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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 712

To provide for adjustment of status of certain Nicaraguans.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 26, 1995

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. RICHARDSON, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for adjustment of status of certain Nicaraguans.

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

3 SECTION 1. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN NICA4 RAGUANS.

5 (a) ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS.—The status of any

6 alien described in subsection (b) may be adjusted by the

7 Attorney General, in the Attorney General’s discretion and

8 under such regulations as the Attorney General may pre9 scribe, to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent

10 residence if—
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1 (1) the alien applies for such adjustment within

2 two years after the date of the enactment of this

3 Act;

4 (2) the alien is otherwise eligible to receive an

5 immigrant visa and is otherwise admissible to the

6 United States for permanent residence, except in de7 termining such admissibility the grounds for exclu8 sion specified in paragraphs (4), (5), (6)(A), (6)(B),

9 and (7)(A) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and

10 Nationality Act shall not apply and the Attorney

11 General may waive the ground for exclusion specified

12 in paragraph (6)(C) of such section;

13 (3) the alien is not an alien described in section

14 243(h)(2) of such Act;

15 (4) the alien is physically present in the United

16 States on the date the application for such adjust17 ment is filed; and

18 (5) the alien has continuously resided in the

19 United States since January 20, 1993.

20 (b) ALIENS ELIGIBLE FOR ADJUSTMENT OF STA21 TUS.—The benefits provided by subsection (a) shall apply

22 to any alien—

23 (1) who is a national of Nicaragua,

24 (2) who arrived in the United States before

25 January 20, 1993, and
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1 (3) who (unless the alien filed an application

2 for asylum with the Immigration and Naturalization

3 Service before January 20, 1993) was not admitted

4 to the United States as a nonimmigrant.

5 (c) RECORD OF PERMANENT RESIDENCE AS OF JAN6 UARY 20, 1993.—Upon approval of an alien’s application

7 for adjustment of status under subsection (a), the Attor8 ney General shall establish a record of the alien’s admis9 sion for permanent residence as of January 20, 1993.

10 (d) NO OFFSET IN NUMBER OF VISAS AVAILABLE.—

11 When an alien is granted the status of having been law12 fully admitted for permanent residence pursuant to this

13 section, the Secretary of State shall not be required to re14 duce the number of immigrant visas authorized to be is15 sued under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the

16 Attorney General shall not be required to charge the alien

17 any fee.

18 (f) APPLICATION OF IMMIGRATION AND NATIONAL19 ITY ACT PROVISIONS.—Except as otherwise specifically

20 provided in this section, the definitions contained in the

21 Immigration and Nationality Act shall apply in the admin22 istration of this section. Nothing contained in this section

23 shall be held to repeal, amend, alter, modify, effect, or re24 strict the powers, duties, functions, or authority of the At25 torney General in the administration and enforcement of
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1 such Act or any other law relating to immigration, nation2 ality, or naturalization. The fact that an alien may be eli3 gible to be granted the status of having been lawfully ad4 mitted for permanent residence under this section shall

5 not preclude the alien from seeking such status under any

6 other provision of law for which the alien may be eligible.

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