I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 16
To authorize the cancellation of removal and adjustment of status of certain
aliens, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE15, 2023
Ms. G
ARCIAof Texas (for herself, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ,
Mr. C
ORREA, Ms. CHU, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. LOFGREN,
Mrs. C
HAVEZ-DEREMER, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. DUARTE, and Mrs.
G
ONZA´LEZ-COLO´N) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the cancellation of removal and adjustment
of status of certain aliens, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘American Dream and Promise Act of 2023’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—DREAM ACT OF 2023
Sec. 101. Short title.
Sec. 102. Permanent resident status on a conditional basis for certain long-
term residents who entered the United States as children.
Sec. 103. Terms of permanent resident status on a conditional basis.
Sec. 104. Removal of conditional basis of permanent resident status.
Sec. 105. Restoration of State option to determine residency for purposes of
higher education benefits.
TITLE II—AMERICAN PROMISE ACT OF 2023
Sec. 201. Short title.
Sec. 202. Adjustment of status for certain nationals of certain countries des-
ignated for temporary protected status or deferred enforced de-
parture.
Sec. 203. Clarification.
TITLE III—GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 301. Definitions.
Sec. 302. Submission of biometric and biographic data; background checks.
Sec. 303. Limitation on removal; application and fee exemption; and other con-
ditions on eligible individuals.
Sec. 304. Determination of continuous presence and residence.
Sec. 305. Exemption from numerical limitations.
Sec. 306. Availability of administrative and judicial review.
Sec. 307. Documentation requirements.
Sec. 308. Rulemaking.
Sec. 309. Confidentiality of information.
Sec. 310. Grant program to assist eligible applicants.
Sec. 311. Provisions affecting eligibility for adjustment of status.
Sec. 312. Supplementary surcharge for appointed counsel.
Sec. 313. Annual report on provisional denial authority.
TITLE I—DREAM ACT OF 2023 1
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 2
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Dream Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 102. PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS ON A CONDI-4
TIONAL BASIS FOR CERTAIN LONG-TERM 5
RESIDENTS WHO ENTERED THE UNITED 6
STATES AS CHILDREN. 7
(a) C
ONDITIONALBASIS FORSTATUS.—Notwith-8
standing any other provision of law, and except as pro-9
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vided in section 104(c)(2), an alien shall be considered, 1
at the time of obtaining the status of an alien lawfully 2
admitted for permanent residence under this section, to 3
have obtained such status on a conditional basis subject 4
to the provisions of this title. 5
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 7
provision of law, the Secretary or the Attorney Gen-8
eral shall adjust to the status of an alien lawfully 9
admitted for permanent residence on a conditional 10
basis, or without the conditional basis as provided in 11
section 104(c)(2), an alien who is inadmissible or de-12
portable from the United States, is subject to a 13
grant of Deferred Enforced Departure, has tem-14
porary protected status under section 244 of the Im-15
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a), or 16
is the son or daughter of an alien admitted as a non-17
immigrant under subparagraph (E)(i), (E)(ii), 18
(H)(i)(b), or (L) of section 101(a)(15) of such Act 19
(8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) if— 20
(A) the alien has been continuously phys-21
ically present in the United States since Janu-22
ary 1, 2021; 23
(B) the alien was 18 years of age or 24
younger on the date on which the alien entered 25
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the United States and has continuously resided 1
in the United States since such entry; 2
(C) the alien— 3
(i) subject to paragraph (2), is not in-4
admissible under paragraph (1), (6)(E), 5
(6)(G), (8), or (10) of section 212(a) of 6
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 7
U.S.C. 1182(a)); 8
(ii) has not ordered, incited, assisted, 9
or otherwise participated in the persecution 10
of any person on account of race, religion, 11
nationality, membership in a particular so-12
cial group, or political opinion; and 13
(iii) is not barred from adjustment of 14
status under this title based on the crimi-15
nal and national security grounds de-16
scribed under subsection (c), subject to the 17
provisions of such subsection; and 18
(D) the alien— 19
(i) has been admitted to an institution 20
of higher education; 21
(ii) has been admitted to an area ca-22
reer and technical education school at the 23
postsecondary level; 24
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(iii) in the United States, has ob-1
tained— 2
(I) a high school diploma or a 3
commensurate alternative award from 4
a public or private high school; 5
(II) a General Education Devel-6
opment credential, a high school 7
equivalency diploma recognized under 8
State law, or another similar State- 9
authorized credential; 10
(III) a credential or certificate 11
from an area career and technical 12
education school at the secondary 13
level; or 14
(IV) a recognized postsecondary 15
credential; or 16
(iv) is enrolled in secondary school or 17
in an education program assisting students 18
in— 19
(I) obtaining a high school di-20
ploma or its recognized equivalent 21
under State law; 22
(II) passing the General Edu-23
cation Development test, a high school 24
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equivalence diploma examination, or 1
other similar State-authorized exam; 2
(III) obtaining a certificate or 3
credential from an area career and 4
technical education school providing 5
education at the secondary level; or 6
(IV) obtaining a recognized post-7
secondary credential. 8
(2) W
AIVER OF GROUNDS OF INADMIS -9
SIBILITY.—With respect to any benefit under this 10
title, and in addition to the waivers under subsection 11
(c)(2), the Secretary may waive the grounds of inad-12
missibility under paragraph (1), (6)(E), (6)(G), or 13
(10)(D) of section 212(a) of the Immigration and 14
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) for humanitarian 15
purposes, for family unity, or because the waiver is 16
otherwise in the public interest. 17
(3) A
PPLICATION FEE.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may, 19
subject to an exemption under section 303(c), 20
require an alien applying under this section to 21
pay a reasonable fee that is commensurate with 22
the cost of processing the application but does 23
not exceed $495.00. 24
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(B) SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR APPLI -1
CANTS WITH DACA.—The Secretary shall estab-2
lish a streamlined procedure for aliens who have 3
been granted DACA and who meet the require-4
ments for renewal (under the terms of the pro-5
gram in effect on January 1, 2017) to apply for 6
adjustment of status to that of an alien lawfully 7
admitted for permanent residence on a condi-8
tional basis under this section, or without the 9
conditional basis as provided in section 10
104(c)(2). Such procedure shall not include a 11
requirement that the applicant pay a fee, except 12
that the Secretary may require an applicant 13
who meets the requirements for lawful perma-14
nent residence without the conditional basis 15
under section 104(c)(2) to pay a fee that is 16
commensurate with the cost of processing the 17
application, subject to the exemption under sec-18
tion 303(c). 19
(4) B
ACKGROUND CHECKS .—The Secretary 20
may not grant an alien permanent resident status on 21
a conditional basis under this section until the re-22
quirements of section 302 are satisfied. 23
(5) M
ILITARY SELECTIVE SERVICE .—An alien 24
applying for permanent resident status on a condi-25
