23.1 Prior Law and Historical Background.

Provisions allowing for adjustment of status were first included in the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952. Adjustment of status permits certain aliens to become lawful permanent residents of the U.S. without the inconvenience and expense of having to go abroad to obtain an immigrant visa. Sections of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 were enacted by Congress to curb abuses of the adjustment provisions. These laws make adjustment a much less freque ntly used method of obtaining permanent residence by limiting the scope of aliens qualifying for the benefits of adjustment while preserving the original intent of Congress.

Over the years there have been a number of special adjustment programs which were limited to persons meeting particular qualifications and/or applying during certain time frames. The following list describes many of these programs:

PROGRAM	ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA	TIME PERIOD	CLASSIFICATION
Indochina Refugee Adjustment (VICAM) under Pub. L. 95-145 ( Note: See also the entry for Pub. L. 106-429)	Citizen or native of Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia who was (1) paroled into the U.S. as a refugee after 3/31/75 and before 1/1/79 or (2) admitted or paroled prior to 3/31/75 and present in the U.S. on 3/31/75; and the otherwise non-qualifying dependent of such refugee.	10/28/77 - 10/28/83	IC-6, or IC-7 for an otherwise non- qualifying dependent
Conditional Entrant	Entered as a conditional entrant or was paroled as a refugee prior to 4/1/80.	4/1/80 - present	P7-1
Virgin Islands Nonimmigrant	Entered the Virgin Islands of the U.S. as an H-2 nonimmigrant (or as the H-4 or child of such alien) prior to 6/30/75 and has resided in the Virgin Islands since then.	9/30/82 - 9/30/83	VI-6, VI-7
Cuban-Haitian Entrant	Entered the U.S. as a “Cuban Haitian Entrant” or was in the U.S. on 1/1/82 as evidenced by INS records	11/6/86 - 11/6/88	CH-6, CH-7
EVD Adjustment	Member of a nationality group that was granted Extended Voluntary Departure between 11/1/82 and 11/1/87; entered U.S. before 7/21/84 and remained thereafter	12/22/87 - 12/22/89	W3-6
H-1 Nurses	Was is the U.S. as an H-1 registered nurse on 9/1/89 and worked as an RN for 3 years before seeking adjustment	3/20/90 - 3/20/95	RN-6
Chinese Student Protection Act (CSPA)	National of the PRC (or qualified family member) who was in the U.S. between 6/5/89 & 4/11/90	7/1/93 - 6/30/94	EC-6
Indochinese Parolees under Pub. L. 106-429 ( Note: See also the entry for Pub. L. 95-145)	A native or citizen of Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia who was inspected and paroled into the U.S. before 10/1/97 and was physically present in the U.S. on 10/1/97; and (1) was paroled into the U.S. from Vietnam under the auspices of the Orderly Departure Program; or (2) was paroled into the U.S. from a refugee camp in East Asia; or (3) was paroled into the U.S. from a displaced person camp administered by the UNHCR in Thailand.	1/27/03 - 1/25/06	IC-6 Note: Unlike the law which created the earlier IC-6 category, Pub. L. 106-429 contained no provision for non- qualifying dependents.