Sponsors (40)
The bill offers a fee-free path to lawful permanent residency and protections for qualifying paroled Ukrainian nationals and their families, but it may tighten eligibility deadlines, limit visa availability for others, and create risks around waiver discretion and certain criminal inadmissibility rules.
Eligible Ukrainian nationals paroled into the U.S. can obtain lawful permanent resident (LPR) status and receive related work authorization without paying adjustment or work-authorizing fees, giving them stability, the ability to work legally, and access to benefits.
Spouses and children who were battered or subjected to extreme cruelty can still access adjustment protections, helping keep families together and protecting victims (supports family safety and reunification).
Applicants receive refugee-level vetting (including an interview) and are protected from removal while a bona fide application is pending, providing procedural safeguards and time for proper adjudication.
Granting LPRs to eligible Ukrainians who are exempt from immigrant numerical limits could reduce the number of family- and employment-based visas available to other applicants, potentially lengthening waits for others seeking residency.
The bill authorizes broad waiver discretion for certain inadmissibility grounds, which could weaken screening rigor or be misapplied, raising national security and public-safety concerns if vetting or waiver use is insufficiently controlled.
Applicants who miss the one-year filing window generally forfeit eligibility and cannot obtain additional parole, putting some individuals (and their family members) at risk of removal despite otherwise qualifying circumstances.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a statutory path to LPR status for certain Ukrainians paroled into the U.S. after Feb 20, 2014, and qualifying family members, with refugee-level vetting and limited inadmissibility waivers.
Official title: To provide for adjustment of status of nationals of Ukraine, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 30, 2025 by William R. Keating · Last progress April 30, 2025
Provides a path to lawful permanent resident (green card) status for certain Ukrainian nationals who were paroled into the United States after February 20, 2014 (or who joined such parolees as spouses, children, parents, or guardians). Applicants must pass security, law-enforcement background checks, and vetting equivalent to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program; DHS may waive many inadmissibility grounds for humanitarian, family-unity, or public-interest reasons but may not waive specified recent criminal grounds. Sets immigration-admissibility and refugee-admissibility rules for these applicants, applies refugee vetting and interviews, and includes protections for spouses whose marriages ended because of battering or extreme cruelty. Adjustment is conditioned on DHS determining the applicant does not pose a threat to national welfare, safety, or security. Effective date is not specified in the text provided.