[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6480 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6480

   To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain 
                                aliens.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 24, 2023

   Mr. Vasquez (for himself, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Craig, and Mr. Vargas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain 
                                aliens.

    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 ``Strengthening Our Workforce Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONAL LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary may adjust the status of an alien to 
that of a conditional lawful permanent resident in accordance with this 
section.
    (b) Status Defined.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``conditional lawful permanent resident'' means a status as a 
nonimmigrant with a period of stay of 2 years, with employment 
authorization to be provided concurrently.
    (c) Eligibility.--An alien is eligible for adjustment of status if 
that alien--
            (1) submits an application, at such time, in such form, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may require;
            (2) pays such fee as the Secretary may establish;
            (3) is present in the United States as of January 1, 2023--
                    (A) without lawful status under the immigration 
                laws;
                    (B) with deferred action granted to the alien 
                pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 
                program announced by President Obama on June 15, 2012; 
                or
                    (C) with status as a nonimmigrant that has 
                employment authorization;
            (4) has been continuously present in the United States 
        during the period beginning on January 1, 2023, through the 
        date of the application for status;
            (5) has been employed for a cumulative period of one 
        hundred days (consecutive or not) at any time, in a covered 
        profession; and
            (6) is not inadmissible under paragraph (1), (6)(E), 
        (6)(G), (8), or (10) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)), except that with respect to 
        any benefit under this Act, and in addition to the waivers 
        under subsection (g), the Secretary may waive the grounds of 
        inadmissibility under paragraph (1), (6)(E), (6)(G), or (10)(D) 
        of section 212(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1182(a)) for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or 
        because the waiver is otherwise in the public interest;
    (d) Conditions of Status.--An alien granted conditional lawful 
permanent resident status under this section shall conform to the 
following requirements:
            (1) The alien shall remain continuously physically present 
        in the United States.
            (2) The alien shall maintain not less than one hundred 
        cumulative days of annual employment for two consecutive years 
        in a covered profession.
            (3) The alien shall be subject to all grounds of 
        deportability under section 237.
    (e) Adjustment of Status.--At the time that the conditional lawful 
permanent resident status of an alien terminates, the Secretary shall 
immediately adjust the status of that alien to that of a lawful 
permanent resident--
            (1) unless the alien makes a timely objection in writing; 
        and
            (2) if the alien pays such fee as the Secretary may 
        establish and passes an additional background investigation.
    (f) Not Subject to Numerical Limitations.--An alien whose status is 
adjusted to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residency 
under this section is not subject to the worldwide levels or numerical 
limitations of section 201(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
    (g) Criminal and National Security Bars.--
            (1) Grounds of ineligibility.--Except as provided in 
        paragraph (2), an alien is ineligible for adjustment of status 
        under this title if any of the following apply:
                    (A) The alien is inadmissible under paragraph (2) 
                or (3) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)).
                    (B) Excluding any offense under State law for which 
                an essential element is the alien's immigration status, 
                and any minor traffic offense, the alien has been 
                convicted of--
                            (i) any felony offense;
                            (ii) three or more misdemeanor offenses 
                        (excluding simple possession of cannabis or 
                        cannabis-related paraphernalia, any offense 
                        involving cannabis or cannabis-related 
                        paraphernalia which is no longer prosecutable 
                        in the State in which the conviction was 
                        entered, and any offense involving civil 
                        disobedience without violence) not occurring on 
                        the same date, and not arising out of the same 
                        act, omission, or scheme of misconduct; or
                            (iii) a misdemeanor offense of domestic 
                        violence, unless the alien demonstrates that 
                        such crime is related to the alien having 
                        been--
                                    (I) a victim of domestic violence, 
                                sexual assault, stalking, child abuse 
                                or neglect, abuse or neglect in later 
                                life, or human trafficking;
                                    (II) battered or subjected to 
                                extreme cruelty; or
                                    (III) a victim of criminal activity 
                                described in section 101(a)(15)(U)(iii) 
                                of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
                                (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii)).
            (2) Waivers for certain misdemeanors.--For humanitarian 
        purposes, family unity, or if otherwise in the public interest, 
