Order Code RS22111
April 11, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Alien Legalization and Adjustment of Status:
A Primer
Ruth Ellen Wasem
Specialist in Immigration Policy
Domestic Social Policy Division
Summary
Immigration patterns have changed substantially since 1952, when policy makers
codifying the Immigration and Nationality Act assumed that most aliens becoming legal
permanent residents (LPRs) of the United States would be arriving from abroad. In
1975, more than 80% of all LPRs arrived from abroad. By 2002, however, 64% of all
aliens who became LPRs had adjusted in the United States. This report summarizes the
main avenues for foreign nationals currently in the United States — legally or illegally
— to become LPRs. Alien legalization or “amnesty,” as well as adjustment of status
and cancellation of removal options, are briefly discussed. Designed as a primer on the
issues, the report provides references to other CRS products that track pertinent
legislation and analyze these issues more fully. This report will be updated as needed.
Background
Alien legalization or “amnesty,” as well as special provisions to allow certain aliens
to adjust to legal permanent resident (LPR) status, are among the most controversial
issues of U.S. immigration policy. President George W. Bush has proposed a new
expanded guest worker program and included an increase in permanent legal immigration
as a key component.1 Among the thorny questions raised by such proposals are: would
unauthorized aliens (i.e., illegal aliens) currently in the United States be eligible for the
visa? and would the proposal include a mechanism for guest workers to obtain LPR
status?2 This report summarizes the main options for foreign nationals currently in the
United States — legally or illegally — to become LPRs. As discussed more fully below,
most of these options would hinge on Congress enacting special legislation.
1 The White House, Fact Sheet: Fair and Secure Immigration Reform, Jan. 7, 2004.
2 For a full discussion and analysis of these issues, see CRS Report RL32044, Immigration:
Policy Considerations Related to Guest Worker Programs, by Andorra Bruno.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Immigrant admissions, as well as adjustments to LPR status, are subject to a complex
set of numerical limits and preference categories that give priority for admission on the
basis of family relationships, needed skills, humanitarian concerns, and geographic
diversity.3 When Congress first codified the assortment of immigration laws into the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in 1952, the assumption was that most aliens who
would receive LPR status would be coming to the United States from abroad. Indeed, 30
years ago, more than 80% of the 386,194 aliens who became LPRs of the United States
had arrived from abroad. By FY2002, in contrast, a total of 679,305 aliens (64%)
adjusted to LPR status in the United States while only 384,427 arrived as LPRs from
abroad.4 That the number of LPRs arriving from abroad has generally remained around
400,000 for the past 30 years while the total number of LPRs now hovers around one
million annually, highlights the contribution that aliens adjusting to LPR status after being
in the United States is making to the growth of permanent legal immigration.
In addition to LPRs, each year millions of foreign nationals come temporarily on
nonimmigrant visas (e.g., tourists, foreign students and intra-company business transfers).
It is estimated that annually 700,000 to 800,000 foreign nationals either overstay their
nonimmigrant visas or enter the country illegally and thus are unauthorized aliens. As of
March 2004, there were an estimated 10.3 million aliens living here without legal
authorization to do so.5
Overview on Avenues to LPR Status
There are several main options for aliens in the United States to become LPRs
without leaving the country, and as Figure 1 illustrates, most involving unauthorized
aliens would require Congress to enact a law. To adjust status under current law, aliens
must be in the United States legally on a temporary visa and eligible for a LPR visa;6
aliens fleeing persecution may be granted asylum;7 or — in very limited circumstances
— unauthorized aliens may become LPRs through cancellation of removal by an
immigration judge. Even aliens in the United States legally on a temporary visa can only
adjust to LPR status if they qualify under the statutory set of numerical limits and
preference categories that give priority for admission on the basis of family relationships,
needed skills, and geographic diversity.
3 For analysis of immigration admissions categories, numerical limits, and visa priority dates, see
CRS Report RL32235, U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions, by Ruth Ellen
Wasem.
4 CRS analysis of data published by the U.S. Department of Justice in the 1975 Statistical
Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (1977), and U.S. Department of
Homeland Security in the 2002 Statistical Yearbook of Immigration (2004).
