The 1965 law is the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act. It rewrote the basic rules for who could immigrate, replacing racist national‑origins quotas with a system centered on family ties, skills, and modest refugee provisions.[1][5][6]

What the 1965 law was

• Official name:
  • It was an amendment to the existing Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon Johnson on October 3, 1965.[2][1]
• Core purpose:
  • To abolish the national‑origins quota system that had favored northern and western Europeans and effectively excluded or severely limited Southern/Eastern Europeans and almost all Asians.[3][1]
  • To declare that race, nationality, and ancestry could no longer be used as the formal basis for giving or denying immigrant visas.[4][1]

In Johnson’s framing, it was meant to align immigration law with civil‑rights principles, even though some exclusionary features remained.[5][6]

What it did in practical terms

1. Abolished national‑origins quotas

• End of 1924 system:
  • The law eliminated the old formula that set country‑by‑country quotas based on the 1890 U.S. population composition, which had locked in preference for earlier European settlers.[8][1][3]
  • It replaced this with global numerical limits and per‑country ceilings that, at least on paper, were no longer tied to ethnicity.[1][5]

2. Created a preference system

• Seven preference categories:
  • The act set up a seven‑tier preference structure for immigrant visas, grouped into family‑based, employment‑based, and refugee‑type categories.[5][1]
  • Most visas were reserved for:
    • Close family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
    • Certain professionals and people with “exceptional ability.”
    • A smaller share for refugees and people fleeing persecution.[1][5]
• Allocation of shares:
  • A frequently cited summary: about 75% of visas for family reunification, 20% for employment, and 5% for refugees, though the exact statutory language is more detailed.[5]

This basic “family + skills + small refugee slice” framework still underlies the current system.[6][1]

3. Defined “immediate relatives” and exempted them from caps

• Immediate relatives:
  • Spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens aged 21 or older were classified as “immediate relatives.”[1][5]
• No numerical limit:
  • These immediate relatives were exempted from the overall numerical caps, meaning their visas were not counted against annual ceilings.[4][5][1]

That exemption is why, even today, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not subject to the same quota backlogs as other family categories.

4. Set new numerical caps and per‑country limits

• Global caps:
  • The law established a worldwide ceiling (commonly cited as 170,000 for the Eastern Hemisphere) and, crucially, for the first time imposed a 120,000 annual cap on immigration from the Western Hemisphere.[8][5][1]