Immigration News

USCIS Announces New Guidance Regarding Indochinese Parolee Adjustments

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today two significant changes to the management of the Indochinese Parolee Adjustment Program. Statutory changes included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 (Public Law 108-447) have eliminated both the three-year filing period window and the adjustment cap. Prior to the recent changes, Section 586 of Public Law 106-429 (often referred to as the “Indochinese Parolee Adjustment Act”) limited the total number of eligible individuals who could adjust under this provision to 5,000. The Act also required individuals to file their applications within a three-year period that began on January 27, 2003 and was scheduled to end on January 25, 2006. Both of these restrictions have been eliminated. The Indochinese Parolee Adjustment Act authorizes the granting of lawful permanent resident status to certain eligible parolees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Following the Vietnam War, certain individuals from those three countries were paroled into the United States and have remained here without a permanent resolution of their immigration status. To qualify for adjustment of status under Section 586, the applicant must be a native or citizen of Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos who was inspected and paroled into the United States prior to October 1, 1997 and was physically present in the United States on October 1, 1997. In addition, the applicant must have been paroled into the United States in one of three ways: from Vietnam through the Orderly Departure Program, from a refugee camp in East Asia, or from a displaced person camp administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand. Eligible individuals applying for adjustment of status under section 586 must send Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status),

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	The USCIS may not approve or deny your Employment Authorization Document If USCIS does not approve or deny your Employment Authorization Document application within 90 days (within 30 days for an asylum applicant; note: asylum applicants are eligible to file for EADs only after waiting 150 days from the date they filed their properly completed original asylum applications), you may request an interim Employment Authorization Document.