119-hr5098

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5098 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5098

 To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain 
 aliens.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 September 2, 2025

Mr. Vasquez (for himself, Ms. Craig, Mr. Vargas, Mrs. Ramirez, and Ms. 
 Velazquez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To provide for conditional lawful permanent residency for certain 
 aliens.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Our Workforce Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONAL LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENCY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary may adjust the status of an alien to 
that of a conditional lawful permanent resident in accordance with this 
section.

    (b) Status Defined.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``conditional lawful permanent resident'' means a status as a 
nonimmigrant with a period of stay of 2 years, with employment 
authorization to be provided concurrently.
            (c) Eligibility.--An alien is eligible for adjustment of status if 
that alien--

    (1) submits an application, at such time, in such form, and 
 containing such information as the Secretary may require;

    (2) pays such fee as the Secretary may establish;

    (3) is present in the United States as of January 1, 2024--
        (A) without lawful status under the immigration 
 laws;
        (B) with deferred action granted to the alien 
 pursuant to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 
 program announced by President Obama on June 15, 2012; 
 or
            (C) with status as a nonimmigrant that has 
 employment authorization;

    (4) has been continuously present in the United States 
 during the period beginning on January 1, 2024, through the 
 date of the application for status;

    (5) has been employed for a cumulative period of one 
 hundred days (consecutive or not) at any time, in a covered 
 profession; and

    (6) is not inadmissible under paragraph

    (1) ,

    (6)
        (E) ,

    (6)
        (G) ,

    (8) , or

    (10) of 

section 212

    (a) of the Immigration and 
 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182

    (a) ), except that with respect to 
 any benefit under this Act, and in addition to the waivers 
 under subsection

    (g) , the Secretary may waive the grounds of 
 inadmissibility under paragraph

    (1) ,

    (6)
        (E) ,

    (6)
        (G) , or

    (10)
            (D) of 

section 212

    (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
 U.S.C. 1182

    (a) ) for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or 
 because the waiver is otherwise in the public interest;
            (d) Conditions of Status.--An alien granted conditional lawful 
permanent resident status under this section shall conform to the 
following requirements:

    (1) The alien shall remain continuously physically present 
 in the United States.

    (2) The alien shall maintain not less than one hundred 
 cumulative days of annual employment for two consecutive years 
 in a covered profession.

    (3) The alien shall be subject to all grounds of 
 deportability under 

section 237.

    (e) Adjustment of Status.--At the time that the conditional lawful 
permanent resident status of an alien terminates, the Secretary shall 
immediately adjust the status of that alien to that of a lawful 
permanent resident--

    (1) unless the alien makes a timely objection in writing; 
 and

    (2) if the alien pays such fee as the Secretary may 
 establish and passes an additional background investigation.

    (f) Not Subject to Numerical Limitations.--An alien whose status is 
adjusted to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residency 
under this section is not subject to the worldwide levels or numerical 
limitations of 

section 201

    (a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

    (g) Criminal and National Security Bars.--

    (1) Grounds of ineligibility.--Except as provided in 
 paragraph

    (2) , an alien is ineligible for adjustment of status 
 under this title if any of the following apply:
        (A) The alien is inadmissible under paragraph

    (2) or

    (3) of 

section 212

    (a) of the Immigration and 
 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182

    (a) ).
        (B) Excluding any offense under State law for which 
 an essential element is the alien's immigration status, 
 and any minor traffic offense, the alien has been 
 convicted of--
            (i) any felony offense;
            (ii) three or more misdemeanor offenses 
 (excluding simple possession of cannabis or 
 cannabis-related paraphernalia, any offense 
 involving cannabis or cannabis-related 
 paraphernalia which is no longer prosecutable 
 in the State in which the conviction was 
 entered, and any offense involving civil 
 disobedience without violence) not occurring on 
 the same date, and not arising out of the same 
 act, omission, or scheme of misconduct; or
            (iii) a misdemeanor offense of domestic 
 violence, unless the alien demonstrates that 
 such crime is related to the alien having 
 been--
            (I) a victim of domestic violence, 
 sexual assault, stalking, child abuse 
 or neglect, abuse or neglect in later 
 life, or human trafficking;
            (II) battered or subjected to 
 extreme cruelty; or
            (III) a victim of criminal activity 
 described in 

section 101

    (a)

    (15)
        (U)
            (iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
 (8 U.S.C. 1101

    (a)

    (15)
        (U)
            (iii) ).

