[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, the immigration legislation promised by the new Biden administration, has been introduced in Congress.\u00a0 The proposed immigration law will allow nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship on an eight-year timeline.\u00a0 DACA recipients, agricultural workers, and foreign nationals with Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure could seek citizenship even faster with immediate green card eligibility.\u00a0 Green card holders can apply for citizenship after three years.\u00a0 The legislation also includes provisions and funding to improve the refugee and asylum process, improve technology and infrastructure along the U.S. and Mexico border, streamline the naturalization process for some visa holders, and prohibit would religious discrimination against immigrants.<\/p>\n
The legislation, introduced by California Representative Linda S\u00e1nchez and New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, both the children of immigrants, faces an uphill battle, especially in the United States Senate.\u00a0 Political observers do not think the bill will pass in its entirety, but that some portions of the bill could become law.\u00a0 Comprehensive immigration reform in the United States has been elusive for several decades; the last immigration law with a focus on citizenship was passed in 1986, legalizing almost 3 million undocumented immigrants.\u00a0 The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 aims to provide citizenship to more than three times the number of undocumented immigrants.\u00a0 Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for an immediate green card<\/a> would need to wait five years and pass criminal and national security background checks before becoming eligible.<\/p>\n Read the text of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n