What is the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act?

 Posted on October 18, 2016 in Immigration

United States immigration law is an extremely diverse and complex body of regulations that changes without warning. It is understandable that some visa or green card applicants might conceivably be left without options if their circumstances abruptly change. To help those that might be caught in this kind of situation, Congress passed the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE Act) in 2000. While it may not fit the facts of your situation, it is worth investigating to see if it might.

Passage & Criteria

The LIFE Act was signed into law in December 2000, and its provisions allow some who might normally be ineligible to apply for a green card (referred to in official documents as lawful permanent resident or LPR status) to do so if the appropriate petition or labor certification has been filed for them before April 30, 2001. While this may seem outdated or irrelevant, in reality it still has quite a bit of relevance for potential immigrants from specific countries. For example, the priority date (the number that must come up before your visa may be granted) for certain categories of immigrants from India or Mexico is still listed as being in the 1990s—in other words, the queue to obtain a U.S. visa or green card is more than 20 years long.

The criteria, as laid out by United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), are fairly self-explanatory. You must meet at least one of the following:

• You are the beneficiary of a valid immigrant visa petition or application for a labor certification filed before April 30, 2001;
• If the petition was filed between January 15, 1998 and April 30, 2001, you were physically present in the United States on the date of the LIFE Act’s signing into law—December 21, 2000;
• You are the beneficiary of a petition that has lapsed, but falls under a grandfathered provision; or
• You have a visa immediately available to you and you are admissible to the United States.

Your petition or application must also have been appropriately filed, with all relevant fees paid and timeliness established.

Grandfather Clauses

Sometimes, even if a person’s qualifying petition or application is dropped or otherwise disqualified, he or she may still be eligible for relief under the LIFE Act, thanks to grandfather clauses. Generally, if the petition was approvable when it was filed, you should preserve your eligibility under the LIFE Act, assuming that the petition became null due to circumstances outside your control. For example, if your qualifying relative who filed the petition for you passes away, but the petition was filed in a timely manner and is otherwise acceptable, you should still be grandfathered into the Act.

It is important, however, to realize that having a grandfathered petition does not mean that you stop accruing unlawful presence, if you are indeed in the United States unlawfully. Only an application to adjust status will stop the clock on accruing such presence. Also, if you have more than 180 days’ unlawful presence accrued, and then you leave the country, you will trigger a bar due to inadmissibility, regardless of your eligibility under the LIFE Act.

Ask an Immigration Attorney

While the LIFE Act is not applicable to everyone’s situations, it may very well apply to yours, especially with the long waits for potential immigrants from populous countries like Mexico and India. If you have further questions, consulting a knowledgeable Chicagoland immigration attorney at Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices may help to provide you with answers. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.