New Immigration Bill Creates Conditional Status for Workers Present Since Jan 2024: Requires 100 Days of Essential Work

The “Strengthening Our Workforce Act of 2025” sets up a new, two-step process for certain undocumented residents to gain legal status. The core idea is to tie legal residency directly to work history in specific, often essential, fields. If you were physically present in the U.S. as of January 1, 2024, and have been here continuously since then, this bill might apply to you, provided you can meet some tough work requirements and pass a criminal background check.

The Work-to-Status Deal

This bill creates the status of “conditional lawful permanent resident,” which lasts for two years and comes with immediate work authorization. To even apply for this, you must show you’ve worked a total of 100 days in a “covered profession” (Sec. 2). What counts as a covered profession is incredibly broad—it includes healthcare, construction, manufacturing, sanitation, restaurant work, agriculture, and even remote work in those fields. It basically covers most of the service and trade jobs that kept things running during the pandemic, plus a lot more. You also have to pay whatever application fee the Secretary of Homeland Security decides to set.

The Two-Year Test Drive

If you get the conditional status, the clock starts ticking on a two-year probation period. During this time, you must remain physically present in the U.S., and crucially, you must keep working for at least 100 cumulative days each year in one of those covered professions (Sec. 2). Think of it like a performance review for your legal status. If you meet the work requirement and stay out of trouble, your status automatically converts to full lawful permanent residency after two years. The good news is that this conversion doesn’t count against the numerical limits for green cards, which should speed up the final step. However, you have to pay a second fee for the final adjustment and pass another background check. If, for some reason, you don't want the full status, you have to formally object in writing in a timely manner—otherwise, it happens automatically.

Where the Fine Print Gets Heavy

While this bill offers a significant pathway, it has strict guardrails, especially concerning criminal history. If you have been convicted of any felony, or if you have three or more misdemeanor convictions that didn't happen on the same day or arise from the same incident, you are generally ineligible (Sec. 2). For people with multiple misdemeanors, the Secretary can waive consideration of one misdemeanor if you’ve been conviction-free for five years, or two misdemeanors if you’ve been clear for ten years. This is a big deal because it means that people who have been living and working here for years but have a few old, minor offenses on their record might be blocked from applying, even if they meet the work requirements.

What This Means on the Ground

For employers in sectors like construction, agriculture, and hospitality, this bill could stabilize their workforce overnight by granting immediate authorization to experienced workers. For the individual worker, this provides a clear, achievable path out of limbo, provided they can prove their work history and stay employed in a covered job. The biggest practical challenges will be the fees—which the Secretary gets to define with little constraint—and the strict requirement to maintain 100 days of work every year for two years. Losing a job or suffering an injury could jeopardize the entire process, making this conditional status feel pretty precarious until the full residency kicks in.