[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1044 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1044
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-
country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to
increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored
immigrants, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 7, 2019
Ms. Lofgren (for herself, Mr. Buck, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Barr, Mrs. Beatty,
Mr. Bera, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mrs. Brooks of
Indiana, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Cardenas, Mr.
Carson of Indiana, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen,
Mr. Comer, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Costa, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Cox of California,
Mr. Crow, Mr. Curtis, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Rodney Davis of
Illinois, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Deutch, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Michael F. Doyle
of Pennsylvania, Mr. Emmer, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Espaillat, Mr.
Estes, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Foster, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Gonzalez of Texas,
Miss Gonzalez-Colon of Puerto Rico, Mr. Guest, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Harder
of California, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Hice of Georgia, Mr. Hill of
Arkansas, Mr. Hurd of Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson
of Ohio, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Katko, Mr.
Khanna, Mr. Kind, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr.
Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larsen
of Washington, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Long, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr.
Malinowski, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Massie, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McBath, Ms.
McCollum, Mr. McEachin, Mr. McGovern, Mrs. Rodgers of Washington, Mr.
Meeks, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Norman, Mr. Pallone, Mr.
Panetta, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Perry, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Price of North
Carolina, Mr. Raskin, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Riggleman, Mr. David
P. Roe of Tennessee, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms.
Shalala, Mr. Sires, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Soto, Ms. Speier, Ms.
Stefanik, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr.
Takano, Ms. Titus, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California, Mr. Upton,
Mrs. Wagner, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Welch, Mr. Westerman, Ms. Wild,
Mr. Woodall, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Young, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Nadler, Mr.
Aguilar, and Mrs. Murphy) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-
country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to
increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored
immigrants, and for other purposes.
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 ``Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants
Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN STATE.
(a) In General.--Section 202(a)(2) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is amended--
(1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``and employment-
based'';
(2) by striking ``(3), (4), and (5),'' and inserting ``(3)
and (4),'';
(3) by striking ``subsections (a) and (b) of section 203''
and inserting ``section 203(a)'';
(4) by striking ``7'' and inserting ``15''; and
(5) by striking ``such subsections'' and inserting ``such
section''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 202 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ``both subsections
(a) and (b) of section 203'' and inserting ``section 203(a)'';
(2) by striking subsection (a)(5); and
(3) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
``(e) Special Rules for Countries at Ceiling.--If it is determined
that the total number of immigrant visas made available under section
203(a) to natives of any single foreign state or dependent area will
exceed the numerical limitation specified in subsection (a)(2) in any
fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa numbers to
natives under section 203(a), visa numbers with respect to natives of
that state or area shall be allocated (to the extent practicable and
otherwise consistent with this section and section 203) in a manner so
that, except as provided in subsection (a)(4), the proportion of the
visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs (1) through (4) of
section 203(a) is equal to the ratio of the total number of visas made
available under the respective paragraph to the total number of visas
made available under section 203(a).''.
(c) Country-Specific Offset.--Section 2 of the Chinese Student
Protection Act of 1992 (8 U.S.C. 1255 note) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``subsection (e))'' and
inserting ``subsection (d))''; and
(2) by striking subsection (d) and redesignating subsection
(e) as subsection (d).
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take
effect as if enacted on September 30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal
years beginning with fiscal year 2020.
(e) Transition Rules for Employment-Based Immigrants.--
(1) In general.--Subject to the succeeding paragraphs of
this subsection and notwithstanding title II of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.), the following
rules shall apply:
(A) For fiscal year 2020, 15 percent of the
immigrant visas made available under each of paragraphs
(2), (3), and (5) of section 203(b) of such Act (8
U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted to immigrants who are
natives of a foreign state or dependent area that is
not one of the two states with the largest aggregate
numbers of natives who are beneficiaries of approved
petitions for immigrant status under such paragraphs.
(B) For fiscal year 2021, 10 percent of the
immigrant visas made available under each of such
paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants who are
natives of a foreign state or dependent area that is
not one of the two states with the largest aggregate
numbers of natives who are beneficiaries of approved
petitions for immigrant status under such paragraphs.
(C) For fiscal year 2022, 10 percent of the
immigrant visas made available under each of such
paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants who are
natives of a foreign state or dependent area that is
not one of the two states with the largest aggregate
numbers of natives who are beneficiaries of approved
petitions for immigrant status under such paragraphs.
(2) Per-country levels.--
(A) Reserved visas.--With respect to the visas
reserved under each of subparagraphs (A) through (C) of
paragraph (1), the number of such visas made available
to natives of any single foreign state or dependent
area in the appropriate fiscal year may not exceed 25
percent (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2
percent (in the case of a dependent area) of the total
number of such visas.
(B) Unreserved visas.--With respect to the
immigrant visas made available under each of paragraphs
(2), (3), and (5) of section 203(b) of such Act (8
U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not reserved under paragraph (1),
for each of fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2022, not more
than 85 percent shall be allotted to immigrants who are
natives of any single foreign state.
(3) Special rule to prevent unused visas.--If, with respect
to fiscal year 2020, 2021, or 2022, the operation of paragraphs
(1) and (2) of this subsection would prevent the total number
of immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) or (3) of
section 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) from being
issued, such visas may be issued during the remainder of such
fiscal year without regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this
subsection.
(4) Transition rule for currently approved beneficiaries.--
(A) In general.--Notwithstanding section 202 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by this
Act, immigrant visas under section 203(b) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b))
shall be allocated such that no alien described in
subparagraph (B) receives a visa later than the alien
otherwise would have received said visa had this Act
not been enacted.
(B) Alien described.--An alien is described in this
subparagraph if the alien is the beneficiary of a
petition for an immigrant visa under section 203(b) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b))
that was approved prior to the date of enactment of
this Act.
(5) Rules for chargeability.--Section 202(b) of such Act (8
U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply in determining the foreign state to
which an alien is chargeable for purposes of this subsection.
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