I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4956 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for adjustment 

of status for aliens who are nationals of El Salvador and were granted 

or eligible for temporary protected status, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2018 

Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. SARBANES) 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 adjustment of status for aliens who are nationals 

of El Salvador and were granted or eligible for temporary 

protected status, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Keeping Salvadoran 

5 Families Together Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN NATIONALS 

2 OF EL SALVADOR GRANTED OR ELIGIBLE 

3 FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Immigration and 

5 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended by 

6 inserting after section 244 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 244A. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN NA8 TIONALS OF EL SALVADOR GRANTED OR ELI9 GIBLE FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STA10 TUS. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The status of any alien described 

12 in subsection (c) shall be adjusted by the Secretary of 

13 Homeland Security to that of an alien lawfully admitted 

14 for permanent residence, if the alien— 

15 ‘‘(1) applies for such adjustment within 3 years 

16 after the date of the enactment of this section; 

17 ‘‘(2) is determined to be admissible to the 

18 United States for permanent residence; and 

19 ‘‘(3) meets the criteria established under sub20 section (c). 

21 ‘‘(b) CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR INADMISSABILITY IN22 APPLICABLE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter24 mining admissibility under subsection (a)(2), the 

25 grounds for inadmissibility specified in paragraphs 


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1 (4), (5), (6)(A), and (7)(A) of section 212(a) of the 

2 Immigration and Nationality Act shall not apply. 

3 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL WAIVER FOR INDIVIDUAL

4 ALIENS.—The Secretary may waive any other provi5 sion of section 212(a) in the case of an individual 

6 alien for humanitarian purposes, to assure family 

7 unity, or when it is otherwise in the public interest. 

8 ‘‘(c) ALIENS ELIGIBLE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STA9 TUS.—An alien shall be eligible for adjustment of status 

10 if the alien— 

11 ‘‘(1) is a national of El Salvador who was 

12 granted temporary protected status, or was other13 wise eligible for temporary protected status, on or 

14 before the date of the enactment of this section; and 

15 ‘‘(2) has been continuously physically present in 

16 the United States for a period of not less than 3 

17 years before the date of the enactment of this sec18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(d) WAIVER AUTHORIZED.—Notwithstanding any 

20 provision of this Act, an alien who fails to meet the contin21 uous physical presence requirement under paragraph (2) 

22 of subsection (c) shall be considered eligible for status ad23 justment as provided in this section if the Attorney Gen24 eral or the Secretary determines that the removal of the 

25 alien from the United States would result in extreme hardVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Feb 09, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4956.IH H4956

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1 ship to the alien, their spouse, their children, their par2 ents, or their domestic partner. 

3 ‘‘(e) EFFECT OF APPLICATION ON CERTAIN OR4 DERS.—An alien present in the United States who has 

5 been ordered removed or has been granted voluntary de6 parture from the United States may, notwithstanding 

7 such order, apply for adjustment of status under this sec8 tion. Such alien shall not be required to file a separate 

9 motion to reopen, reconsider, or vacate the order of re10 moval. If the Secretary approves the application, the Sec11 retary shall cancel the order of removal. If the Secretary 

12 renders a final administrative decision to deny the applica13 tion, the order of removal shall be effective and enforce14 able to the same extent as if the application had not been 

15 made. 

16 ‘‘(f) WORK AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary shall 

17 authorize an alien who has applied for adjustment of sta18 tus under this section to engage in employment in the 

19 United States during the pendency of such application and 

20 shall provide the alien with an appropriate document signi21 fying authorization of employment. 

22 ‘‘(g) ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN FAMILY

23 MEMBERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The status of an alien shall 

2 be adjusted by the Secretary to that of an alien law3 fully admitted for permanent residence if the alien— 

4 ‘‘(A) is the spouse, parent, or unmarried 

5 son or daughter of an alien whose status is ad6 justed under this section; 

7 ‘‘(B) applies for adjustment under this sec8 tion within 3 years after the date of the enact9 ment of this section; and 

10 ‘‘(C) is determined to be admissible to the 

11 United States for permanent residence. 

12 ‘‘(2) CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY

13 INAPPLICABLE.—For purposes of determining ad14 missibility under subsection (g)(1)(C), the grounds 

15 for inadmissibility specified in paragraphs (4), (5), 

16 (6)(A), and (7)(A) of section 212(a) shall not apply. 

17 ‘‘(h) AVAILABILITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.— 

18 The Secretary shall provide to aliens applying for adjust19 ment of status under this section the same right to, and 

20 procedures for, administrative review as are provided to— 

21 ‘‘(1) applicants for adjustment of status under 

22 section 245; and 

23 ‘‘(2) aliens subject to removal proceedings 

24 under section 240. 


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1 ‘‘(i) NO OFFSET IN NUMBER OF VISAS AVAIL2 ABLE.—The granting of adjustment of status under this 

3 section shall not reduce the number of immigrant visas 

4 authorized to be issued under any provision of this Act. 

5 ‘‘(j) TREATMENT OF BRIEF, CASUAL, AND INNOCENT

6 DEPARTURES AND CERTAIN OTHER ABSENCES.—An 

7 alien who has failed to maintain the 3-year continuous 

8 physical presence requirement under subsection (c) be9 cause of brief, casual, and innocent departures or, emer10 gency travel, or extenuating circumstances outside of the 

11 control of the alien, shall not be considered to have failed 

12 to maintain continuous physical presence in the United 

13 States. 

14 ‘‘(k) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘domes15 tic partner’ means an adult of at least 18 years of age 

16 in a committed relationship with an alien applying for ad17 justment of status under this section. A committed rela18 tionship is one in which the employee and the domestic 

19 partner of the employee are each other’s sole domestic 

20 partner (and are not married to or domestic partners with 

21 anyone else) and share responsibility for a significant 

22 measure of each other’s common welfare and financial ob23 ligations. This includes any relationship between two indi24 viduals of the same or opposite sex that is granted legal 

25 recognition by a State or by the District of Columbia as 


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1 a marriage or analogous relationship (including a civil 

2 union).’’. 

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

4 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 

5 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the item relating 

6 to section 244 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 244A. Adjustment of status for certain nationals of El Salvador granted 

or eligible for temporary protected status.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT OF RELATION OF PERIOD OF TEM8 PORARY PROTECTED STATUS TO CANCELLA9 TION OF REMOVAL. 

10 Section 244(e) of the Immigration and Nationality 

11 Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(e)) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘With respect to an alien’’ and 

13 inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to an alien’’; 

15 and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(2) WAIVER FOR CERTAIN TEMPORARY PRO18 TECTED STATUS HOLDERS.—The provisions in sub19 section (e) shall not apply to an alien who is eligible 

20 for adjustment of status pursuant to section 244A.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR NATURALIZATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 319(b), 

23 328, and 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

24 U.S.C. 1430(b), 1439, and 1440), an alien whose status 


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1 is adjusted under section 244A of the Immigration and 

2 Nationality Act, as added by section 2 of this Act, to that 

3 of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence may 

4 apply for naturalization under chapter 2 of title III of the 

5 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) 

6 not earlier than 5 years after such adjustment of status. 

7 (b) LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT WAIVER.—Section 

8 312(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

9 U.S.C. 1423(b)(2)) is amended— 

10 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

11 by striking ‘‘334, either—’’ and inserting ‘‘334—’’; 

12 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘, or’’ at 

13 the end and inserting a semicolon; 

14 (3) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

15 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

16 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) is an alien who received adjustment 

18 of status under section 244A.’’. 

Æ 


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