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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 4587-4589]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01031]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

8 CFR Part 204

[CIS No. 2800-25; DHS Docket No. USCIS-2006-0010]
RIN 1615-AB50

Eligibility of Arriving Aliens in Removal Proceedings To Apply 
for Adjustment of Status and Jurisdiction To Adjudicate Applications 
for Adjustment of Status; Correction

AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department 
of Homeland Security (DHS)

ACTION: Interim final rule; correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: On May 12, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and 
the Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule titled 
``Eligibility of Arriving Aliens in Removal Proceedings To Apply for 
Adjustment of Status and Jurisdiction To Adjudicate Applications for 
Adjustment of Status'' The rule amended DHS and DOJ regulations 
governing applications for adjustment of

[[Page 4588]]

status filed by paroled ``arriving aliens'' seeking to become lawful 
permanent residents and removed certain provisions. In that rule, DHS 
removed a paragraph from its regulations and redesignated the paragraph 
that followed to close the gap. DHS inadvertently failed to make a 
conforming amendment to a related regulatory provision to reflect the 
redesignation. This document describes the oversight and corrects the 
CFR. This action makes no substantive changes.

DATES: Effective on January 16, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samantha Deshommes, Chief, Regulatory 
Coordination Division, Office of Policy and Strategy, U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 5900 Capital 
Gateway Drive, Camp Springs, MD 20746; telephone 240-721-3000 (this is 
not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Need for Correction

    On May 12, 2006, DHS and DOJ published an interim final rule, with 
a request for comments, in the Federal Register titled ``Eligibility of 
Arriving Aliens in Removal Proceedings To Apply for Adjustment of 
Status and Jurisdiction To Adjudicate Applications for Adjustment of 
Status.'' \1\ The 2006 interim final rule amended DHS and DOJ 
regulations governing applications for adjustment of status filed by 
paroled ``arriving aliens'' seeking to become lawful permanent 
residents. As part of the rulemaking, DHS and DOJ amended their 
respective regulations. Among other changes, DHS removed then paragraph 
(c)(8) of 8 CFR 245.1 and redesignated then paragraph (c)(9) as 
paragraph (c)(8) to close the gap.\2\ DHS did not substantively amend 
then paragraph (c)(9). DHS merely shifted that provision to paragraph 
(c)(8) after DHS removed paragraph (c)(8)'s content. Accordingly, 8 CFR 
245.1(c)(8) now contains the same content that was previously in 
paragraph (c)(9), and paragraph (c)(9) no longer exists.
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    \1\ See 71 FR 27585 (May 12, 2006) (2006 interim final rule).
    \2\ See id. at 27591.
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    DHS, however, inadvertently failed to make conforming changes to a 
separate provision of DHS's regulations, 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii), which 
continues to reference 8 CFR 245.1(c)(9). Specifically, the second 
sentence of 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) refers to 8 CFR 245.1(c)(9) and 
245.1(c)(9)(iii)(F).\3\ DHS should have amended the references in this 
sentence to refer to paragraphs (c)(8) and (c)(8)(iii)(F) respectively. 
This document now corrects this oversight in the CFR to ensure that 8 
CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) correctly cross-references 8 CFR 245.1(c)(8).
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    \3\ See 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) (2024).
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    DHS is not substantively changing 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) and 
245.1(c)(8). Those long-standing provisions codify and implement 
certain statutory requirements that generally prohibit USCIS from 
approving certain visa petitions \4\ or applications for adjustment of 
status \5\ based on a marriage that occurred during exclusion, 
deportation, or removal proceedings, or related judicial proceedings. 
Prior to the 2006 interim final rule, then 8 CFR 245.1(c)(9) 
implemented the statutory prohibition for adjustment of status 
applications. Similarly, 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) implements the 
prohibition for certain visa petitions. DHS did not either 
substantively or non-substantively revise the content of 8 CFR 
245.1(c)(9), related to adjustment of status based on marriages during 
exclusion, deportation, or removal proceedings, or related judicial 
proceedings, when DHS redesignated that paragraph as 8 CFR 245.1(c)(8) 
in 2006.\6\ Similarly, this correction document is not substantively 
amending the content in 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) related to visa 
petitions based on such marriages, or making any edits to 8 CFR 
245.1(c)(8). Rather, DHS is merely amending 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) to 
correctly cross-reference the provisions of 8 CFR 245.1(c)(8) to 
reflect DHS's redesignation of that paragraph in the 2006 interim final 
rule.
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    \4\ See INA sec. 204(g), 8 U.S.C. 1154(g).
    \5\ See INA sec. 245(e), 8 U.S.C. 1255(e).
    \6\ See 71 FR at 27591.
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Administrative Procedure Act

    Section 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) generally 
requires agencies to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the 
Federal Register to provide a period for public comment before the 
provisions of a rule take effect.\7\ In addition, section 553(d) of the 
APA requires agencies to delay the effective date of final rules by a 
minimum of 30 days after the date of their publication in the Federal 
Register.\8\ An agency may bypass notice-and-comment rulemaking and a 
delayed effective date when the agency ``for good cause finds . . . 
that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, 
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.'' \9\
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    \7\ See 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
    \8\ See 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3).
    \9\ See 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), (d)(3).
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    DHS believes there is good cause for publishing this correction 
document without prior notice and opportunity for public comment and 
with an effective date of less than 30 days because DHS finds that such 
procedures are unnecessary. As explained above, this document corrects 
an oversight in the regulatory text and does not make substantive 
changes to the policies that were adopted in the 2006 interim final 
rule or any other rule, including those reflected in 8 CFR 
204.2(a)(1)(iii) and 8 CFR 245.1(c)(8) that generally prohibit USCIS 
from approving certain visa petitions and applications for adjustment 
of status based on a marriage that occurred during exclusion, 
deportation, or removal proceedings, or related judicial proceedings 
subject to certain exemptions. This document merely corrects a cross-
reference in 8 CFR 204.2(a)(1)(iii) to ensure that it accurately 
reflects that DHS redesignated then 8 CFR 245.1(c)(9) as 8 CFR 
245.1(c)(8) in the 2006 interim final rule, which was itself a non-
substantive change. Therefore, DHS believes that it has good cause to 
waive the notice and comment and effective date requirements of section 
553 of the APA.

List of Subjects in 8 CFR Part 204

    Administrative practice and procedure, Adoption and foster care, 
Immigration, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
    Accordingly, for the reasons set forth in the preamble, 8 CFR part 
204 is amended as follows:

PART 204--IMMIGRANT PETITIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 204 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  8 U.S.C. 1101, 1103, 1151, 1153, 1154, 1182, 1184, 
1186a, 1255, 1324a, 1641; 8 CFR part 2.

0
2. Amend Sec.  204.2 by revising the second sentence of paragraph 
(a)(1)(iii) to read as follows:

Sec.  204.2  Petitions for relatives, widows and widowers, and abused 
spouses and children.

    (a) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (iii) * * * Determination of commencement and termination of 
proceedings and exemptions shall be in accordance with Sec.  
245.1(c)(8) of this chapter, except that the burden in visa petition 
proceedings to establish eligibility for the exemption in

[[Page 4589]]

Sec.  245.1(c)(8)(iii)(F) of this chapter shall rest with the 
petitioner.
* * * * *

Christina E. McDonald,
Associate General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, U.S. Department of 
Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-01031 Filed 1-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-97-P
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