How Did the Immigration and Nationality Act Change U.S. Immigration?
Almost every visa petition, green card application, or naturalization form filed in the United States today traces back to one law: the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Passed in 1952 and reshaped dramatically in 1965, the INA is still the statute USCIS cites in nearly every policy memo it issues, including the ones reshaping green card processing in 2026.
This guide answers the questions people actually search for: what the INA is, how it changed who gets to immigrate, what categories it created, and how it’s being applied differently
