Legal Immigration Family Equity (LIFE) Act

Under the current system, once a visa is available, an immigrant who is in unlawful status must travel to his/her home country to obtain a visa. However, many immigrants who are in unlawful status cannot return to their countries because in 1996, Congress enacted the three and ten year bars. The three year bar applies to immigrants who reside in the United States unlawfully for more than six months and less than one year. The ten year bar applies to immigrants who reside in the United States unlawfully for more than one year. Thus, if an immigrant is in unlawful status, either the three or ten year bar may be triggered. That means that if the immigrant travels abroad to obtain his/her lawful permanent residence, he/she will be stuck in his/her country for either three or ten years. Although the intent on creating the three and ten year bars was to compel immigrants to leave the country, the result was the opposite; because of the bars, immigrants stayed in the United States in unlawful status.
On December 21, 2000, the President of the United States signed a bill entitled the LIFE Act into law. A part of the LIFE Act is the amendment of Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The original Section 245(i) was enacted in 1994 and allowed aliens who were out of status, entered the U.S. without inspection, or violated the terms of their non-immigrant status to file an adjustment of status if they were beneficiaries of immigration petitions or labor certification applications filed by January 14, 1998. An alien who missed the 01/14/98 deadline could not adjust his/her status if he or she was out of status, entered the U.S. without inspection, or violated the terms of non-immigrant status. The LIFE Act amended Section 245(i) by extending the deadline to April 30, 2001. According to USCIS, as long as you had any "approvable when filed" family petition or labor certification application before the April 30, 2001 deadline, you are "grandfathered" under Section 245(i). Section 245(i) ameliorates the harsh consequences of the three and ten year bars. By paying a hefty fine an immigrant may obtain lawful status in the United States without traveling and without triggering the three and ten year bars.
To be eligible to take advantage of 245(i), the person must meet the following requirements:

1. Physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000;
2. An immigration petition or a labor certificate application is filed for the benefit of the Alien on or before April 30, 2001;
3. The immigration petition or the labor certification application must be approvable at the time of filing. (It means that the application is good on its face); and;
4. Paying a $1,000 penalty at the time of filing I-485.

Remember, this is not legal advice, merely a form of information for all of those people out there who might benefit from this law.