    (2) Waivers for certain misdemeanors.--For humanitarian 
 purposes, family unity, or if otherwise in the public interest, 
 the Secretary may--
        (A) waive the grounds of inadmissibility under 
 subparagraphs
        (A) ,
            (C) , and
            (D) of 

section 212

    (a)

    (2) of 
 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
 1182

    (a)

    (2) ), unless the conviction forming the basis 
 for inadmissibility would otherwise render the alien 
 ineligible under paragraph

    (1)
        (B) (subject to 
 subparagraph
        (B) ); and
        (B) for purposes of clauses
            (ii) and
            (iii) of 
 paragraph

    (1)
        (B) , waive consideration of--
            (i) one misdemeanor offense if the alien 
 has not been convicted of any offense in the 5-
 year period preceding the date on which the 
 alien applies for adjustment of status under 
 this title; or
            (ii) up to two misdemeanor offenses if the 
 alien has not been convicted of any offense in 
 the 10-year period preceding the date on which 
 the alien applies for adjustment of status 
 under this title.

    (3) === Definitions. ===
-For purposes of this subsection--
        (A) the term ``felony offense'' means an offense 
 under Federal or State law that is punishable by a 
 maximum term of imprisonment of more than 1 year;
        (B) the term ``misdemeanor offense'' means an 
 offense under Federal or State law that is punishable 
 by a term of imprisonment of more than 5 days but not 
 more than 1 year; and
            (C) the term ``crime of domestic violence'' means 
 any offense that has as an element the use, attempted 
 use, or threatened use of physical force against a 
 person committed by a current or former spouse of the 
 person, by an individual with whom the person shares a 
 child in common, by an individual who is cohabiting 
 with or has cohabited with the person as a spouse, by 
 an individual similarly situated to a spouse of the 
 person under the domestic or family violence laws of 
 the jurisdiction where the offense occurs, or by any 
 other individual against a person who is protected from 
 that individual's acts under the domestic or family 
 violence laws of the United States or any State, Indian 
 Tribal government, or unit of local government.

    (h) 

=== Definitions. ===
-For purposes of this section:

    (1) In general.--Terms used have the meanings given such 
 terms in 

section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

    (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of Homeland Security.

    (3) Covered profession defined.--For purposes of this 
 section, the term ``covered profession'' means the following:
        (A) Health care.
        (B) Emergency response.
            (C) Energy.
            (D) Education, including early education.
        (E) Sanitation.
        (F) Restaurant ownership, food preparation, 
 vending, catering, food packaging, food services, or 
 delivery.
        (G) Hotel or retail.
        (H) Fish, poultry, and meat processing work.
            (I) Agricultural work, including labor that is 
 seasonal in nature.
        (J) Commercial or residential landscaping.
        (K) Commercial or residential construction or 
 renovation.
            (L) Housing, residential, and commercial 
 construction related activities or public works 
 construction.
            (M) Domestic work in private households, including 
 child care, home care, or house cleaning.
        (N) Natural disaster recovery, disaster 
 reconstruction, and related construction.
        (O) Home and community-based work, including--
            (i) home health care;
            (ii) residential care;
            (iii) assistance with activities of daily 
 living;
            (iv) any service provided by direct care 
 workers (as defined in 

section 799B of the 
 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p)), 
 personal care aides, job coaches, or supported 
 employment providers; and
            (v) any other provision of care to 
 individuals in their homes by direct service 
 providers, personal care attendants, and home 
 health aides.
        (P) Family care, including child care services, in-
 home child care services such as nanny services, and 
 care services provided by family members to other 
 family members.
        (Q) Manufacturing.
        (R) Warehousing.
        (S) Transportation or logistics.
        (T) Janitorial.
        (U) Laundromat and dry-cleaning operators.
            (V) Any other work performed by ``essential 
 critical infrastructure workers'', as described in the 
 memorandum of the Department of Homeland Security 
 entitled ``Advisory Memorandum on Ensuring Essential 
 Critical Infrastructure Workers Ability to Work During 
 the COVID-19 Response'', which was originally issued by 
 the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure 
 Security Agency on March 19, 2020, and last updated on 
 August 10, 2021.
        (W) Any other work, industry, or profession that a 
 State or local government deemed essential during the 
 COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
            (X) Workers who are employed in any of the listed 
 professions who do so remotely or hybrid.
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