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tional basis under this section, or without the condi-1
tional basis as provided in section 104(c)(2), shall 2
establish that the alien has registered under the 3
Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 3801 et 4
seq.), if the alien is subject to registration under 5
such Act. 6
(c) C
RIMINAL ANDNATIONALSECURITYBARS.— 7
(1) G
ROUNDS OF INELIGIBILITY .—Except as 8
provided in paragraph (2), an alien is ineligible for 9
adjustment of status under this title (whether on a 10
conditional basis or without the conditional basis as 11
provided in section 104(c)(2)) if any of the following 12
apply: 13
(A) The alien is inadmissible under para-14
graph (2) or (3) of section 212(a) of the Immi-15
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)). 16
(B) Excluding any offense under State law 17
for which an essential element is the alien’s im-18
migration status, and any minor traffic offense, 19
the alien has been convicted of— 20
(i) any felony offense; 21
(ii) three or more misdemeanor of-22
fenses (excluding simple possession of can-23
nabis or cannabis-related paraphernalia, 24
any offense involving cannabis or cannabis- 25
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related paraphernalia which is no longer 1
prosecutable in the State in which the con-2
viction was entered, and any offense involv-3
ing civil disobedience without violence) not 4
occurring on the same date, and not aris-5
ing out of the same act, omission, or 6
scheme of misconduct; or 7
(iii) a misdemeanor offense of domes-8
tic violence, unless the alien demonstrates 9
that such crime is related to the alien hav-10
ing been— 11
(I) a victim of domestic violence, 12
sexual assault, stalking, child abuse or 13
neglect, abuse or neglect in later life, 14
or human trafficking; 15
(II) battered or subjected to ex-16
treme cruelty; or 17
(III) a victim of criminal activity 18
described in section 101(a)(15)(U)(iii) 19
of the Immigration and Nationality 20
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii)). 21
(2) W
AIVERS FOR CERTAIN MISDEMEANORS .— 22
For humanitarian purposes, family unity, or if oth-23
erwise in the public interest, the Secretary may— 24
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(A) waive the grounds of inadmissibility 1
under subparagraphs (A), (C), and (D) of sec-2
tion 212(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nation-3
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)), unless the con-4
viction forming the basis for inadmissibility 5
would otherwise render the alien ineligible 6
under paragraph (1)(B) (subject to subpara-7
graph (B)); and 8
(B) for purposes of clauses (ii) and (iii) of 9
paragraph (1)(B), waive consideration of— 10
(i) one misdemeanor offense if the 11
alien has not been convicted of any offense 12
in the 5-year period preceding the date on 13
which the alien applies for adjustment of 14
status under this title; or 15
(ii) up to two misdemeanor offenses if 16
the alien has not been convicted of any of-17
fense in the 10-year period preceding the 18
date on which the alien applies for adjust-19
ment of status under this title. 20
(3) A
UTHORITY TO CONDUCT SECONDARY RE -21
VIEW.— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding an 23
alien’s eligibility for adjustment of status under 24
this title, and subject to the procedures de-25
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scribed in this paragraph, the Secretary may, 1
as a matter of non-delegable discretion, provi-2
sionally deny an application for adjustment of 3
status (whether on a conditional basis or with-4
out the conditional basis as provided in section 5
104(c)(2)) if the Secretary, based on clear and 6
convincing evidence, which shall include credible 7
law enforcement information, determines that 8
the alien is described in subparagraph (B) or 9
(D). 10
(B) P
UBLIC SAFETY.—An alien is de-11
scribed in this subparagraph if— 12
(i) excluding simple possession of can-13
nabis or cannabis-related paraphernalia, 14
any offense involving cannabis or cannabis- 15
related paraphernalia which is no longer 16
prosecutable in the State in which the con-17
viction was entered, any offense under 18
State law for which an essential element is 19
the alien’s immigration status, any offense 20
involving civil disobedience without vio-21
lence, and any minor traffic offense, the 22
alien— 23
(I) has been convicted of a mis-24
demeanor offense punishable by a 25
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term of imprisonment of more than 1
30 days; or 2
(II) has been adjudicated delin-3
quent in a State or local juvenile court 4
proceeding that resulted in a disposi-5
tion ordering placement in a secure 6
facility; and 7
(ii) the alien poses a significant and 8
continuing threat to public safety related 9
to such conviction or adjudication. 10
(C) P
UBLIC SAFETY DETERMINATION .— 11
For purposes of subparagraph (B)(ii), the Sec-12
retary shall consider the recency of the convic-13
tion or adjudication; the length of any imposed 14
sentence or placement; the nature and serious-15
ness of the conviction or adjudication, including 16
whether the elements of the offense include the 17
unlawful possession or use of a deadly weapon 18
to commit an offense or other conduct intended 19
to cause serious bodily injury; and any miti-20
gating factors pertaining to the alien’s role in 21
the commission of the offense. 22
(D) G
ANG PARTICIPATION.—An alien is 23
described in this subparagraph if the alien has, 24
within the 5 years immediately preceding the 25
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date of the application, knowingly, willfully, and 1
voluntarily participated in offenses committed 2
by a criminal street gang (as described in sub-3
sections (a) and (c) of section 521 of title 18, 4
United States Code) with the intent to promote 5
or further the commission of such offenses. 6
(E) E
VIDENTIARY LIMITATION.—For pur-7
poses of subparagraph (D), allegations of gang 8
membership obtained from a State or Federal 9
in-house or local database, or a network of 10
databases used for the purpose of recording and 11
sharing activities of alleged gang members 12
across law enforcement agencies, shall not es-13
tablish the participation described in such para-14
graph. 15
(F) N
OTICE.— 16
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Prior to rendering 17
a discretionary decision under this para-18
graph, the Secretary shall provide written 19
notice of the intent to provisionally deny 20
the application to the alien (or the alien’s 21
counsel of record, if any) by certified mail 22
and, if an electronic mail address is pro-23
vided, by electronic mail (or other form of 24
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electronic communication). Such notice 1
shall— 2
(I) articulate with specificity all 3
grounds for the preliminary deter-4
mination, including the evidence relied 5
upon to support the determination; 6
and 7
(II) provide the alien with not 8
less than 90 days to respond. 9
(ii) S
ECOND NOTICE.—Not more than 10
30 days after the issuance of the notice 11
under clause (i), the Secretary shall pro-12
vide a second written notice that meets the 13
requirements of such clause. 14
(iii) N
OTICE NOT RECEIVED .—Not-15
withstanding any other provision of law, if 16
an applicant provides good cause for not 17
contesting a provisional denial under this 18
paragraph, including a failure to receive 19
notice as required under this subpara-20
graph, the Secretary shall, upon a motion 21
filed by the alien, reopen an application for 22
adjustment of status under this title and 23
allow the applicant an opportunity to re-24
spond, consistent with clause (i)(II). 25
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(G) JUDICIAL REVIEW OF A PROVISIONAL 1
DENIAL.— 2
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 3
any other provision of law, if, after notice 4
and the opportunity to respond under sub-5
paragraph (F), the Secretary provisionally 6
denies an application for adjustment of 7
status under this Act, the alien shall have 8
