A long-term visa for immigrants here for years with no criminal record, if they pay a penalty and back taxes

How much do people want it

What got approved

Nothing. The last time this law was changed was 1986.

The law that lets long-settled immigrants apply for permanent status still uses a cut-off date of 1 January 1972. It has not been updated in forty years. The immigration measures this Congress did pass were spending bills and a large package, none of which created a path to legal status.

What could have been

Two bills would do it. Neither has been brought up for a vote.

One would offer permanent legal status — not citizenship — to people who have been here since the end of 2020, in exchange for tougher border enforcement and mandatory checks on whether workers are here legally. The other would let people who have lived here seven years or more apply directly, subject to background checks.

The first of those is bundled: it trades this against another topic on this list. Neither half has become law.

Additional notes

Nothing to report. Where a government department changes a rule affecting this topic, it appears here — never counted as the government getting something done. Why.

Where these came from

Every line above is checkable.

• Congress.gov — search the bill number given on this page
• Congressional Research Service — search the report number given on this page
• Program for Public Consultation — the February 2026 national survey, question 22 on page 7. The exact question wording, the national figure, and the Republican, Democratic and independent numbers.

Found a mistake?

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