        the Secretary may--
                    (A) waive the grounds of inadmissibility under 
                subparagraphs (A), (C), and (D) of section 212(a)(2) of 
                the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
                1182(a)(2)), unless the conviction forming the basis 
                for inadmissibility would otherwise render the alien 
                ineligible under paragraph (1)(B) (subject to 
                subparagraph (B)); and
                    (B) for purposes of clauses (ii) and (iii) of 
                paragraph (1)(B), waive consideration of--
                            (i) one misdemeanor offense if the alien 
                        has not been convicted of any offense in the 5-
                        year period preceding the date on which the 
                        alien applies for adjustment of status under 
                        this title; or
                            (ii) up to two misdemeanor offenses if the 
                        alien has not been convicted of any offense in 
                        the 10-year period preceding the date on which 
                        the alien applies for adjustment of status 
                        under this title.
            (3) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    (A) the term ``felony offense'' means an offense 
                under Federal or State law that is punishable by a 
                maximum term of imprisonment of more than 1 year;
                    (B) the term ``misdemeanor offense'' means an 
                offense under Federal or State law that is punishable 
                by a term of imprisonment of more than 5 days but not 
                more than 1 year; and
                    (C) the term ``crime of domestic violence'' means 
                any offense that has as an element the use, attempted 
                use, or threatened use of physical force against a 
                person committed by a current or former spouse of the 
                person, by an individual with whom the person shares a 
                child in common, by an individual who is cohabiting 
                with or has cohabited with the person as a spouse, by 
                an individual similarly situated to a spouse of the 
                person under the domestic or family violence laws of 
                the jurisdiction where the offense occurs, or by any 
                other individual against a person who is protected from 
                that individual's acts under the domestic or family 
                violence laws of the United States or any State, Indian 
                Tribal government, or unit of local government.
    (h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) In general.--Terms used have the meanings given such 
        terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Homeland Security.
            (3) Covered profession defined.--For purposes of this 
        section, the term ``covered profession'' means the following:
                    (A) Health care.
                    (B) Emergency response.
                    (C) Energy.
                    (D) Education, including early education.
                    (E) Sanitation.
                    (F) Restaurant ownership, food preparation, 
                vending, catering, food packaging, food services, or 
                delivery.
                    (G) Hotel or retail.
                    (H) Fish, poultry, and meat processing work.
                    (I) Agricultural work, including labor that is 
                seasonal in nature.
                    (J) Commercial or residential landscaping.
                    (K) Commercial or residential construction or 
                renovation.
                    (L) Housing, residential, and commercial 
                construction related activities or public works 
                construction.
                    (M) Domestic work in private households, including 
                child care, home care, or house cleaning.
                    (N) Natural disaster recovery, disaster 
                reconstruction, and related construction.
                    (O) Home and community-based work, including--
                            (i) home health care;
                            (ii) residential care;
                            (iii) assistance with activities of daily 
                        living;
                            (iv) any service provided by direct care 
                        workers (as defined in section 799B of the 
                        Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p)), 
                        personal care aides, job coaches, or supported 
                        employment providers; and
                            (v) any other provision of care to 
                        individuals in their homes by direct service 
                        providers, personal care attendants, and home 
                        health aides.
                    (P) Family care, including child care services, in-
                home child care services such as nanny services, and 
                care services provided by family members to other 
                family members.
                    (Q) Manufacturing.
                    (R) Warehousing.
                    (S) Transportation or logistics.
                    (T) Janitorial.
                    (U) Laundromat and dry-cleaning operators.
                    (V) Any other work performed by ``essential 
                critical infrastructure workers'', as described in the 
                memorandum of the Department of Homeland Security 
                entitled ``Advisory Memorandum on Ensuring Essential 
                Critical Infrastructure Workers Ability to Work During 
                the COVID-19 Response'', which was originally issued by 
                the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 
                Security Agency on March 19, 2020, and last updated on 
                August 10, 2021.
                    (W) Any other work, industry, or profession that a 
                State or local government deemed essential during the 
                COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
                    (X) Workers who are employed in any of the listed 
                professions who do so remotely or hybrid.
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