I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4887

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for legal permanent

resident status for certain undocumented or nonimmigrant aliens.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 19, 2000

Mr. OWENS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide

for legal permanent resident status for certain undocumented or nonimmigrant aliens.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Worker Amnesty and

5 Opportunity Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN UNDOCU7 MENTED AND NONIMMIGRANT ALIENS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality

9 Act is amended by inserting after section 210 the following

10 new section:
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1 ‘‘ALIEN WORKER AMNESTY

2 ‘‘SEC. 210A. (a) LAWFUL PERMANENT RESI3 DENCE.—The Attorney General shall adjust the status of

4 an alien to that of an alien lawfully admitted for perma5 nent residence if the alien submits an application and the

6 Attorney General determines that the alien meets the fol7 lowing requirements:

8 ‘‘(1) PRESENCE IN UNITED STATES.—The alien

9 maintained a continuous physical presence in the

10 United States for a period of not less than 10 years

11 immediately prior to the date of the submission of

12 an application under this section. For the purposes

13 of this section an alien shall be considered to have

14 failed to maintain continuous physical presence in

15 the United States for the purposes of this section if

16 the alien has departed from the United States for

17 any period in excess of 90 days or for any periods

18 in the aggregate exceeding 365 days.

19 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATION.—The alien fulfills at

20 least 1 of the following qualifications:

21 ‘‘(A) ALIEN SPONSORED BY A LABOR OR22 GANIZATION AND EMPLOYED IN AN OCCUPA23 TION WITH A WORKER SHORTAGE.—The alien

24 is employed in the United States in an occupa25 tion which during the 2-year period prior to the
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1 date of the submission of an application under

2 this section has experienced a shortage of work3 ers and the application of the alien under this

4 section is sponsored by a labor organization.

5 ‘‘(B) ALIEN ELIGIBLE FOR ADMISSION AS

6 STUDENT AT AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU7 CATION.—The alien is eligible for admission as

8 a student at an accredited institution of higher

9 education in the United States.

10 ‘‘(C) AGE.—The alien has attained the age

11 of 65 years.

12 ‘‘(3) ADMISSIBLE AS IMMIGRANT.—The alien is

13 admissible to the United States as an immigrant, ex14 cept as otherwise provided under subsection (b)(2).

15 ‘‘(b) WAIVER OF NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS AND

16 CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—

17 ‘‘(1) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—The numerical

18 limitations of sections 201 and 202 shall not apply

19 to the adjustment of aliens to lawful permanent resi20 dent status under this section.

21 ‘‘(2) GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—With respect

22 to the determination of an alien’s admissibility under

23 subsection (a)(3):
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1 ‘‘(A) NOT APPLICABLE.—The provisions of

2 paragraphs (6) and (7) of section 212(a) shall

3 not apply.

4 ‘‘(B) DISCRETIONARY.—

5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro6 vided in clause (ii), in the determination of

7 such an alien’s admissibility, the Attorney

8 General may waive any other provision of

9 section 212(a) in the case of individual

10 aliens for humanitarian purposes, to assure

11 family unity, or when it is otherwise in the

12 public interest.

13 ‘‘(ii) GROUNDS THAT MAY NOT BE

14 WAIVED.—The following provisions of sec15 tion 212(a) may not be waived by the At16 torney General under clause (i):

17 ‘‘(I) Paragraph (2)(A) and

18 (2)(B) (relating to criminals).

19 ‘‘(II) Paragraph (2)(C) (relating

20 to drug offenses), except for so much

21 of such paragraph as relates to a sin22 gle offense of simple possession of 30

23 grams or less of marihuana.
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1 ‘‘(III) Paragraph (3) (relating to

2 security and related grounds), other

3 than subparagraph (E) thereof.

4 ‘‘(c) TEMPORARY STAY OF EXCLUSION OR DEPORTA5 TION FOR CERTAIN APPLICANTS.—The Attorney General

6 shall provide that in the case of an alien who presents

7 a nonfrivolous application under subsection (a), and until

8 a final determination on the application has been made

9 in accordance with this section, the alien may not be ex10 cluded or deported.

11 ‘‘(d) TEMPORARY WORK AUTHORIZATION FOR CER12 TAIN APPLICANTS.—An applicant under this section is not

13 entitled to employment authorization, but such authoriza14 tion may be provided in the discretion of the Attorney

15 General.’’.

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

17 of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by in18 serting after the item relating to section 210 the following

19 new item:

‘‘Sec. 210A. Alien worker amnesty.’’.

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