Sponsors (24)
Introduced September 19, 2025 by Deborah K. Ross · Last progress September 19, 2025
The bill expands legal and work pathways for many long-term dependent immigrants and their families—reducing 'aging out' and clarifying some adjudications—but does so with strict eligibility rules, administrative complexity, and likely increased costs and processing delays that could shift burdens onto other applicants and taxpayers.
Foreign-born individuals who entered the U.S. as dependent children and graduated from a U.S. college can obtain lawful permanent residence after meeting presence and admissibility requirements, creating a clear green-card pathway for this group.
Children and long-term dependent family members have their age 'locked' to an earlier filing date (petition or labor certification), preserving priority dates and preventing many from 'aging out,' which speeds access to green cards for families.
Derivatives and long-term dependents who qualify can extend or change dependent nonimmigrant status and obtain work authorization tied to that status, increasing employment opportunities and household income.
Taxpayers and applicants may face higher costs and longer delays because expanding eligibility and new reopening processes will increase workloads for USCIS, DHS, DOS, and DOL and require administrative implementation.
Many long-residing dependents could be excluded because the bill requires lengthy documented lawful presence (8–10 years), specific education, and clear admissibility, creating steep documentation burdens and denying relief to skilled but nondegree holders.
Applicants who waited more than 2 years after a visa became available risk losing protected 'age' benefits unless they can show extraordinary circumstances, creating a narrow cutoff that may deny relief to deserving individuals.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new immigrant classification and petition path for long-term dependent children of certain work-authorized nonimmigrants and changes age-out and priority-date rules.
Creates a new immigrant visa pathway for certain foreign-born people who entered the U.S. as dependent children of work-authorized nonimmigrants and who have long-term lawful presence and U.S. higher-education credentials. It also changes how “child” status is measured for immigration filings, preserves priority dates when petitions are refiled, allows some denied cases to be reopened, and permits derivative dependents to get dependent status and work authorization under the new rules. The bill sets specific eligibility tests (years of dependent presence, aggregate lawful presence, and a U.S. college graduation), adds a new petition category for these applicants, revises age-out rules so long-term dependents don’t lose child status, and requires principal and derivative beneficiaries to keep an earliest priority date when later petitions are filed.