The Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act of 2000 ("LIFE Act") makes Adjustment of Status possible for aliens who would otherwise be unable to convert from nonimmigrant to immigrant status, provided that a labor certification application or an immigrant visa petition on behalf of that person is filed by April 30, 2001.

Current law:

Under current law, a broad range of individuals (e.g. aliens who entered the U.S. without INS inspection, aliens who overstayed their authorized stay, aliens who violated the terms of their admission to the U.S., aliens who worked in the U.S. without authorization) are ineligible to adjust status from nonimmigrant to immigrant in the United States. After their immigrant visa petitions have been approved by INS, such persons are required to leave the U.S. and obtain an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate or embassy. However, if the person has been unlawfully present in the U.S. for more than 180 days, he or she would be barred from reentering the U.S. for 3 years. If the period of unlawful presence were longer than one year, the alien would be prohibited from entering the U.S. for 10 years. INS has interpreted this harsh rule not to apply to persons who are the beneficiaries of labor certification applications or immigrant visa petitions filed on or prior to January 14, 1998.

LIFE Act creates opportunity for persons ineligible for Adjustment of Status:

Beneficiaries of labor certification applications or immigrant visa petitions filed on or prior to April 30, 2001, will be permitted to change status from nonimmigrant to immigrant while remaining in the United States. Such persons can thus avoid the 3 and 10 year bars, which no longer apply after immigrant status has been obtained. Beneficiaries of labor certification applications and immigrant visa petitions filed after the old deadline of January 14, 1998, and prior to the new deadline of April 30, 2001, will be required to demonstrate that they were physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000, the date on which the LIFE Act went into effect. Such persons will also be required to pay the special Section 245(i) $1,000 processing fee.

For more information, please contact the attorney with whom you work, or William J. Manning, Sean Hanagan, or Joseph DeGiuseppe at (914) 328-0404 or, respectively, by email at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected].