USCIS : LIFE Act

The LULAC, CSS, and ZAMBRANO programs: In 1986, the Congress of the United States passed an amnesty law allowing aliens who had resided continuously and illegally in the United States, without interruption since before January 1, 1982, to apply for permanent residence status. However, one of the law's provisions provided that the application had to be filed before November 6, 1988. The US immigration service refused to accept applications from those persons who had left the United States before or during the required period, even though they had subsequently reentered the United States to again assume an unlawful status in this country. Some of these denied applicants filed suit in federal court seeking the right to file their applications, even though the time for filing had by that time passed. The courts in California, in the LULAC and CSS cases, and in Washington, D.C. in the Zambrano case, agreed with the aliens, and allowed them to file their applications late. The US immigration service has appealed these decisions, and these appeals have gone as high as the US Supreme Court.

Finally, Congress passed the Legal US immigration Family Equity Act (known as the LIFE Act), in December 2000, which now allows these individuals to pursue their applications for permanent residence in the United States. In addition, the LIFE Act prevents the deportation of the spouses and minor children of a person who is applying for late legalization, and they are also eligible for employment authorization.

The LIFE Act legalization regulation was enacted by the U.S. Citizenship and US immigration Services on June 1, 2001.

Applicants for legalization under the LIFE Act must submit their application within one year of the regulation date, to wit, no later than May 31, 2003.