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Naturalization Act
The Naturalization Act of 1790 set the earliest restrictions on U.S. Immigration that defined how someone could gain American citizenship. The law limited citizenship to be a viable option for only immigrants that were “free white persons of good character,” effectively barring Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks, and Asians. -
Pre-1882
The United States accepted any temporary workers, the majority of which were unskilled and sought work within the transcontinental railroad, California gold mines, and other expanding industries. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Under the Hayes Administration, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which suspended the immigration of all Chinese laborers (skilled and unskilled) for 10 years. This act required every person of a Chinese nationality to bear a certificate identifying their worker status, with categories such as laborer, scholar, diplomat and merchant. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant act to place restrictions on immigration of an ethnic group. -
Alien Contract Labour Law
Congress passed the Alien Contract Labor Law, which prohibited the majority of temporary workers and contract labourers from entering the United States— only allowing certain foreign skilled workers (The passing of this law was mainly a response to prohibit Chinese “coolie” labour). -
Immigration and Nationality Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 abolished the previous category of “alien[s] ineligible to citizenship” which only applied to people of Asian descent, and allowed for them to immigrate and become citizens. This act legalized the admission of temporary workers, and began the separation between skilled and less-skilled workers with the creation of the H-1 program. -
Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 refined the application process by defining and dividing the high-skilled temporary workers by speciality occupations and degree of education. This set the parameters and regulations for the act with 1) A practical application of highly specialized knowledge 2) A bachelor’s degree (or its equivalent) in their area of specialization. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) was executed by Congress to protect American workers during the recession, and targeted the H-1 program. This condition limited banks from receiving money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), from hiring H-1B workers in lieu of purposefully displaced American workers.
