The Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States for ten years. It also prevented the Chinese already in the U.S. from becoming citizens. Congress renewed the law in 1892, and made it permanent in 1902. It was not until 1943 that the Act was repealed, allowing Chinese immigration and granting citizenship to Chinese nationals already residing in the country. But by then, many once-thriving Chinese communities in the U.S. had nearly disappeared.