I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1572
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
APRIL 24, 2001
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 undocu-
mented or nonimmigrant aliens.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Worker Amnesty and
Opportunity Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS OF CERTAIN UNDOCU-
MENTED AND NONIMMIGRANT ALIENS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality
Act is amended by inserting after section 210 the following
new section:
‘‘ALIEN WORKER AMNESTY
‘‘SEC. 210A. (a) LAWFUL
PERMANENT
RESI-
DENCE.—The Attorney General shall adjust the status of
an alien to that of an alien lawfully admitted for perma-
nent residence if the alien submits an application and the
Attorney General determines that the alien meets the fol-
lowing requirements:
‘‘(1) PRESENCE IN UNITED STATES.—The alien
maintained a continuous physical presence in the
United States for a period of not less than 10 years
immediately prior to the date of the submission of
an application under this section. For the purposes
of this section an alien shall be considered to have
failed to maintain continuous physical presence in
the United States for the purposes of this section if
the alien has departed from the United States for
any period in excess of 90 days or for any periods
in the aggregate exceeding 365 days.
‘‘(2) QUALIFICATION.—The alien fulfills at
least 1 of the following qualifications:
‘‘(A) ALIEN SPONSORED BY A LABOR OR-
GANIZATION
AND
EMPLOYED
IN
AN
OCCUPA-
TION WITH A WORKER SHORTAGE.—The alien
is employed in the United States in an occupa-
tion which during the 2-year period prior to the
date of the submission of an application under
this section has experienced a shortage of work-
ers and the application of the alien under this
section is sponsored by a labor organization.
‘‘(B) ALIEN ELIGIBLE FOR ADMISSION AS
STUDENT AT AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU-
CATION.—The alien is eligible for admission as
a student at an accredited institution of higher
education in the United States.
‘‘(C) AGE.—The alien has attained the age
of 65 years.
‘‘(3) ADMISSIBLE AS IMMIGRANT.—The alien is
admissible to the United States as an immigrant, ex-
cept as otherwise provided under subsection (b)(2).
‘‘(b) WAIVER
OF NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS
AND
CERTAIN GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—
‘‘(1) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.—The numerical
limitations of sections 201 and 202 shall not apply
to the adjustment of aliens to lawful permanent resi-
dent status under this section.
‘‘(2) GROUNDS FOR EXCLUSION.—With respect
to the determination of an alien’s admissibility under
subsection (a)(3):
‘‘(A) NOT APPLICABLE.—The provisions of
paragraphs (6) and (7) of section 212(a) shall
not apply.
‘‘(B) DISCRETIONARY.—
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Except as pro-
vided in clause (ii), in the determination of
such an alien’s admissibility, the Attorney
General may waive any other provision of
section 212(a) in the case of individual
aliens for humanitarian purposes, to assure
family unity, or when it is otherwise in the
public interest.
‘‘(ii) GROUNDS
THAT
MAY
NOT
BE
WAIVED.—The following provisions of sec-
tion 212(a) may not be waived by the At-
torney General under clause (i):
‘‘(I) 
Paragraph 
(2)(A) 
and
(2)(B) (relating to criminals).
‘‘(II) Paragraph (2)(C) (relating
to drug offenses), except for so much
of such paragraph as relates to a sin-
gle offense of simple possession of 30
grams or less of marihuana.
‘‘(III) Paragraph (3) (relating to
security and related grounds), other
than subparagraph (E) thereof.
‘‘(c) TEMPORARY STAY OF EXCLUSION OR DEPORTA-
TION FOR CERTAIN APPLICANTS.—The Attorney General
shall provide that in the case of an alien who presents
a nonfrivolous application under subsection (a), and until
a final determination on the application has been made
in accordance with this section, the alien may not be ex-
cluded or deported.
‘‘(d) TEMPORARY WORK AUTHORIZATION FOR CER-
TAIN APPLICANTS.—An applicant under this section is not
entitled to employment authorization, but such authoriza-
tion may be provided in the discretion of the Attorney
General.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by in-
serting after the item relating to section 210 the following
new item:
‘‘Sec. 210A. Alien worker amnesty.’’.
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