What Is The US Dignity Act Of 2025 And How It Will Help Indians With Visas

The US has introduced the Dignity Act of 2025, a new immigration bill. It aims to fix the immigration system, reduce long visa wait times, and help some undocumented immigrants become legal.

The bill is led by House Representative Maria Elvira Salazar from Florida and Rep Veronica Escobar from Texas, with support from 10 other lawmakers.

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— Rep. María Elvira Salazar (@RepMariaSalazar) July 28, 2025

Right now, over 11 million (1.13 crore) people are stuck waiting for their immigration visas, some for decades. This causes long delays for families wanting to reunite and for workers trying to come to the US. The Dignity Act wants to clear this backlog by 2035 and make the process faster and fairer.

Features Of The Dignity Act 2025

Reduce Visa Backlogs

• The Act caps the wait time for immigration visas at 10 years.
• If someone has waited longer than 10 years, they can pay a fee of $20,000 (Rs 17.5 lakh) to get faster processing.

Border Security

• The Act invests in better physical barriers, technology, and more border agents to secure the US borders.
• It improves the asylum system so most asylum cases are decided within 60 days at special border centres.
• There will be strict checks and new rules to prevent people from crossing the border illegally multiple times.

Help For Undocumented Immigrants

• The bill creates the Dignity Program, which allows certain undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US for many years to get legal status (but not citizenship) if they pass background checks, pay fines, and follow the rules
• It also includes protections for Dreamers (young immigrants brought as children) and offers them a path to legal permanent residency and eventually citizenship if they meet certain conditions.

Improve Legal Immigration

• The Act raises limits on how many visas people from each country can get each year to reduce country-specific backlogs.
• It protects families by making it easier for spouses, children, and relatives of US citizens to stay together.
• It improves student and work visas, making it easier for international students and skilled workers to come to and stay in the US.

Employment Verification

• Employers will be required to verify that their workers are legally allowed to work in the US through a new system called E-Verify.
• This will be phased in over time depending on the size of the employer.

How The Dignity Act Helps Indians

• Raising the per-country visa cap from 7% to 15%, allowing more Indians to get green cards each year.
• Capping visa wait times at 10 years, so Indians stuck in long backlogs can get their visas faster.
• Offering an option to pay $20,000 for premium processing if they have waited over 10 years, speeding up their green card approval.
• Improving employment-based visas, which benefits highly skilled Indian workers in fields like technology, engineering, and healthcare.

What Else Does The Act Do?

• Increases penalties for people who break immigration laws repeatedly or try to vote illegally.
• Creates special humanitarian facilities at the border to help migrants while their cases are decided.
• Sets up a fund to help American workers get training and jobs as immigration is reformed.