5 CRS Report RS21938, Unauthorized Aliens in the United States: Estimates Since 1986, by
Ruth Ellen Wasem.
6 Business travelers and tourists who come to the United States through the Visa Waiver Program
are not eligible for adjustment of status. CRS Report RL32221, Visa Waiver Program, by Alison
Siskin.
7 For a full discussion of asylum, see CRS Report RL32621, U.S. Immigration Policy on Asylum
Seekers, by Ruth Ellen Wasem.

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INA §245 permits an alien who is legally but temporarily in the United States to
adjust to LPR status if the alien becomes eligible on the basis of a family relationship or
job skills, without having to go abroad to obtain an immigrant visa. INA §245 was
limited to aliens who were here legally until 1994, when Congress enacted a three-year
trial provision (commonly referred to as §245(I)) that allowed aliens here illegally to
adjust status once they became eligible for an LPR visa, provided they paid a large penalty
fee. In 2000, Congress temporarily reinstated §245(I) through April 30, 2001(P.L.
106-554).8
Figure 1. Principal Avenues for Legal Permanent Residence
Alien in the U.S. legally
Alien in the U.S. legally
Alien in the U.S. illegally,
on temporary visa, but
on temporary visa and
but otherwise eligible
not eligible for LPR visa
eligible for LPR visa
for LPR visa
Would need special provisions
Could have adjusted
via INA 245(i) before
April 30, 2001
Adjusts to LPR
Must return
status when visa
home unless
or number
new law is
Would need
Alien in the U.S.
becomes
enacted
legalization
illegally and not
available
provisions
eligible for LPR visa
Would need special provisions
In very limited
Alien (legal or
circumstances may
illegal entry) is
Alien in the U.S. temporarily with
become LPR via
granted asylum
some type of humanitarian relief, but
court-ordered
not eligible for asylum or LPR visa
cancellation of removal
Source: CRS synthesis of current legal options under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Special Provisions for Adjustment of Status
Over the years, Congress has enacted statutes that enable certain aliens in the United
States on a recognized — but non-permanent — basis to adjust their status to legal
permanent residence when they are not otherwise eligible for an immigrant visa. Since
the codification of the INA in 1952, there have been at least 16 Acts of Congress that have
enabled certain aliens in the United States in some type of temporary legal status to adjust
to LPR status. Most of these adjustment of status laws focused on humanitarian cases,
e.g., aliens paroled into the United States by the Attorney General or aliens from specific
8 For background and analysis, see CRS Report RL31373, Immigration: Adjustment to Permanent
Resident Status Under Section 245(i), by Andorra Bruno.

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countries who were given blanket relief from removal such as temporary protected status
(TPS), deferred enforced departure (DED), or extended voluntary departure (EVD).9
The other major group of aliens adjusting status through special provisions involved
nonimmigrants and typically were employment-based.10 Beneficiaries of these special
provisions included: nonimmigrant alien physicians who had graduated from a medical
school or qualified to practice medicine in a foreign state and were fully and permanently
licensed and practicing medicine in a U.S. state on January 9, 1978; nonimmigrant retired
employees of international organizations and/or their immediate families who have lived
in the United States for specified periods of time, totaling at least 15 years for eligible
adults and 7 years for children; and nonimmigrant nurses here as of September 1, 1989
who had been employed in the United States as registered nurses for at least three years
before application for adjustment and whose continued employment met specified
certification standards.
Legalization
The issue of whether aliens residing in the United States without legal authorization
may be permitted to become LPRs has been debated periodically, and at various times
Congress has enacted legalization programs. In 1929, for example, Congress enacted a
law that some consider a precursor to legalization because it permitted certain aliens
arriving prior to 1921 “in whose case there is no record of admission for permanent
residence” to register with INS’s predecessor agency so that they could become LPRs.
