Congress opens green-card path for Venezuelan nationals already in U.S.
H.R. 1348 — Venezuelan Adjustment Act · Filed by Darren Soto (D-FL) · 24 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows Venezuelan nationals who entered the U.S. before December 31, 2021, and have lived here continuously for at least one year to apply for permanent residency (green card status) within three years of the law's enactment. Their spouses and children are also eligible. Applicants with serious criminal convictions or persecution records are barred; those with pending deportation orders can apply without first reopening their cases, and work authorization is granted while applications are pending.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is a targeted immigration relief measure—a one-time adjustment of status for a specific national group meeting defined criteria. It is not a broad amnesty, a regulatory change, or a structural reform; it is a discrete legislative grant of eligibility.
What the text implies
- The 3-year application window creates a hard deadline; applicants who miss it lose eligibility permanently, even if they remain in the U.S.
- Work authorization is mandatory after 180 days of pending application, which may accelerate labor-market integration but also creates administrative burden on DHS to process applications within that window.
- The bill waives certain grounds of inadmissibility (health, security-related grounds under INA 212(a)(4), (5), (6)(A), (7)(A)) but retains criminal and persecution bars, creating a middle ground between full amnesty and standard immigration law.
- Applicants with prior deportation/removal orders can apply without reopening those orders, streamlining process but potentially creating administrative complexity if applications are denied and old orders must be re-enforced.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a lawful pathway to permanent residency for a defined population of Venezuelan nationals already present in the U.S., reducing legal precarity, enabling work authorization, and providing removal protection during adjudication. Safeguards (criminal bars, persecution exclusions) protect public safety and integrity of the immigration system.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Homeland Security, Venezuelan nationals, Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212(a) (grounds of inadmissibility), Section 245 (adjustment of status procedures), Section 240 (removal proceedings)
Where it stands
24 cosponsors: 21 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,605 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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