60 days from the date of the Secretary’s 9
determination to seek review of such deter-10
mination in an appropriate United States 11
district court. 12
(ii) S
COPE OF REVIEW AND DECI -13
SION.—Notwithstanding any other provi-14
sion of law, review under paragraph (1) 15
shall be de novo and based solely on the 16
administrative record, except that the ap-17
plicant shall be given the opportunity to 18
supplement the administrative record and 19
the Secretary shall be given the oppor-20
tunity to rebut the evidence and arguments 21
raised in such submission. Upon issuing its 22
decision, the court shall remand the mat-23
ter, with appropriate instructions, to the 24
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Department of Homeland Security to 1
render a final decision on the application. 2
(iii) A
PPOINTED COUNSEL .—Notwith-3
standing any other provision of law, an ap-4
plicant seeking judicial review under clause 5
(i) shall be represented by counsel. Upon 6
the request of the applicant, counsel shall 7
be appointed for the applicant, in accord-8
ance with procedures to be established by 9
the Attorney General within 90 days of the 10
date of the enactment of this Act, and 11
shall be funded in accordance with fees col-12
lected and deposited in the Immigration 13
Counsel Account under section 312. 14
(4) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-15
section— 16
(A) the term ‘‘felony offense’’ means an of-17
fense under Federal or State law that is pun-18
ishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 19
more than 1 year; 20
(B) the term ‘‘misdemeanor offense’’ 21
means an offense under Federal or State law 22
that is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 23
more than 5 days but not more than 1 year; 24
and 25
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(C) the term ‘‘crime of domestic violence’’ 1
means any offense that has as an element the 2
use, attempted use, or threatened use of phys-3
ical force against a person committed by a cur-4
rent or former spouse of the person, by an indi-5
vidual with whom the person shares a child in 6
common, by an individual who is cohabiting 7
with or has cohabited with the person as a 8
spouse, by an individual similarly situated to a 9
spouse of the person under the domestic or 10
family violence laws of the jurisdiction where 11
the offense occurs, or by any other individual 12
against a person who is protected from that in-13
dividual’s acts under the domestic or family vio-14
lence laws of the United States or any State, 15
Indian Tribal government, or unit of local gov-16
ernment. 17
(d) L
IMITATION ONREMOVAL OFCERTAINALIEN 18
M
INORS.—An alien who is 18 years of age or younger and 19
meets the requirements under subparagraphs (A), (B), 20
and (C) of subsection (b)(1) shall be provided a reasonable 21
opportunity to meet the educational requirements under 22
subparagraph (D) of such subsection. The Attorney Gen-23
eral or the Secretary may not commence or continue with 24
removal proceedings against such an alien. 25
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(e) WITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION.—The Secretary 1
shall, upon receipt of a request to withdraw an application 2
for adjustment of status under this section, cease proc-3
essing of the application, and close the case. Withdrawal 4
of the application under this subsection shall not prejudice 5
any future application filed by the applicant for any immi-6
gration benefit under this title or under the Immigration 7
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.). 8
SEC. 103. TERMS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS ON A 9
CONDITIONAL BASIS. 10
(a) P
ERIOD OFSTATUS.—Permanent resident status 11
on a conditional basis is— 12
(1) valid for a period of 10 years, unless such 13
period is extended by the Secretary; and 14
(2) subject to revocation under subsection (c). 15
(b) N
OTICE OFREQUIREMENTS.—At the time an 16
alien obtains permanent resident status on a conditional 17
basis, the Secretary shall provide notice to the alien re-18
garding the provisions of this title and the requirements 19
to have the conditional basis of such status removed. 20
(c) R
EVOCATION OF STATUS.—The Secretary may 21
revoke the permanent resident status on a conditional 22
basis of an alien only if the Secretary— 23
(1) determines that the alien ceases to meet the 24
requirements under section 102(b)(1)(C); and 25
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(2) prior to the revocation, provides the alien— 1
(A) notice of the proposed revocation; and 2
(B) the opportunity for a hearing to pro-3
vide evidence that the alien meets such require-4
ments or otherwise to contest the proposed rev-5
ocation. 6
(d) R
ETURN TOPREVIOUSIMMIGRATIONSTATUS.— 7
An alien whose permanent resident status on a conditional 8
basis expires under subsection (a)(1) or is revoked under 9
subsection (c), shall return to the immigration status that 10
the alien had immediately before receiving permanent resi-11
dent status on a conditional basis. 12
SEC. 104. REMOVAL OF CONDITIONAL BASIS OF PERMA-13
NENT RESIDENT STATUS. 14
(a) E
LIGIBILITY FORREMOVAL OF CONDITIONAL 15
B
ASIS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 17
the Secretary shall remove the conditional basis of 18
an alien’s permanent resident status granted under 19
this title and grant the alien status as an alien law-20
fully admitted for permanent residence if the alien— 21
(A) is described in section 102(b)(1)(C); 22
(B) has not abandoned the alien’s resi-23
dence in the United States during the period in 24
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which the alien has permanent resident status 1
on a conditional basis; and 2
(C)(i) has obtained a degree from an insti-3
tution of higher education, or has completed at 4
least 2 years, in good standing, of a program in 5
the United States leading to a bachelor’s degree 6
or higher degree or a recognized postsecondary 7
credential from an area career and technical 8
education school providing education at the 9
postsecondary level; 10
(ii) has served in the Uniformed Services 11
for at least 2 years and, if discharged, received 12
an honorable discharge; or 13
(iii) demonstrates earned income for peri-14
ods totaling at least 3 years and at least 75 15
percent of the time that the alien has had a 16
valid employment authorization, except that, in 17
the case of an alien who was enrolled in an in-18
stitution of higher education, an area career 19
and technical education school to obtain a rec-20
ognized postsecondary credential, or an edu-21
cation program described in section 22
102(b)(1)(D)(iii), the Secretary shall reduce 23
such total 3-year requirement by the total of 24
such periods of enrollment. 25
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(2) HARDSHIP EXCEPTION .—The Secretary 1
shall remove the conditional basis of an alien’s per-2
manent resident status and grant the alien status as 3
an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence 4
if the alien— 5
(A) satisfies the requirements under sub-6
paragraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1); 7
(B) demonstrates compelling circumstances 8
for the inability to satisfy the requirements 9
under subparagraph (C) of such paragraph; and 10
(C) demonstrates that— 11
(i) the alien has a disability; 12
(ii) the alien is a full-time caregiver; 13
or 14
(iii) the removal of the alien from the 15
United States would result in hardship to 16
the alien or the alien’s spouse, parent, or 17
child who is a national of the United 18
States or is lawfully admitted for perma-19
nent residence. 20
(3) C
ITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENT .— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 22
subparagraph (B), the conditional basis of an 23
alien’s permanent resident status granted under 24
this title may not be removed unless the alien 25
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demonstrates that the alien satisfies the re-1
quirements under section 312(a) of the Immi-2
