Federal Spotlight: Immigration Legislation Proposed

March 4, 2021

Congress recently introduced the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which includes an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and aims to reduce visa backlogs. The legislation is supported by President Joe Biden.

The 353-page legislation also contains some provisions to expand employment-based immigration. One provision eliminates immigration caps for international doctoral students studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) from an accredited United States institution of higher education seeking permanent residency. Another provision provides green card eligibility to farmworkers who can show work history and grants them the opportunity to apply for citizenship after three years.