AILA’s Advocacy Action Center allows you to advocate for legislative and policy reforms consistent with AILA’s principles and priorities.
Get InvolvedThe brand-new 18th edition of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook is now shipping.
Order NowLearn how to tackle challenges like finding and retaining affordable staff, working better in a hybrid or remote environment, when and how to raise fees, and much more.
Register NowAILALink puts an entire immigration law library at your fingertips! Search the AILALink database for all your practice needs—statutes, regs, case law, agency guidance, publications, and more.
AILA Doc. No. 07062166 | Dated June 21, 2007
Title VI of the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639) creates a new Z nonimmigrant visa category for individuals currently in undocumented status and provides for earned adjustment to legal permanent residence.
Grounds for Z Visa Eligibility (Section 601):
Principal Z visa applicants must:
Spouses, children, and elderly parents of principal Z visa applicants can also obtain a Z visa, subject to the following conditions:
Existing grounds of inadmissibility that would NOT apply: unlawful presence bars, failure to attend a removal proceeding, misrepresentation and false claims to USC. No waiver for: grounds related to criminal activity and security risks; aliens who were previously deported and subsequently reentered the country; and certain other grounds. NOTE: Although use of false documents is not grounds for ineligibility, if the applicant is denied either the Z visa or an immigrant visa, she can be prosecuted for having used false documents.
Exceptions to Eligibility - Applicants are ineligible for Z visas if they:
Extreme Hardship Waiver: An extreme hardship waiver is available to individuals with final removal orders or orders of reinstatement of removal (if they were not physically removed).
Z Visa Application Process (Section 601):
Timeline: USCIS will begin accepting Z visa applications 6 months after enactment. Application period will last 1 year, but can be extended by DHS Secretary for an additional year.
Interim Stay of Removal: There is in effect an interim stay of removal for immigrants who are either apprehended or in removal proceedings between date of enactment and the last day of initial registration for a Z visa, provided they establish prima facie eligibility.
Fees: Initial processing fee capped at $1,500 per beneficiary. Additionally, principal applicant must pay $1,000 penalty, $500 State Impact Assistance Fee, and $500 penalty per derivative. The total for a family of four to make an initial Z visa application could run as high as $9000.
Other Application Requirements - Z visa applicants must also:
Probationary Z Visa Status: After an initial background check, to be completed in one business day following acceptance of an application, USCIS will issue a tamper-proof document providing the Z visa applicant with interim work authorization, discretionary advance parole, interim protection from deportation, and temporary suspension of their classification as an unauthorized alien. Once the Z visa is granted (after enforcement benchmarks or "triggers" are met and all background checks are complete), the applicant will receive new documentary evidence of her status and the benefits it confers.
Terms of Z Visa Status (Section 601)
Benefits: The Z visa is good for an initial four years, and accords the visa holder and her spouse and children benefits including work authorization (including complete portability) and travel permission.
Work Requirement: The principal applicant (and any child over 16) must remain employed while in status unless he or she is a full-time student, disabled, or unable to work due to a pregnancy. Limited exception for force majeure interruptions as determined by the Secretary.
Extension of Z Visa Status beyond Initial 4-Year Period
Z visa status may be extended indefinitely, provided that the immigrant:
Lapses in Status and Delays in Filing Extensions: Forgivable only at the discretion of the Secretary. A limited exception is made for victims of domestic violence.
Adjustment to Other Nonimmigrant Status: Z visa holders may not change status to another nonimmigrant visa classification other than the U visa (for crime victims).
Termination of Z Visa Status: Z visa status will terminate if the visa holder fails to timely file an extension of status, becomes ineligible for such status (including by failing to maintain employment), is found removable for criminal conduct, is found newly inadmissible, or uses the Z visa documentation fraudulently. Spouses and children of Z visa holders lose their visas if the principal becomes ineligible. Z visa holders applying under the agriculture work rules have to meet specific prospective work requirements in agriculture.
Adjustment to Lawful Permanent Resident Status for Z Status Aliens (Section 602)
Timing: All Z visa holders would be eligible to apply for permanent residence during a five-year period starting on the date that the pre-5/05 green card backlogs have been eliminated.
Touchback Requirement: Applications for adjustment of status must be filed in person at a U.S. consulate in the immigrant's country of origin. (The Secretary has some discretion regarding the consular filing requirement, but the language is inadequate.)
Fees & Requirements: Principal applicant must pay a $4,000 penalty, plus application fees, and undergo a health screening. The principal must either have paid taxes while in Z visa status or enter into a payment plan with the IRS.
Merit-Based Point System: Green cards for 20% of the estimated universe of adjusting Z nonimmigrants will be made available each year for 5 years, with order of preference determined based upon a special merit-based point system:
Administrative Review, Removal Proceedings, and Judicial Review (Section 603)
Administrative Review: An applicant whose status has been denied, terminated, or revoked may file an administrative appeal no later than 30 days after the decision. Review will be based on the record established at the time of the determination and any newly discovered or previously unavailable evidence. The applicant is entitled to 1 motion to reopen or reconsider.
Review in Removal Proceedings:
Judicial Review:
Confidentiality (Section 604):
The carefully crafted confidentiality provisions included in the original bill were replaced in S. 1639 by the Cornyn amendment adopted on 6/6/07. As a result, many important confidentiality protections have been stripped from this version of the bill. For instance, under section 604 of this bill, confidentiality provisions do not apply to information contained in denied applications for Z visa or LPR status, regardless of why those applications were denied. This section as amended also authorizes disclosure of information from applications in connection with an investigation of civil - in addition to criminal - violations.
DREAM Act (Section 614):
Title VI includes provisions of the DREAM Act that allow long-term residents who entered the U.S. as children to adjust to LPR status. Individuals who are eligible for Z visa status and meet DREAM Act requirements may begin to adjust to LPR status 3 years after the date of enactment. Section 616 also allows provision of in-state tuition to probationary Z or Z visa holders, and federal education assistance to Z visa holders.
AgJOBS (Section 622):
Establishes a program whereby aliens who can demonstrate at least 863 hours or 150 agricultural work days during the 24-month period ending on December 31, 2006, would have an opportunity to adjust their status to that of an alien in "Z-A" status. Z-A aliens who meet certain requirements will receive priority access to green cards.
Cite as AILA Doc. No. 07062166.
American Immigration Lawyers Association
1331 G Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Copyright © 1993-
American Immigration Lawyers Association.
AILA.org should not be relied upon as the exclusive source for your legal research. Nothing on AILA.org constitutes legal advice, and information on AILA.org is not a substitute for independent legal advice based on a thorough review and analysis of the facts of each individual case, and independent research based on statutory and regulatory authorities, case law, policy guidance, and for procedural issues, federal government websites.