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1423(a)). 3
(B) E
XCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 4
not apply to an alien who is unable to meet the 5
requirements under such section 312(a) due to 6
disability. 7
(4) A
PPLICATION FEE.—The Secretary may, 8
subject to an exemption under section 303(c), re-9
quire aliens applying for removal of the conditional 10
basis of an alien’s permanent resident status under 11
this section to pay a reasonable fee that is commen-12
surate with the cost of processing the application. 13
(5) B
ACKGROUND CHECKS .—The Secretary 14
may not remove the conditional basis of an alien’s 15
permanent resident status until the requirements of 16
section 302 are satisfied. 17
(b) T
REATMENT FOR PURPOSES OFNATURALIZA-18
TION.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of title III of 20
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401 21
et seq.), an alien granted permanent resident status 22
on a conditional basis shall be considered to have 23
been admitted to the United States, and be present 24
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in the United States, as an alien lawfully admitted 1
for permanent residence. 2
(2) L
IMITATION ON APPLICATION FOR NATU -3
RALIZATION.—An alien may not apply for natu-4
ralization while the alien is in permanent resident 5
status on a conditional basis. 6
(c) T
IMING OFAPPROVAL OFLAWFULPERMANENT 7
R
ESIDENTSTATUS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An alien granted permanent 9
resident status on a conditional basis under this title 10
may apply to have such conditional basis removed at 11
any time after such alien has met the eligibility re-12
quirements set forth in subsection (a). 13
(2) A
PPROVAL WITH REGARD TO INITIAL APPLI -14
CATIONS.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 16
other provision of law, the Secretary or the At-17
torney General shall adjust to the status of an 18
alien lawfully admitted for permanent resident 19
status without conditional basis, any alien 20
who— 21
(i) demonstrates eligibility for lawful 22
permanent residence status on a condi-23
tional basis under section 102(b); and 24
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(ii) subject to the exceptions described 1
in subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3)(B) of this 2
section, already has fulfilled the require-3
ments of paragraphs (1) and (3) of sub-4
section (a) of this section at the time such 5
alien first submits an application for bene-6
fits under this title. 7
(B) B
ACKGROUND CHECKS .—Subsection 8
(a)(5) shall apply to an alien seeking lawful 9
permanent resident status without conditional 10
basis in an initial application in the same man-11
ner as it applies to an alien seeking removal of 12
the conditional basis of an alien’s permanent 13
resident status. Section 102(b)(4) shall not be 14
construed to require the Secretary to conduct 15
more than one identical security or law enforce-16
ment background check on such an alien. 17
(C) A
PPLICATION FEES.—In the case of an 18
alien seeking lawful permanent resident status 19
without conditional basis in an initial applica-20
tion, the alien shall pay the fee required under 21
subsection (a)(4), subject to the exemption al-22
lowed under section 303(c), but shall not be re-23
quired to pay the application fee under section 24
102(b)(3). 25
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SEC. 105. RESTORATION OF STATE OPTION TO DETERMINE 1
RESIDENCY FOR PURPOSES OF HIGHER EDU-2
CATION BENEFITS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 505 of the Illegal Immi-4
gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 5
(8 U.S.C. 1623) is repealed. 6
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The repeal under subsection 7
(a) shall take effect as if included in the original enact-8
ment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 9
Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104– 10
208; 110 Stat. 3009–546). 11
TITLE II—AMERICAN PROMISE 12
ACT OF 2023 13
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 14
This title may be cited as the ‘‘American Promise Act 15
of 2023’’. 16
SEC. 202. ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FOR CERTAIN NATION-17
ALS OF CERTAIN COUNTRIES DESIGNATED 18
FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS OR 19
DEFERRED ENFORCED DEPARTURE. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-21
sion of law, the Secretary or the Attorney General shall 22
adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for per-23
manent residence, an alien described in subsection (b) if 24
the alien— 25
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(1) applies for such adjustment, including sub-1
mitting any required documents under section 307, 2
not later than 3 years after the date of the enact-3
ment of this Act; 4
(2) has been continuously physically present in 5
the United States for a period of not less than 3 6
years; and 7
(3) subject to subsection (c), is not inadmissible 8
under paragraph (1), (2), (3), (6)(D), (6)(E), 9
(6)(F), (6)(G), (8), or (10) of section 212(a) of the 10
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 11
1182(a)). 12
(b) A
LIENSELIGIBLE FORADJUSTMENT OF STA-13
TUS.—An alien shall be eligible for adjustment of status 14
under this section if the alien is an individual— 15
(1) who— 16
(A) is a national of a foreign state (or part 17
thereof) (or in the case of an alien having no 18
nationality, is a person who last habitually re-19
sided in such state) with a designation under 20
subsection (b) of section 244 of the Immigra-21
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(b)) 22
on January 1, 2017, who had or was otherwise 23
eligible for temporary protected status on such 24
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date notwithstanding subsections (c)(1)(A)(iv) 1
and (c)(3)(C) of such section; and 2
(B) has not engaged in conduct since such 3
date that would render the alien ineligible for 4
temporary protected status under section 5
244(c)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 6
Act (8 U.S.C. 1245a(c)(2)); or 7
(2) who was eligible for Deferred Enforced De-8
parture as of January 20, 2021, and has not en-9
gaged in conduct since that date that would render 10
the alien ineligible for Deferred Enforced Departure. 11
(c) W
AIVER OFGROUNDS OFINADMISSIBILITY.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-13
graph (2), with respect to any benefit under this 14
title, and in addition to any waivers that are other-15
wise available, the Secretary may waive the grounds 16
of inadmissibility under paragraph (1), subpara-17
graphs (A), (C), and (D) of paragraph (2), subpara-18
graphs (D) through (G) of paragraph (6), or para-19
graph (10)(D) of section 212(a) of the Immigration 20
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)) for humani-21
tarian purposes, for family unity, or because the 22
waiver is otherwise in the public interest. 23
(2) E
XCEPTION.—The Secretary may not waive 24
a ground described in paragraph (1) if such inad-25
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missibility is based on a conviction or convictions, 1
and such conviction or convictions would otherwise 2
render the alien ineligible under section 3
244(c)(2)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 4
Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(c)(2)(B)). 5
(d) A
PPLICATION.— 6
(1) F
EE.—The Secretary shall, subject to an 7
exemption under section 303(c), require an alien ap-8
plying for adjustment of status under this section to 9
pay a reasonable fee that is commensurate with the 10
cost of processing the application, but does not ex-11
ceed $1,140. 12
(2) B
ACKGROUND CHECKS .—The Secretary 13
may not grant an alien permanent resident status on 14
a conditional basis under this section until the re-15
quirements of section 302 are satisfied. 16
(3) W
ITHDRAWAL OF APPLICATION .—The Sec-17
retary of Homeland Security shall, upon receipt of 18
a request to withdraw an application for adjustment 19
of status under this section, cease processing of the 20
