Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-315_q713.pdf
Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 20–315 
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JOSE SANTOS SANCHEZ, ET UX., PETITIONERS v. 
ALEJANDRO N. MAYORKAS, SECRETARY OF 
HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT 

[June 7, 2021]

 JUSTICE KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Petitioner Jose Santos Sanchez entered this country un-
lawfully from El Salvador.  Years later, because of unsafe 
living conditions in that country, the Government granted 
him  Temporary  Protected  Status  (TPS),  entitling  him  to
stay and work in the United States for as long as those con-
ditions persist.  Sanchez now wishes to become a lawful per-
manent resident (LPR) of the United States.  The question
here is whether the conferral of TPS enables him to obtain 
LPR status despite his unlawful entry.  We hold that it does 
not. 

I 

Section 1255 of the immigration laws provides a way for 
a  “nonimmigrant”—a  foreign  national  lawfully  present  in
this country on a designated, temporary basis—to obtain an
“[a]djustment  of  status”  making  him  an  LPR.    8  U. S. C. 
§1255 (boldface deleted); see §1101(a)(15) (listing classes of
nonimmigrants, such as students and tourists).  Under that 
section, a nonimmigrant’s eligibility for such an adjustment 
to permanent status depends (with exceptions not relevant