If you live in one of the qualified countries and are hoping to immigrate to the United States, then you may be able to use the provisions of NACARA to achieve your goal. This acronym stands for the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act Section 203. This is an act that applies to certain individuals from a list of specific countries. If you are a native of Guatemala, El Salvador, or a former Soviet Union bloc country, then you may be able to immigrate to the United States using the NACARA.

You will need to prove that you entered the United States before a specific date and that applied for asylum by a specified date as well. You will also need to prove that you registered for benefits under the settlement agreement in the class action lawsuit American Baptist Church V. Thornburgh. After October 2000, NACARA also applied to family members of those who qualify and can protect certain foreigners who may have been subjected to extreme cruelty or abuse. Those who have been battered by an U.S. Citizen or a permanent resident can sometimes obtain benefits of the act.

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the section allows qualified individuals to apply for suspension of deportation or for a cancellation of removal. There are standards outlined in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Essentially, a person who qualifies under the circumstances in NACARA can circumvent a deportation or a removal because he or she will be protected by the act.

This means that that immigrant will instead be put on the path to citizenship rather than having to go to court for potential removal from the country. Normally, those that are covered under NACARA are people from specific countries that are in danger of persecution or harm in their native land and fled to the United States for protection. These people are typically applying for a sort of asylum, but their temporary asylum may have run out or maybe they were never able to get the paperwork completed.

The USCIS says that this privilege is normally only available for those who are eligible in deportation or removal proceedings in Immigration Court. NACARA 203 allows certain individuals top apply for relief from the USCIS even if they have not actually been placed in a deportation or removal proceeding at present or sent before an immigration judge. If the USCIS grants you relief under NACARA you will become a permanent resident almost automatically. This means that you will receive an I-55`1 Permanent Residence Card or a "green card."

To be eligible, you will need to prove that you are one of the following persons. You can be a Guatemalan who entered the United States before October 1^st 1990 and registered for ABC benefits on or before December 13st 1991 and applied for asylum on or before January 3^rd, 1995 and was not apprehended at the time of entry after December 19^th 1990. As well, you can gain entry if you are a Salvadoran who first entered the United States before September 19^th, 1990 and registered for ABC benefits before October 31^st 1991. As well, the Salvadoran needs to have applied for asylum by February 16^th, 1996. Salvadorans also need to prove that they were not apprehended at the time of entry after December 19^th 1990.

Either a Guatemalan or a Salvadoran that applied for asylum before April 1^st, 1990 and have not received a final decision regarding the asylum are eligible for the NACARA program, and those that entered the United States before December 31^st, 1990 and applied for asylum on or before December 31^st 1991. At the time of the application, the individual must prove that he was from a former Soviet bloc country such as Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Czechoslovakia or another country of this nature. Any person who has committed a crime of any sort is not eligible for compensation under these laws.