application and close the case. Withdrawal of the ap-21
plication under this subsection shall not prejudice 22
any future application filed by the applicant for any 23
immigration benefit under this title or under the Im-24
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migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 1
seq.). 2
SEC. 203. CLARIFICATION. 3
Section 244(f)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality 4
Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(4)) is amended by inserting after 5
‘‘considered’’ the following: ‘‘as having been inspected and 6
admitted into the United States, and’’. 7
TITLE III—GENERAL 8
PROVISIONS 9
SEC. 301. DEFINITIONS. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In this Act: 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as otherwise specifi-12
cally provided, any term used in this Act that is 13
used in the immigration laws shall have the meaning 14
given such term in the immigration laws. 15
(2) A
PPROPRIATE UNITED STATES DISTRICT 16
COURT.—The term ‘‘appropriate United States dis-17
trict court’’ means the United States District Court 18
for the District of Columbia or the United States 19
district court with jurisdiction over the alien’s prin-20
cipal place of residence. 21
(3) A
REA CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION 22
SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘area career and technical edu-23
cation school’’ has the meaning given such term in 24
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section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech-1
nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 2
(4) DACA.—The term ‘‘DACA’’ means de-3
ferred action granted to an alien pursuant to the 4
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy an-5
nounced by the Secretary of Homeland Security on 6
June 15, 2012. 7
(5) D
ISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 8
meaning given such term in section 3(1) of the 9
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 10
12102(1)). 11
(6) F
EDERAL POVERTY LINE .—The term ‘‘Fed-12
eral poverty line’’ has the meaning given such term 13
in section 213A(h) of the Immigration and Nation-14
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1183a). 15
(7) H
IGH SCHOOL; SECONDARY SCHOOL .—The 16
terms ‘‘high school’’ and ‘‘secondary school’’ have 17
the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 18
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 19
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 20
(8) I
MMIGRATION LAWS.—The term ‘‘immigra-21
tion laws’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-22
tion 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality 23
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17)). 24
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(9) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 1
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’— 2
(A) except as provided in subparagraph 3
(B), has the meaning given such term in section 4
102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 5
U.S.C. 1002); and 6
(B) does not include an institution of high-7
er education outside of the United States. 8
(10) R
ECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN -9
TIAL.—The term ‘‘recognized postsecondary creden-10
tial’’ has the meaning given such term in section 3 11
of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 12
(29 U.S.C. 3102). 13
(11) S
ECRETARY.—Except as otherwise specifi-14
cally provided, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-15
retary of Homeland Security. 16
(12) U
NIFORMED SERVICES .—The term ‘‘Uni-17
formed Services’’ has the meaning given the term 18
‘‘uniformed services’’ in section 101(a) of title 10, 19
United States Code. 20
(b) T
REATMENT OFEXPUNGEDCONVICTIONS.—For 21
purposes of adjustment of status under this Act, the terms 22
‘‘convicted’’ and ‘‘conviction’’, as used in this Act and in 23
sections 212 and 244 of the Immigration and Nationality 24
Act (8 U.S.C. 1182, 1254a), do not include a judgment 25
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that has been expunged or set aside, that resulted in a 1
rehabilitative disposition, or the equivalent. 2
SEC. 302. SUBMISSION OF BIOMETRIC AND BIOGRAPHIC 3
DATA; BACKGROUND CHECKS. 4
(a) S
UBMISSION OF BIOMETRIC AND BIOGRAPHIC 5
D
ATA.—The Secretary may not grant an alien adjustment 6
of status under this Act, on either a conditional or perma-7
nent basis, unless the alien submits biometric and bio-8
graphic data, in accordance with procedures established 9
by the Secretary. The Secretary shall provide an alter-10
native procedure for aliens who are unable to provide such 11
biometric or biographic data because of a physical impair-12
ment. 13
(b) B
ACKGROUNDCHECKS.—The Secretary shall use 14
biometric, biographic, and other data that the Secretary 15
determines appropriate to conduct security and law en-16
forcement background checks and to determine whether 17
there is any criminal, national security, or other factor 18
that would render the alien ineligible for adjustment of 19
status under this Act, on either a conditional or perma-20
nent basis. The status of an alien may not be adjusted, 21
on either a conditional or permanent basis, unless security 22
and law enforcement background checks are completed to 23
the satisfaction of the Secretary. 24
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SEC. 303. LIMITATION ON REMOVAL; APPLICATION AND 1
FEE EXEMPTION; AND OTHER CONDITIONS 2
ON ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS. 3
(a) L
IMITATION ONREMOVAL.—An alien who ap-4
pears to be prima facie eligible for relief under this Act 5
shall be given a reasonable opportunity to apply for such 6
relief and may not be removed until, subject to section 7
306(c)(2), a final decision establishing ineligibility for re-8
lief is rendered. 9
(b) A
PPLICATION.—An alien present in the United 10
States who has been ordered removed or has been per-11
mitted to depart voluntarily from the United States may, 12
notwithstanding such order or permission to depart, apply 13
for adjustment of status under this Act. Such alien shall 14
not be required to file a separate motion to reopen, recon-15
sider, or vacate the order of removal. If the Secretary ap-16
proves the application, the Secretary shall cancel the order 17
of removal. If the Secretary renders a final administrative 18
decision to deny the application, the order of removal or 19
permission to depart shall be effective and enforceable to 20
the same extent as if the application had not been made, 21
only after all available administrative and judicial rem-22
edies have been exhausted. 23
(c) F
EEEXEMPTION.—An applicant may be exempt-24
ed from paying an application fee required under this Act 25
if the applicant— 26
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(1) is 18 years of age or younger; 1
(2) received total income, during the 12-month 2
period immediately preceding the date on which the 3
applicant files an application under this Act, that is 4
less than 150 percent of the Federal poverty line; 5
(3) is in foster care or otherwise lacks any pa-6
rental or other familial support; or 7
(4) cannot care for himself or herself because of 8
a serious, chronic disability. 9
(d) A
DVANCEPAROLE.—During the period beginning 10
on the date on which an alien applies for adjustment of 11
status under this Act and ending on the date on which 12
the Secretary makes a final decision regarding such appli-13
cation, the alien shall be eligible to apply for advance pa-14
role. Section 101(g) of the Immigration and Nationality 15
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(g)) shall not apply to an alien granted 16
advance parole under this Act. 17
(e) E
MPLOYMENT.—An alien whose removal is stayed 18
pursuant to this Act, who may not be placed in removal 19
proceedings pursuant to this Act, or who has pending an 20
application under this Act, shall, upon application to the 21
Secretary, be granted an employment authorization docu-22
ment. 23
