[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 184 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 184

 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain aliens 
  who are at least 55 years of age to obtain a nonimmigrant visitor's 
                 visa for a period of 4 years or more.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 1999

      Mr. McCollum (for himself, Mr. Foley, Mrs. Thurman, and Mr. 
 Abercrombie) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain aliens 
  who are at least 55 years of age to obtain a nonimmigrant visitor's 
                 visa for a period of 4 years or more.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Retiree Visa Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. NONIMMIGRANT ALIEN STATUS FOR CERTAIN OLDER ALIENS.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is amended
            (1) in subparagraph (R), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (S), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(T) subject to section 214(m), an alien seeking to enter 
        the United States temporarily to visit for pleasure, and having 
        a residence in a foreign country which the alien has no 
        intention of abandoning, who--
                    ``(i) the Attorney General determines--
                            ``(I) is at least 55 years of age at the 
                        time of application for admission;
                            ``(II) is a citizen of Canada or a country 
                        that has been continuously designated as a 
                        pilot program country under section 217(c) for 
                        the 5 years immediately preceding the time of 
                        application for admission;
                            ``(III) either owns a residence in the 
                        United States, in the alien's own name, or has 
                        a spouse who owns such a residence; and
                            ``(IV) will have health coverage, 
                        throughout the period the alien will be in the 
                        United States, consistent with section 
                        214(m)(5); or
                    ``(ii) is the alien spouse of an alien described in 
                clause (i), is accompanying, or following to join, the 
                alien, and otherwise meets the requirements specified 
                in clause (i).''.
    (b) Admission of Nonimmigrants.--Section 214 of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating the subsection (j), added by section 
        130003(b)(2) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
        Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-322; 108 Stat. 2025), and the 
        subsection (k), added by section 220(b) of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Technical Amendments Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-
        416; 108 Stat. 4319), as subsections (k) and (l), respectively; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(m)(1) In the case of a nonimmigrant described in section 
101(a)(15)(T), the period of authorized admission as such a 
nonimmigrant may not be less than 4 years. A visa issued under such 
section may be renewed for an unlimited number of additional periods 
(each such period to be not less than 4 years), but only where the visa 
application is filed in the country of the nonimmigrant's citizenship.
    ``(2) The Attorney General may not authorize a nonimmigrant 
described in such section to engage in employment in the United States.
    ``(3)(A) A nonimmigrant described in such section shall not be 
eligible for any Federal, State, or local public benefit, except short-
term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief.
    ``(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term `Federal, State, 
or local public benefit' means--
            ``(i) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or 
        commercial license provided by an agency of the United States 
        or a State or local government or by appropriated funds of the 
        United States or a State or local government; and
            ``(ii) any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public 
        or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, 
        unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which 
        payments of assistance are provided to an individual, 
        household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of the 
        United States or a State or local government or by appropriated 
        funds of the United States or a State or local government.
    ``(4) A visa shall not be issued under the provisions of section 
101(a)(15)(T) unless the alien demonstrates to the satisfaction of the 
consular officer and the Attorney General that the alien has, and will 
have throughout the period the alien is in the United States, an annual 
gross income that equals or exceeds the amount that is two times the 
official poverty line (as defined by the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget, as revised annually by the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, in accordance with section 673(2) of the Omnibus 
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902)) that is applicable 
to a family unit of a size equal to the number of members of the 
alien's household (including family and non-family dependents).
    ``(5) Any alien who seeks admission as a nonimmigrant described in 
section 101(a)(15)(T) is inadmissible unless the alien demonstrates at 
the time of issuance of the visa (and at the time of admission) to the 
satisfaction of the consular officer and the Attorney General that the 
alien--
            ``(A) will have coverage, throughout the period the alien 
        is in the United States, under an adequate health insurance 
        policy (at least comparable to coverage provided under the 
        medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act); 
        and
            ``(B) will have coverage, throughout the period the alien 
        is in the United States, with respect to long-term health needs 
        (at least comparable to such coverage provided under the 
        medicaid program under title XIX of such Act for a State in 
        which the alien, or a spouse of the alien, owns a residence.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) 
shall take effect on the date that is one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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