[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5982 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5982

To provide visa availability for the Government Employee Immigrant Visa 
                    program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 18, 2023

    Ms. Kamlager-Dove (for herself and Ms. Salazar) introduced the 
                             following bill

                            October 25, 2023

               Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide visa availability for the Government Employee Immigrant Visa 
                    program, 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 ``Granting Recognition to Accomplished 
Talented Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act'' or the ``GRATEFUL 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In 1952, with the enactment of the Immigration and 
        Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), Congress established 
        an immigrant visa program to reward foreign nationals who are 
        United States Government employees for their service to the 
        United States (referred to in this Act as the ``Government 
        Employee Immigrant Visa program'').
            (2) For 71 years, the Government Employee Immigrant Visa 
        program has allowed foreign nationals with at least 15 years of 
        exceptional service to the United States to immigrate to the 
        United States with their families.
            (3) Such foreign national employees of the United States 
        Government are the bulwark of United States foreign policy, 
        risking their lives year after year through civil unrest, 
        terrorism, natural disasters, and war.
            (4) The work of such foreign nationals--
                    (A) ensures the safety and well-being of United 
                States citizens;
                    (B) provides security and logistics for visiting 
                delegations; and
                    (C) supports United States Government operations 
                abroad.
            (5) Such foreign nationals include employees of the 
        Department of State, the United States Agency for International 
        Development, the Department of Defense, the Department of 
        Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of 
        Commerce, and the Department of Agriculture.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States should preserve the immigrant visa program for foreign nationals 
who are employees of the United States Government abroad or of the 
American Institute in Taiwan, and who have provided exceptional service 
over a long term to the United States, by providing a dedicated 
allocation of visas for such employees and their immediate family 
members when visas are not immediately available in the corresponding 
visa category.

SEC. 3. VISA AVAILABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE IMMIGRANT VISA 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Beginning in fiscal year 2024, subject to 
subsection (b), visas shall be made available to a special immigrant 
described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)) if a visa is not immediately available 
for issuance to the special immigrant under section 203(b)(4) of that 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)).
    (b) Numerical Limitations.--
            (1) Fiscal year 2024.--For fiscal year 2024, not more than 
        3,500 visas shall be made available under subsection (a).
            (2) Subsequent fiscal years.--For fiscal year 2025 and each 
        fiscal year thereafter, not more than 3,000 visas shall be made 
        available under subsection (a).
    (c) Temporary Reduction in Diversity Visas.--Section 203(d)(2) of 
the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central America Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 
note; Public Law 105-100) is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
    ``(2) In no case shall the reduction under paragraph (1) for a 
fiscal year exceed the amount by which--
            ``(A) the sum of--
                    ``(i) one-half of the total number of individuals 
                described in subclauses (I), (II), (III), and (IV) of 
                section 309(c)(5)(C)(i) of the Illegal Immigration 
                Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 
                U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 104-208) who have adjusted 
                their status to that of aliens lawfully admitted for 
                permanent residence under section 202 of the Nicaraguan 
                Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (Public Law 
                105-100; 8 U.S.C. 1255 note) as of the end of the 
                previous fiscal year; and
                    ``(ii) the total number of individuals described in 
                section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immigration and 
                Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)) for whom 
                visas shall be made available for the applicable fiscal 
                year under section 3(b) of the Granting Recognition to 
                Accomplished Talented Employees For Unwavering Loyalty 
                Act; exceeds
            ``(B) the total of the reductions in available visas under 
        this subsection for all previous fiscal years.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3)(A) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in a fiscal year following a 
fiscal year for which the total number of aliens described in 
subparagraph (B) is zero.
    ``(B) For a fiscal year, the total number of aliens described in 
this subparagraph is the total number of individuals described in 
section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(27)(D)) who have been issued visas during the previous fiscal 
year under the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Talented Employees 
For Unwavering Loyalty Act.
    ``(C) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed--
            ``(i) to repeal, modify, or render permanently inapplicable 
        paragraph (1); or
            ``(ii) to prevent the offsetting of the number of visas 
        described in that paragraph for the purpose of providing visa 
        availability for aliens described in subparagraph (B).
    ``(4) In the event that the number of visas available for a fiscal 
year under section 201(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1151(e)) is reduced to a number fewer than 50,000, not fewer 
than 3,000 visas shall be made available for individuals described in 
section 3(a) of the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Talented 
Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act.''.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section or the 
amendments made by this section may be construed to modify the number 
of visas available under section 203(b)(4) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)) to special immigrants described 
in section 101(a)(27)(D) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)).
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