[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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