Keeping Our Promise Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3548 To authorize the issuance of visas and admission of certain aliens, and their derivatives, who were selected to apply for diversity immigrant visas but were unable to be issued such visas or be admitted to the United States as a result of certain Presidential Proclamations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2021 Mr. TORRES of New York (for himself and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize the issuance of visas and admission of certain aliens, and their derivatives, who were selected to apply for diversity immigrant visas but were unable to be issued such visas or be admitted to the United States as a result of certain Presidential Proclamations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keeping Our Promise 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3548 IH SEC. 2. ALIENS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED DIVERSITY VISAS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 2 204(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II) of the Immigration and Nationality 3 Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II)), and subject to sub- 4 section (c) of this section, an immigrant visa made avail- 5 able to an alien under section 203(e)(2) of the Immigra- 6 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(e)(2)) in any of 7 fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 shall remain 8 available to such alien if— 9 (1) the alien was refused a visa or denied ad- 10 mission to the United States solely because of— 11 (A) Executive Order 13769, ‘‘Protecting 12 the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into 13 The United States’’ (January 27, 2017); 14 (B) Executive Order 13780, ‘‘Protecting 15 the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into 16 the United States’’ (March 6, 2017); 17 (C) Proclamation 9645, ‘‘Enhancing Vet- 18 ting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting 19 Attempted Entry into the United States by 20 Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats’’ 21 (September 24, 2017); or 22 (D) Proclamation 9983, ‘‘Improving En- 23 hanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for 24 Detecting Attempted Entry into the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3548 IH States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety 1 Threats’’ (January 31, 2020); or 2 (2) because of the COVID–19 public health 3 emergency— 4 (A) the alien was unable to receive a visa 5 interview despite submitting an Online Immi- 6 grant Visa and Alien Registration Application 7 (Form DS–260) to the Secretary of State; or 8 (B) the alien was unable to be admitted to 9 the United States despite being approved for a 10 visa under section 203(c) of the Immigration 11 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)). 12 (b) OBLIGATIONS OF THE SECRETARY.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 14 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 15 of State shall— 16 (A) notify each alien described in sub- 17 section (a) (and such alien’s representative, if 18 applicable) of their continuing eligibility for a 19 visa under section 203(c) of the Immigration 20 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)); and 21 (B) publish on the Department of State 22 website, information and procedures imple- 23 menting this Act. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3548 IH (2) NOTICE.—The notice described in para- 1 graph (1)(A) shall include procedures for the alien 2 to inform the Secretary of State of the alien’s intent 3 to proceed with or abandon the application, and 4 shall include an advisal that such application shall 5 be deemed abandoned if the alien fails to notify the 6 Secretary of the alien’s intent to proceed within one 7 year of the date of the notice. 8 (c) LIMITATION ON VISA ELIGIBILITY.—An alien de- 9 scribed in subsection (a) shall remain eligible to receive 10 such visa until the earliest of the date that the alien— 11 (1) notifies the Secretary of the alien’s intent to 12 abandon the application; 13 (2) fails to respond to the notice described in 14 subsection (b)(2); or 15 (3) is refused a visa by the Secretary of State— 16 (A) for failure to meet the education or 17 work experience requirements under section 18 203(c)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 19 Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(c)(2)); or 20 (B) on grounds that the alien is inadmis- 21 sible under section 212(a) of the Immigration 22 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)). 23 (d) NUMERICAL LIMITATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3548 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graphs (2) and (3), visas issued to aliens under this 2 Act shall be counted against the numerical limitation 3 described in section 201(e) of the Immigration and 4 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) for the fiscal 5 year in which such visas were made available to such 6 aliens. 7 (2) UNUSED VISAS.—Visas under section 8 201(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 9 U.S.C. 1151(e)) that go unused in any of fiscal 10 years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 may be allo- 11 cated to aliens described in subsection (a) regardless 12 of the fiscal year in which such alien’s visa was 13 made available. 14 (3) OVERAGE.—In the case that the total num- 15 ber of aliens described in subsection (a) who are eli- 16 gible for visas exceeds the total number of visas 17 under section 201(e) of the Immigration and Na- 18 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) for fiscal years 19 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, such excess 20 number shall not be counted against the numerical 21 limitation described in such section 201(e). 22 (e) AGE OUT PROTECTIONS.—A determination of 23 whether an alien is the child of a visa recipient described 24 in this Act pursuant section 203(d) of the Immigration 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3548 IH and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(d)) shall be made 1 using the age of the child when applicant was initially se- 2 lected for a visa in accordance with section 203(e)(2) of 3 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 4 1153(e)(2)). 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3548.IH H3548 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS