[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1119 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1119

 To permit an alien to remain eligible for a diversity visa beyond the 
  fiscal year in which the alien applied for the visa, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 25, 2005

 Mr. Chambliss introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To permit an alien to remain eligible for a diversity visa beyond the 
  fiscal year in which the alien applied for the visa, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Diversity Visa Fairness Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. DIVERSITY LOTTERY VISAS.

    (a) Availability Beyond Fiscal Year.--Section 204(a)(1)(I)(ii) of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)) is 
amended by striking subclause (II) and inserting the following:
                                    ``(II) An alien who qualifies, 
                                through random selection, for a visa 
                                under section 203(c) or adjustment of 
                                status under section 245(a) shall 
                                remain eligible to receive such visa or 
                                adjustment of status beyond the end of 
                                the specific fiscal year for which the 
                                alien was selected if the alien--
                                            ``(aa) properly applied for 
                                        such visa or adjustment of 
                                        status during the fiscal year 
                                        for which alien was selected; 
                                        and
                                            ``(bb) was notified by the 
                                        Secretary of State, through the 
                                        publication of the Visa 
                                        Bulletin, that the application 
                                        was authorized.''.
    (b) Application to Prior Fiscal Years.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, a visa shall be available under section 203(c) of the 
        Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)) if--
                    (A) such alien was eligible for and properly 
                applied for an adjustment of status under section 245 
                of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1255) during a fiscal year 
                between 1998 and 2004;
                    (B) the application submitted by such alien was 
                denied because personnel of the Department of Homeland 
                Security or the Immigration and Naturalization Service 
                failed to adjudicate such application during the fiscal 
                year in which such application was filed;
                    (C) such alien moves to reopen such adjustment of 
                status applications pursuant to procedures or 
                instructions provided by the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security or the Secretary of State; and
                    (D) such alien has continuously resided in the 
                United States since the date of submitting such 
                application.
            (2) Relationship to worldwide level of diversity 
        immigrants.--A visa made available under paragraph (1) may not 
        be counted toward the numerical maximum for the worldwide level 
        of set out in section 201(e) of the Immigration and Nationality 
        Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)).
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on October 1, 2005.
                                 <all>