I 

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. 

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 ‘‘Strengthening Our 

5 Workforce Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONDITIONAL LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may adjust the sta8 tus of an alien to that of a conditional lawful permanent 

9 resident in accordance with this section. 


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1 (b) STATUS DEFINED.—For purposes of this section, 

2 the term ‘‘conditional lawful permanent resident’’ means 

3 a status as a nonimmigrant with a period of stay of 2 

4 years, with employment authorization to be provided con5 currently. 

6 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—An alien is eligible for adjustment 

7 of status if that alien— 

8 (1) submits an application, at such time, in 

9 such form, and containing such information as the 

10 Secretary may require; 

11 (2) pays such fee as the Secretary may estab12 lish; 

13 (3) is present in the United States as of Janu14 ary 1, 2023— 

15 (A) without lawful status under the immi16 gration laws; 

17 (B) with deferred action granted to the 

18 alien pursuant to the Deferred Action for Child19 hood Arrivals program announced by President 

20 Obama on June 15, 2012; or 

21 (C) with status as a nonimmigrant that 

22 has employment authorization; 

23 (4) has been continuously present in the United 

24 States during the period beginning on January 1, 

25 2023, through the date of the application for status; 


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1 (5) has been employed for a cumulative period 

2 of one hundred days (consecutive or not) at any 

3 time, in a covered profession; and 

4 (6) is not inadmissible under paragraph (1), 

5 (6)(E), (6)(G), (8), or (10) of section 212(a) of the 

6 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

7 1182(a)), except that with respect to any benefit 

8 under this Act, and in addition to the waivers under 

9 subsection (g), the Secretary may waive the grounds 

10 of inadmissibility under paragraph (1), (6)(E), 

11 (6)(G), or (10)(D) of section 212(a) of the Immigra12 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) for hu13 manitarian purposes, for family unity, or because 

14 the waiver is otherwise in the public interest; 

15 (d) CONDITIONS OF STATUS.—An alien granted con16 ditional lawful permanent resident status under this sec17 tion shall conform to the following requirements: 

18 (1) The alien shall remain continuously phys19 ically present in the United States. 

20 (2) The alien shall maintain not less than one 

21 hundred cumulative days of annual employment for 

22 two consecutive years in a covered profession. 

23 (3) The alien shall be subject to all grounds of 

24 deportability under section 237. 


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1 (e) ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS.—At the time that the 

2 conditional lawful permanent resident status of an alien 

3 terminates, the Secretary shall immediately adjust the sta4 tus of that alien to that of a lawful permanent resident— 

5 (1) unless the alien makes a timely objection in 

6 writing; and 

7 (2) if the alien pays such fee as the Secretary 

8 may establish and passes an additional background 

9 investigation. 

10 (f) NOT SUBJECT TO NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—An 

11 alien whose status is adjusted to that of an alien lawfully 

12 admitted for permanent residency under this section is not 

13 subject to the worldwide levels or numerical limitations of 

14 section 201(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

15 (g) CRIMINAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY BARS.— 

16 (1) GROUNDS OF INELIGIBILITY.—Except as 

17 provided in paragraph (2), an alien is ineligible for 

18 adjustment of status under this title if any of the 

19 following apply: 

20 (A) The alien is inadmissible under para21 graph (2) or (3) of section 212(a) of the Immi22 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)). 

23 (B) Excluding any offense under State law 

24 for which an essential element is the alien’s imVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Nov 28, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6480.IH H6480

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1 migration status, and any minor traffic offense, 

2 the alien has been convicted of— 

3 (i) any felony offense; 

4 (ii) three or more misdemeanor of5 fenses (excluding simple possession of can6 nabis or cannabis-related paraphernalia, 

7 any offense involving cannabis or cannabis8 related paraphernalia which is no longer 

9 prosecutable in the State in which the con10 viction was entered, and any offense involv11 ing civil disobedience without violence) not 

12 occurring on the same date, and not aris13 ing out of the same act, omission, or 

14 scheme of misconduct; or 

15 (iii) a misdemeanor offense of domes16 tic violence, unless the alien demonstrates 

17 that such crime is related to the alien hav18 ing been— 

19 (I) a victim of domestic violence, 

20 sexual assault, stalking, child abuse or 

21 neglect, abuse or neglect in later life, 

22 or human trafficking; 

23 (II) battered or subjected to ex24 treme cruelty; or 


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1 (III) a victim of criminal activity 

2 described in section 101(a)(15)(U)(iii) 

3 of the Immigration and Nationality 

4 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii)). 