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SEC. 304. DETERMINATION OF CONTINUOUS PRESENCE 1
AND RESIDENCE. 2
(a) E
FFECT OFNOTICETOAPPEAR.—Any period of 3
continuous physical presence or continuous residence in 4
the United States of an alien who applies for permanent 5
resident status under this Act (whether on a conditional 6
basis or without the conditional basis as provided in sec-7
tion 104(c)(2)) shall not terminate when the alien is 8
served a notice to appear under section 239(a) of the Im-9
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1229(a)). 10
(b) T
REATMENT OFCERTAINBREAKS INPRESENCE 11
ORRESIDENCE.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-13
graphs (2) and (3), an alien shall be considered to 14
have failed to maintain— 15
(A) continuous physical presence in the 16
United States under this Act if the alien has 17
departed from the United States for any period 18
exceeding 90 days or for any periods, in the ag-19
gregate, exceeding 180 days; and 20
(B) continuous residence in the United 21
States under this Act if the alien has departed 22
from the United States for any period exceeding 23
180 days, unless the alien establishes to the 24
satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Secu-25
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rity that the alien did not in fact abandon resi-1
dence in the United States during such period. 2
(2) E
XTENSIONS FOR EXTENUATING CIR -3
CUMSTANCES.—The Secretary may extend the time 4
periods described in paragraph (1) for an alien who 5
demonstrates that the failure to timely return to the 6
United States was due to extenuating circumstances 7
beyond the alien’s control, including— 8
(A) the serious illness of the alien; 9
(B) death or serious illness of a parent, 10
grandparent, sibling, or child of the alien; 11
(C) processing delays associated with the 12
application process for a visa or other travel 13
document; or 14
(D) restrictions on international travel due 15
to the public health emergency declared by the 16
Secretary of Health and Human Services under 17
section 319 of the Public Health Service Act 18
(42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect to COVID–19. 19
(3) T
RAVEL AUTHORIZED BY THE SEC -20
RETARY.—Any period of travel outside of the United 21
States by an alien that was authorized by the Sec-22
retary may not be counted toward any period of de-23
parture from the United States under paragraph 24
(1). 25
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(c) WAIVER OFPHYSICALPRESENCE.—With respect 1
to aliens who were removed or departed the United States 2
on or after January 20, 2017, and who were continuously 3
physically present in the United States for at least 4 years 4
prior to such removal or departure, the Secretary may, 5
as a matter of discretion, waive the physical presence re-6
quirement under section 102(b)(1)(A) or section 7
202(a)(2) for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or 8
because a waiver is otherwise in the public interest. The 9
Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, 10
shall establish a procedure for such aliens to apply for re-11
lief under section 102 or 202 from outside the United 12
States if they would have been eligible for relief under 13
such section, but for their removal or departure. 14
SEC. 305. EXEMPTION FROM NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS. 15
Nothing in this Act or in any other law may be con-16
strued to apply a numerical limitation on the number of 17
aliens who may be granted permanent resident status 18
under this Act (whether on a conditional basis, or without 19
the conditional basis as provided in section 104(c)(2)). 20
SEC. 306. AVAILABILITY OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDI-21
CIAL REVIEW. 22
(a) A
DMINISTRATIVEREVIEW.—Not later than 30 23
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-24
retary shall provide to aliens who have applied for adjust-25
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ment of status under this Act a process by which an appli-1
cant may seek administrative appellate review of a denial 2
of an application for adjustment of status, or a revocation 3
of such status. 4
(b) J
UDICIALREVIEW.—Except as provided in sub-5
section (c), and notwithstanding any other provision of 6
law, an alien may seek judicial review of a denial of an 7
application for adjustment of status, or a revocation of 8
such status, under this Act in an appropriate United 9
States district court. 10
(c) S
TAY OFREMOVAL.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-12
graph (2), an alien seeking administrative or judicial 13
review under this Act may not be removed from the 14
United States until a final decision is rendered es-15
tablishing that the alien is ineligible for adjustment 16
of status under this Act. 17
(2) E
XCEPTION.—The Secretary may remove 18
an alien described in paragraph (1) pending judicial 19
review if such removal is based on criminal or na-20
tional security grounds described in this Act. Such 21
removal shall not affect the alien’s right to judicial 22
review under this Act. The Secretary shall promptly 23
return a removed alien if a decision to deny an ap-24
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plication for adjustment of status under this Act, or 1
to revoke such status, is reversed. 2
SEC. 307. DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS. 3
(a) D
OCUMENTS ESTABLISHING IDENTITY.—An 4
alien’s application for permanent resident status under 5
this Act (whether on a conditional basis, or without the 6
conditional basis as provided in section 104(c)(2)) may in-7
clude, as evidence of identity, the following: 8
(1) A passport or national identity document 9
from the alien’s country of origin that includes the 10
alien’s name and the alien’s photograph or finger-11
print. 12
(2) The alien’s birth certificate and an identity 13
card that includes the alien’s name and photograph. 14
(3) A school identification card that includes 15
the alien’s name and photograph, and school records 16
showing the alien’s name and that the alien is or 17
was enrolled at the school. 18
(4) A Uniformed Services identification card 19
issued by the Department of Defense. 20
(5) Any immigration or other document issued 21
by the United States Government bearing the alien’s 22
name and photograph. 23
(6) A State-issued identification card bearing 24
the alien’s name and photograph. 25
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(7) Any other evidence determined to be cred-1
ible by the Secretary. 2
(b) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGENTRY, CONTIN-3
UOUSPHYSICALPRESENCE, LACK OFABANDONMENT OF 4
R
ESIDENCE.—To establish that an alien was 18 years of 5
age or younger on the date on which the alien entered 6
the United States, and has continuously resided in the 7
United States since such entry, as required under section 8
102(b)(1)(B), that an alien has been continuously phys-9
ically present in the United States, as required under sec-10
tion 102(b)(1)(A) or 202(a)(2), or that an alien has not 11
abandoned residence in the United States, as required 12
under section 104(a)(1)(B), the alien may submit the fol-13
lowing forms of evidence: 14
(1) Passport entries, including admission 15
stamps on the alien’s passport. 16
(2) Any document from the Department of Jus-17
tice or the Department of Homeland Security noting 18
the alien’s date of entry into the United States. 19
(3) Records from any educational institution 20
the alien has attended in the United States. 21
(4) Employment records of the alien that in-22
clude the employer’s name and contact information, 23
or other records demonstrating earned income. 24
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(5) Records of service from the Uniformed 1
Services. 2
(6) Official records from a religious entity con-3
firming the alien’s participation in a religious cere-4
mony. 5
(7) A birth certificate for a child who was born 6
in the United States. 7
(8) Hospital or medical records showing med-8
ical treatment or hospitalization, the name of the 9
