Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929
This bill, titled the Renewing Immigration Provisions of the Immigration Act of 1929, would expand the eligibility rules for the Section 249 “Registry” path in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Registry is a mechanism that allows certain long-term residents to obtain lawful permanent residence (the status that typically leads to eventual U.S. citizenship). The core change is to replace a narrow, date-specific eligibility standard with a broader rule based on the length of time a person has actually lived in the United States. Specifically, the bill would: - Change the eligibility trigger from a specific entry date to a requirement that an applicant “entered the United States at least 7 years before the application date,” and reframe the header to refer to “long-term residents.” - Make these amendments take effect 60 days after enactment. In short, the bill lowers the historical date restrictions and makes more long-term residents potentially eligible for Section 249 registry, provided they have been in the United States for at least seven years before applying.
Key Points
- 1Replaces the old header for Section 249 (which referenced specific entry dates) with a broader header: “are long-term residents of the United States.”
- 2Amends subsection (a) of Section 249 so eligibility is based on having entered the United States at least seven years before the application date, rather than meeting a specific historical entry date.
- 3The changes take effect 60 days after the bill is enacted.
- 4Purpose is to restore or renew a broader, long-standing eligibility pathway for long-term residents to obtain registry status (and thus permanent residence) under INA Section 249.
- 5The bill does not create a new route to citizenship by itself; registry is a pathway toward permanent residence, which is commonly a prerequisite for naturalization.