5 (2) WAIVERS FOR CERTAIN MISDEMEANORS.— 

6 For humanitarian purposes, family unity, or if oth7 erwise in the public interest, the Secretary may— 

8 (A) waive the grounds of inadmissibility 

9 under subparagraphs (A), (C), and (D) of sec10 tion 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nation11 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)), unless the con12 viction forming the basis for inadmissibility 

13 would otherwise render the alien ineligible 

14 under paragraph (1)(B) (subject to subpara15 graph (B)); and 

16 (B) for purposes of clauses (ii) and (iii) of 

17 paragraph (1)(B), waive consideration of— 

18 (i) one misdemeanor offense if the 

19 alien has not been convicted of any offense 

20 in the 5-year period preceding the date on 

21 which the alien applies for adjustment of 

22 status under this title; or 

23 (ii) up to two misdemeanor offenses if 

24 the alien has not been convicted of any of25 fense in the 10-year period preceding the 


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1 date on which the alien applies for adjust2 ment of status under this title. 

3 (3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub4 section— 

5 (A) the term ‘‘felony offense’’ means an of6 fense under Federal or State law that is pun7 ishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 

8 more than 1 year; 

9 (B) the term ‘‘misdemeanor offense’’ 

10 means an offense under Federal or State law 

11 that is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 

12 more than 5 days but not more than 1 year; 

13 and 

14 (C) the term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 

15 means any offense that has as an element the 

16 use, attempted use, or threatened use of phys17 ical force against a person committed by a cur18 rent or former spouse of the person, by an indi19 vidual with whom the person shares a child in 

20 common, by an individual who is cohabiting 

21 with or has cohabited with the person as a 

22 spouse, by an individual similarly situated to a 

23 spouse of the person under the domestic or 

24 family violence laws of the jurisdiction where 

25 the offense occurs, or by any other individual 


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1 against a person who is protected from that in2 dividual’s acts under the domestic or family vio3 lence laws of the United States or any State, 

4 Indian Tribal government, or unit of local gov5 ernment. 

6 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Terms used have the mean8 ings given such terms in section 101 of the Immi9 gration and Nationality Act. 

10 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

12 (3) COVERED PROFESSION DEFINED.—For pur13 poses of this section, the term ‘‘covered profession’’ 

14 means the following: 

15 (A) Health care. 

16 (B) Emergency response. 

17 (C) Energy. 

18 (D) Education, including early education. 

19 (E) Sanitation. 

20 (F) Restaurant ownership, food prepara21 tion, vending, catering, food packaging, food 

22 services, or delivery. 

23 (G) Hotel or retail. 

24 (H) Fish, poultry, and meat processing 

25 work. 


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1 (I) Agricultural work, including labor that 

2 is seasonal in nature. 

3 (J) Commercial or residential landscaping. 

4 (K) Commercial or residential construction 

5 or renovation. 

6 (L) Housing, residential, and commercial 

7 construction related activities or public works 

8 construction. 

9 (M) Domestic work in private households, 

10 including child care, home care, or house clean11 ing. 

12 (N) Natural disaster recovery, disaster re13 construction, and related construction. 

14 (O) Home and community-based work, in15 cluding— 

16 (i) home health care; 

17 (ii) residential care; 

18 (iii) assistance with activities of daily 

19 living; 

20 (iv) any service provided by direct 

21 care workers (as defined in section 799B 

22 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 295p)), personal care aides, job 

24 coaches, or supported employment pro25 viders; and 


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1 (v) any other provision of care to indi2 viduals in their homes by direct service 

3 providers, personal care attendants, and 

4 home health aides. 

5 (P) Family care, including child care serv6 ices, in-home child care services such as nanny 

7 services, and care services provided by family 

8 members to other family members. 

9 (Q) Manufacturing. 

10 (R) Warehousing. 

11 (S) Transportation or logistics. 

12 (T) Janitorial. 

13 (U) Laundromat and dry-cleaning opera14 tors. 

15 (V) Any other work performed by ‘‘essen16 tial critical infrastructure workers’’, as de17 scribed in the memorandum of the Department 

18 of Homeland Security entitled ‘‘Advisory Memo19 randum on Ensuring Essential Critical Infra20 structure Workers Ability to Work During the 

21 COVID–19 Response’’, which was originally 

22 issued by the Director of the Cybersecurity and 

23 Infrastructure Security Agency on March 19, 

24 2020, and last updated on August 10, 2021. 


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1 (W) Any other work, industry, or profes2 sion that a State or local government deemed 

3 essential during the COVID–19 Public Health 

4 Emergency. 

5 (X) Workers who are employed in any of 

6 the listed professions who do so remotely or hy7 brid. 

Æ 


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