medical facility or physician, and the date of the 10
treatment or hospitalization. 11
(9) Automobile license receipts or registration. 12
(10) Deeds, mortgages, or rental agreement 13
contracts. 14
(11) Rent receipts or utility bills bearing the 15
alien’s name or the name of an immediate family 16
member of the alien, and the alien’s address. 17
(12) Tax receipts. 18
(13) Insurance policies. 19
(14) Remittance records, including copies of 20
money order receipts sent in or out of the country. 21
(15) Travel records. 22
(16) Dated bank transactions. 23
(17) Two or more sworn affidavits from individ-24
uals who are not related to the alien who have direct 25
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knowledge of the alien’s continuous physical pres-1
ence in the United States, that contain— 2
(A) the name, address, and telephone num-3
ber of the affiant; and 4
(B) the nature and duration of the rela-5
tionship between the affiant and the alien. 6
(18) Any other evidence determined to be cred-7
ible by the Secretary. 8
(c) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGADMISSION TO AN 9
I
NSTITUTION OFHIGHEREDUCATION.—To establish that 10
an alien has been admitted to an institution of higher edu-11
cation, the alien may submit to the Secretary a document 12
from the institution of higher education certifying that the 13
alien— 14
(1) has been admitted to the institution; or 15
(2) is currently enrolled in the institution as a 16
student. 17
(d) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGRECEIPT OF ADE-18
GREEFROM ANINSTITUTION OFHIGHEREDUCATION.— 19
To establish that an alien has acquired a degree from an 20
institution of higher education in the United States, the 21
alien may submit to the Secretary a diploma or other doc-22
ument from the institution stating that the alien has re-23
ceived such a degree. 24
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(e) DOCUMENTSESTABLISHINGRECEIPT OF AHIGH 1
S
CHOOLDIPLOMA, GENERALEDUCATIONALDEVELOP-2
MENTCREDENTIAL, OR ARECOGNIZEDEQUIVALENT.— 3
To establish that in the United States an alien has earned 4
a high school diploma or a commensurate alternative 5
award from a public or private high school, has obtained 6
the General Education Development credential, or other-7
wise has satisfied section 102(b)(1)(D)(iii), the alien may 8
submit to the Secretary the following: 9
(1) A high school diploma, certificate of comple-10
tion, or other alternate award. 11
(2) A high school equivalency diploma or certifi-12
cate recognized under State law. 13
(3) Evidence that the alien passed a State-au-14
thorized exam, including the General Education De-15
velopment test, in the United States. 16
(4) Evidence that the alien successfully com-17
pleted an area career and technical education pro-18
gram, such as a certification, certificate, or similar 19
alternate award. 20
(5) Evidence that the alien obtained a recog-21
nized postsecondary credential. 22
(6) Any other evidence determined to be cred-23
ible by the Secretary. 24
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(f) DOCUMENTSESTABLISHINGENROLLMENT IN AN 1
E
DUCATIONALPROGRAM.—To establish that an alien is 2
enrolled in any school or education program described in 3
section 102(b)(1)(D)(iv) or 104(a)(1)(C), the alien may 4
submit school records from the United States school that 5
the alien is currently attending that include— 6
(1) the name of the school; and 7
(2) the alien’s name, periods of attendance, and 8
current grade or educational level. 9
(g) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGEXEMPTIONFROM 10
A
PPLICATIONFEES.—To establish that an alien is exempt 11
from an application fee under this Act, the alien may sub-12
mit to the Secretary the following relevant documents: 13
(1) D
OCUMENTS TO ESTABLISH AGE .—To es-14
tablish that an alien meets an age requirement, the 15
alien may provide proof of identity, as described in 16
subsection (a), that establishes that the alien is 18 17
years of age or younger. 18
(2) D
OCUMENTS TO ESTABLISH INCOME .—To 19
establish the alien’s income, the alien may provide— 20
(A) employment records or other records of 21
earned income, including records that have been 22
maintained by the Social Security Administra-23
tion, the Internal Revenue Service, or any other 24
Federal, State, or local government agency; 25
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(B) bank records; or 1
(C) at least two sworn affidavits from indi-2
viduals who are not related to the alien and 3
who have direct knowledge of the alien’s work 4
and income that contain— 5
(i) the name, address, and telephone 6
number of the affiant; and 7
(ii) the nature and duration of the re-8
lationship between the affiant and the 9
alien. 10
(3) D
OCUMENTS TO ESTABLISH FOSTER CARE , 11
LACK OF FAMILIAL SUPPORT , OR SERIOUS, CHRONIC 12
DISABILITY.—To establish that the alien is in foster 13
care, lacks parental or familial support, or has a se-14
rious, chronic disability, the alien may provide at 15
least two sworn affidavits from individuals who are 16
not related to the alien and who have direct knowl-17
edge of the circumstances that contain— 18
(A) a statement that the alien is in foster 19
care, otherwise lacks any parental or other fa-20
miliar support, or has a serious, chronic dis-21
ability, as appropriate; 22
(B) the name, address, and telephone num-23
ber of the affiant; and 24
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(C) the nature and duration of the rela-1
tionship between the affiant and the alien. 2
(h) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGQUALIFICATION FOR 3
H
ARDSHIPEXEMPTION.—To establish that an alien satis-4
fies one of the criteria for the hardship exemption set forth 5
in section 104(a)(2)(C), the alien may submit to the Sec-6
retary at least two sworn affidavits from individuals who 7
are not related to the alien and who have direct knowledge 8
of the circumstances that warrant the exemption, that 9
contain— 10
(1) the name, address, and telephone number of 11
the affiant; and 12
(2) the nature and duration of the relationship 13
between the affiant and the alien. 14
(i) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGSERVICE IN THE 15
U
NIFORMEDSERVICES.—To establish that an alien has 16
served in the Uniformed Services for at least 2 years and, 17
if discharged, received an honorable discharge, the alien 18
may submit to the Secretary— 19
(1) a Department of Defense form DD–214; 20
(2) a National Guard Report of Separation and 21
Record of Service form 22; 22
(3) personnel records for such service from the 23
appropriate Uniformed Service; or 24
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(4) health records from the appropriate Uni-1
formed Service. 2
(j) D
OCUMENTSESTABLISHINGEARNEDINCOME.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An alien may satisfy the 4
earned income requirement under section 5
104(a)(1)(C)(iii) by submitting records that— 6
(A) establish compliance with such require-7
ment; and 8
(B) have been maintained by the Social Se-9
curity Administration, the Internal Revenue 10
Service, or any other Federal, State, or local 11
government agency. 12
(2) O
THER DOCUMENTS .—An alien who is un-13
able to submit the records described in paragraph 14
(1) may satisfy the earned income requirement by 15
submitting at least two types of reliable documents 16
that provide evidence of employment or other forms 17
of earned income, including— 18
(A) bank records; 19
(B) business records; 20
(C) employer or contractor records; 21
(D) records of a labor union, day labor 22
center, or organization that assists workers in 23
employment; 24
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(E) sworn affidavits from individuals who 1
are not related to the alien and who have direct 2
knowledge of the alien’s work, that contain— 3
(i) the name, address, and telephone 4
number of the affiant; and 5
(ii) the nature and duration of the re-6
lationship between the affiant and the 7
alien; 8
(F) remittance records; or 9
(G) any other evidence determined to be 10
credible by the Secretary. 11
