;
(5) has been employed for a cumulative period of one
hundred days (consecutive or not) at any time, in a covered
profession; and
(6) is not inadmissible under paragraph (1), (6)(E),
(6)(G), (8), or (10) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), except that with respect to
any benefit under this Act, and in addition to the waivers
under subsection (g), the Secretary may waive the grounds of
inadmissibility under paragraph (1), (6)(E), (6)(G), or (10)(D)
of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(a)) for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or
because the waiver is otherwise in the public interest;
(d) Conditions of Status.--An alien granted conditional lawful
permanent resident status under this section shall conform to the
following requirements:
(1) The alien shall remain continuously physically present
in the United States.
(2) The alien shall maintain not less than one hundred
cumulative days of annual employment for two consecutive years
in a covered profession.
(3) The alien shall be subject to all grounds of
deportability under section 237.
(e) Adjustment of Status.--At the time that the conditional lawful
permanent resident status of an alien terminates, the Secretary shall
immediately adjust the status of that alien to that of a lawful
permanent resident--
(1) unless the alien makes a timely objection in writing;
and
(2) if the alien pays such fee as the Secretary may
establish and passes an additional background investigation.
(f) Not Subject to Numerical Limitations.--An alien whose status is
adjusted to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residency
under this section is not subject to the worldwide levels or numerical
limitations of section 201(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
(g) Criminal and National Security Bars.--
(1) Grounds of ineligibility.--Except as provided in
paragraph (2), an alien is ineligible for adjustment of status
under this title if any of the following apply:
(A) The alien is inadmissible under paragraph (2)
or (3) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)).
(B) Excluding any offense under State law for which
an essential element is the alien's immigration status,
and any minor traffic offense, the alien has been
convicted of--
(i) any felony offense;
(ii) three or more misdemeanor offenses
(excluding simple possession of cannabis or
cannabis-related paraphernalia, any offense
involving cannabis or cannabis-related
paraphernalia which is no longer prosecutable
in the State in which the conviction was
entered, and any offense involving civil
disobedience without violence) not occurring on
the same date, and not arising out of the same
act, omission, or scheme of misconduct; or
(iii) a misdemeanor offense of domestic
violence, unless the alien demonstrates that
such crime is related to the alien having
been--
(I) a victim of domestic violence,
sexual assault, stalking, child abuse
or neglect, abuse or neglect in later
life, or human trafficking;
(II) battered or subjected to
extreme cruelty; or
(III) a victim of criminal activity
described in section 101(a)(15)(U)(iii)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii)).
(2) Waivers for certain misdemeanors.--For humanitarian
purposes, family unity, or if otherwise in the public interest,
the Secretary may--
(A) waive the grounds of inadmissibility under
subparagraphs (A), (C), and (D) of section 212(a)(2) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1182(a)(2)), unless the conviction forming the basis
for inadmissibility would otherwise render the alien
ineligible under paragraph (1)(B) (subject to
subparagraph (B)); and
(B) for purposes of clauses (ii) and (iii) of
paragraph (1)(B), waive consideration of--
(i) one misdemeanor offense if the alien
has not been convicted of any offense in the 5-
year period preceding the date on which the
alien applies for adjustment of status under
this title; or
(ii) up to two misdemeanor offenses if the
alien has not been convicted of any offense in
the 10-year period preceding the date on which
the alien applies for adjustment of status
under this title.
(3) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
(A) the term ``felony offense'' means an offense
under Federal or State law that is punishable by a
maximum term of imprisonment of more than 1 year;
(B) the term ``misdemeanor offense'' means an
offense under Federal or State law that is punishable
by a term of imprisonment of more than 5 days but not
more than 1 year; and
(C) the term ``crime of domestic violence'' means
any offense that has as an element the use, attempted
use, or threatened use of physical force against a
person committed by a current or former spouse of the
person, by an individual with whom the person shares a
child in common, by an individual who is cohabiting
with or has cohabited with the person as a spouse, by
an individual similarly situated to a spouse of the
person under the domestic or family violence laws of
the jurisdiction where the offense occurs, or by any
other individual against a person who is protected from
that individual's acts under the domestic or family
violence laws of the United States or any State, Indian
Tribal government, or unit of local government.
(h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) In general.--Terms used have the meanings given such
terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Homeland Security.
(3) Covered profession defined.--For purposes of this
section, the term ``covered profession'' means the following:
(A) Health care.
(B) Emergency response.
(C) Energy.
(D) Education, including early education.
(E) Sanitation.
(F) Restaurant ownership, food preparation,
vending, catering, food packaging, food services, or
delivery.
(G) Hotel or retail.
(H) Fish, poultry, and meat processing work.
(I) Agricultural work, including labor that is
seasonal in nature.
(J) Commercial or residential landscaping.
(K) Commercial or residential construction or
renovation.
(L) Housing, residential, and commercial
construction related activities or public works
construction.
(M) Domestic work in private households, including
child care, home care, or house cleaning.
(N) Natural disaster recovery, disaster
reconstruction, and related construction.
(O) Home and community-based work, including--
(i) home health care;
(ii) residential care;
(iii) assistance with activities of daily
living;
(iv) any service provided by direct care
workers (as defined in section 799B of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p)),
personal care aides, job coaches, or supported
employment providers; and
(v) any other provision of care to
individuals in their homes by direct service
providers, personal care attendants, and home
health aides.
(P) Family care, including child care services, in-
home child care services such as nanny services, and
care services provided by family members to other
family members.
(Q) Manufacturing.
(R) Warehousing.
(S) Transportation or logistics.
(T) Janitorial.
(U) Laundromat and dry-cleaning operators.
(V) Any other work performed by ``essential
critical infrastructure workers'', as described in the
memorandum of the Department of Homeland Security
entitled ``Advisory Memorandum on Ensuring Essential
Critical Infrastructure Workers Ability to Work During
the COVID-19 Response'', which was originally issued by
the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency on March 19, 2020, and last updated on
August 10, 2021.
(W) Any other work, industry, or profession that a
State or local government deemed essential during the
COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
(X) Workers who are employed in any of the listed
professions who do so remotely or hybrid.
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