Long, long ago the United States implemented a pro-immigrant federal real estate policy

The Preemption Act of 1841 enabled American settlers to claim up to 160 acres of federal land at a cost of $1.25 an acre. 

According to provisions of the Act, land acquirers needed to be either, A) 21 years old, or B) head of household.

Furthermore, through the Preemption Act, an immigrant who intended to become a United States citizen – yet who would not have been a citizen of the United States at the time they acquired their land through the Preemption Act -was eligible to acquire their land at the same cost of $1.25/acre.

In the mid-19th Century, United States citizens who acquired land through the Preemption Act, as well as immigrants who intended to one day become United States citizens who acquired land through the Preemption Act, were required to make improvements to their property and to utilize the property they acquired as a personal residence for at least five years.