Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929

Key Points

• The bill rewrites the immigration registry law so eligibility is based on how long someone has lived in the U.S., not a fixed historical date that hasn't been updated in decades.
• Under the new standard, anyone who entered the U.S. at least 7 years before they apply could qualify, replacing the current requirement of having entered before January 1, 1972.
• Applicants would still need to meet other existing legal requirements, such as good moral character, under the underlying registry law; the bill only changes the residency cutoff itself, not those other standards.
• The new eligibility rule would take effect 60 days after the bill is signed into law, and because it uses a rolling 7 year window, more people would qualify each year as they reach that milestone.