In 1952, Congress included a registry provision (aimed at aliens who had been admitted
but whose files were lost) when it codified the INA, and this provision ultimately evolved
into an avenue for unauthorized aliens to legalize their status.11
When Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986,
it included provisions that enabled several million aliens illegally residing in the United
States to become LPRs. Generally, legislation such as IRCA is referred to as an
“amnesty” or a legalization program because it provides LPR status to aliens who are
otherwise residing illegally in the United States.12 Although legalization is considered
9 For background on blanket forms of relief and the nationals who have received them, see CRS
Report RS20844, Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues, by Ruth
Ellen Wasem and Karma Ester.
10 CRS Congressional Distribution Memorandum, Special Adjustment of Status Legislation,
1957-1996, by Joyce Vialet, Mar. 28, 1998. (Available from author of this report.)
11 For background and analysis, see CRS Report RL30578, Immigration: Registry as Means of
Obtaining Lawful Permanent Residence, by Andorra Bruno.
12 Some consider the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) of
1997 a legalization program because the primary beneficiaries were Nicaraguans and Cubans who
had come to the United States by December 1, 1995, but who had not been given any recognized
legal status typically afforded to humanitarian migrants such as Temporary Protected Status,
Extended Voluntary Departure, or Deferred Enforced Departure. Others view the Nicaraguans
as having a quasi-legal status because the creation of the Nicaraguan Review Program in 1987
by then-Attorney General Edwin Meese gave special attention to the Nicaraguans who had been
denied asylum.

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distinct from adjustment of status, most legalization provisions are codified under the
adjustment or change of status chapter of INA.
There were two temporary legalization programs created by IRCA.13 The “pre-1982”
program provided legal status for otherwise eligible aliens who had resided continuously
in the United States in an unlawful status since before January 1, 1982. They were
required to apply during a 12-month period beginning May 5, 1987. The “special
agricultural worker” (SAW) program provided legal status for otherwise eligible aliens
who had worked at least 90 days in seasonal agriculture in the United States during the
year ending May 1, 1986. They were required to apply during an 18-month period
beginning June 1, 1987 and ending November 30, 1988. Approximately 2.7 million
aliens qualified for legal status under the pre-1982 and SAW programs. Of this total, 1.6
million or 59% qualified under the pre-1982 program, and 1.1 million or 41% qualified
under the SAW program.14
Cancellation of Removal
The Attorney General has the discretionary authority under the INA to grant relief
from deportation and adjustment of status to otherwise illegal aliens who meet certain
criteria. Generally, aliens seeking this type of relief are those who have established “deep
roots” in the United States and who can demonstrate good moral character as well as
hardship to their family here if they are returned to their native country. Decisions to
grant relief are made on a case-by-case basis. This avenue, formerly known as suspension
of deportation, is now called cancellation of removal as a result of the Illegal Immigrant
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 (Division C of P.L. 104-
208).
In addition to changing the name, IIRIRA established tighter standards for obtaining
this relief. The hardship threshold previously was “extreme” hardship to the alien, the
alien’s citizen or permanent resident alien spouse, children, or parent. Now the language
states “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship.” The length of time the alien had to
be physically residing in the United States was increased from 7 to 10 years. Moreover,
the time span used to calculate the 10-year physical presence requirement now terminates
when the alien receives a notice to appear (the document that initiates removal
proceedings) or when the alien commits a serious crime. IIRIRA also established for the
first-time limits on the number of people who could receive cancellation of removal —
4,000 each fiscal year.15
13 Act of Nov. 6, 1986, P.L. 99-603; 100 Stat. 3359. The legalization provisions under discussion
here were amendments to INA. The pre-1982 program was authorized by §245A of the INA and
the special agricultural worker (SAW) program by §210 of the INA.
14 CRS Congressional Distribution Memorandum, Alien Legalization Provisions of IRCA, by
Joyce Vialet, Feb. 26, 1999. (Available from author of this report.)
15 For a fuller discussion of the provisions, see CRS Report 97-606, Suspension of Deportation:
Tighter Standards for Canceling Removal, by Larry M. Eig; and CRS Report 97-702, Suspension
of Deportation: Effect of §309(c)(5) of IIRIRA on Pending Deportation Cases, by Larry M. Eig
and Andre O. Mander.

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