(k) A
UTHORITYTOPROHIBITUSE OFCERTAIN 12
D
OCUMENTS.—If the Secretary determines, after publica-13
tion in the Federal Register and an opportunity for public 14
comment, that any document or class of documents does 15
not reliably establish identity or that permanent resident 16
status under this Act (whether on a conditional basis, or 17
without the conditional basis as provided in section 18
104(c)(2)) is being obtained fraudulently to an unaccept-19
able degree, the Secretary may prohibit or restrict the use 20
of such document or class of documents. 21
SEC. 308. RULEMAKING. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 23
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall pub-24
lish in the Federal Register interim final rules imple-25
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menting this Act, which shall allow eligible individuals to 1
immediately apply for relief under this Act. Notwith-2
standing section 553 of title 5, United States Code, the 3
regulation shall be effective, on an interim basis, imme-4
diately upon publication, but may be subject to change and 5
revision after public notice and opportunity for a period 6
of public comment. The Secretary shall finalize such rules 7
not later than 180 days after the date of publication. 8
(b) P
APERWORK REDUCTIONACT.—The require-9
ments under chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 10
(commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’) 11
shall not apply to any action to implement this Act. 12
SEC. 309. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary may not disclose 14
or use information (including information provided during 15
administrative or judicial review) provided in applications 16
filed under this Act or in requests for DACA for the pur-17
pose of immigration enforcement. 18
(b) R
EFERRALSPROHIBITED.—The Secretary, based 19
solely on information provided in an application for adjust-20
ment of status under this Act (including information pro-21
vided during administrative or judicial review) or an appli-22
cation for DACA, may not refer an applicant to U.S. Im-23
migration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and 24
Border Protection, or any designee of either such entity. 25
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(c) LIMITEDEXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub-1
sections (a) and (b), information provided in an applica-2
tion for adjustment of status under this Act may be 3
shared with Federal security and law enforcement agen-4
cies— 5
(1) for assistance in the consideration of an ap-6
plication for adjustment of status under this Act; 7
(2) to identify or prevent fraudulent claims; 8
(3) for national security purposes; or 9
(4) for the investigation or prosecution of any 10
felony offense not related to immigration status. 11
(d) P
ENALTY.—Any person who knowingly uses, pub-12
lishes, or permits information to be examined in violation 13
of this section shall be fined not more than $10,000. 14
SEC. 310. GRANT PROGRAM TO ASSIST ELIGIBLE APPLI-15
CANTS. 16
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish, 17
within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a pro-18
gram to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 19
nonprofit organizations that will use the funding to assist 20
eligible applicants under this Act by providing them with 21
the services described in subsection (b). 22
(b) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Grant funds awarded under 23
this section shall be used for the design and implementa-24
tion of programs that provide— 25
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(1) information to the public regarding the eli-1
gibility and benefits of permanent resident status 2
under this Act (whether on a conditional basis, or 3
without the conditional basis as provided in section 4
104(c)(2)), particularly to individuals potentially eli-5
gible for such status; 6
(2) assistance, within the scope of authorized 7
practice of immigration law, to individuals submit-8
ting applications for adjustment of status under this 9
Act (whether on a conditional basis, or without the 10
conditional basis as provided in section 104(c)(2)), 11
including— 12
(A) screening prospective applicants to as-13
sess their eligibility for such status; 14
(B) completing applications and petitions, 15
including providing assistance in obtaining the 16
requisite documents and supporting evidence; 17
and 18
(C) providing any other assistance that the 19
Secretary or grantee considers useful or nec-20
essary to apply for adjustment of status under 21
this Act (whether on a conditional basis, or 22
without the conditional basis as provided in sec-23
tion 104(c)(2)); and 24
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(3) assistance, within the scope of authorized 1
practice of immigration law, and instruction, to indi-2
viduals— 3
(A) on the rights and responsibilities of 4
United States citizenship; 5
(B) in civics and English as a second lan-6
guage; 7
(C) in preparation for the General Edu-8
cation Development test; and 9
(D) in applying for adjustment of status 10
and United States citizenship. 11
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 12
(1) A
MOUNTS AUTHORIZED .—There are author-13
ized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec-14
essary for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 15
2034 to carry out this section. 16
(2) A
VAILABILITY.—Any amounts appropriated 17
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain available 18
until expended. 19
SEC. 311. PROVISIONS AFFECTING ELIGIBILITY FOR AD-20
JUSTMENT OF STATUS. 21
An alien’s eligibility to be lawfully admitted for per-22
manent residence under this Act (whether on a conditional 23
basis, or without the conditional basis as provided in sec-24
tion 104(c)(2)) shall not preclude the alien from seeking 25
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any status under any other provision of law for which the 1
alien may otherwise be eligible. 2
SEC. 312. SUPPLEMENTARY SURCHARGE FOR APPOINTED 3
COUNSEL. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 302 5
and in cases where the applicant is exempt from paying 6
a fee under section 303(c), in any case in which a fee is 7
charged pursuant to this Act, an additional surcharge of 8
$25 shall be imposed and collected for the purpose of pro-9
viding appointed counsel to applicants seeking judicial re-10
view of the Secretary’s decision to provisionally deny an 11
application under this Act. 12
(b) I
MMIGRATIONCOUNSELACCOUNT.—There is es-13
tablished in the general fund of the Treasury a separate 14
account which shall be known as the ‘‘Immigration Coun-15
sel Account’’. Fees collected under subsection (a) shall be 16
deposited into the Immigration Counsel Account and shall 17
remain available until expended for purposes of providing 18
appointed counsel as required under this Act. 19
(c) R
EPORT.—At the end of each 2-year period, be-20
ginning with the establishment of this account, the Sec-21
retary of Homeland Security shall submit a report to the 22
Congress concerning the status of the account, including 23
any balances therein, and recommend any adjustment in 24
the prescribed fee that may be required to ensure that the 25
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receipts collected from the fee charged for the succeeding 1
two years equal, as closely as possible, the cost of pro-2
viding appointed counsel as required under this Act. 3
SEC. 313. ANNUAL REPORT ON PROVISIONAL DENIAL AU-4
THORITY. 5
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 6
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of 7
Homeland Security shall submit to the Congress a report 8
detailing the number of applicants that receive— 9
(1) a provisional denial under this Act; 10
(2) a final denial under this Act without seek-11
ing judicial review; 12
(3) a final denial under this Act after seeking 13
judicial review; and 14
(4) an approval under this Act after seeking ju-15
dicial review. 16
Æ
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