Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929
A new registry bill was recently introduced in Congress, that could legalize over eight million immigrants, giving them a pathway to citizenship. Immigration registry is an existing process that allows individuals to apply for permanent resident status based on their long-term residency in the U.S., regardless of their immigration status. Currently, eligibility for immigration registry requires individuals to have entered and remained in the U.S. since January 1, 1972. Congress advanced the registry date four times since it was first established in 1929. The most recent legislation to advance the registry date was signed in 1986, and the cutoff was moved to before 1972.
If this registry bill passes, it would replace the 1972 cutoff date with a rolling eligibility, allowing individuals to apply for permanent residency after living continuously in the United States for at least seven years and meeting certain admissibility requirements. Making millions of non-citizens eligible for green cards, and eventually U.S. citizenships.