Virgin Islands Visa Waiver Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 407 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish the Virgin Islands visa waiver program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2019 Ms. PLASKETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish the Virgin Islands visa waiver program. 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 ‘‘Virgin Islands Visa 4 Waiver Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. VIRGIN ISLANDS VISA WAIVER PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212(l) of the Immigration 7 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(l)) is amended— 8 (1) by amending the subsection heading to read 9 as follows: ‘‘GUAM, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 407 IH AND VIRGIN ISLANDS VISA WAIVER PROGRAMS.—’’; 1 and 2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(7) VIRGIN ISLANDS VISA WAIVER PRO- 4 GRAM.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The requirement of 6 subsection (a)(7)(B)(i) may be waived by the 7 Secretary of Homeland Security, in the case of 8 an alien who is a national of a country de- 9 scribed in subparagraph (B) and who is apply- 10 ing for admission as a nonimmigrant visitor for 11 business or pleasure and solely for entry into 12 and stay in the United States Virgin Islands for 13 a period not to exceed 30 days, if the Secretary 14 of Homeland Security, after consultation with 15 the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 16 State, and the Governor of the United States 17 Virgin Islands, determines that such a waiver 18 does not represent a threat to the welfare, safe- 19 ty, or security of the United States or its terri- 20 tories and commonwealths. 21 ‘‘(B) COUNTRIES.—A country described in 22 this subparagraph is a country that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 407 IH ‘‘(i) is a member or an associate mem- 1 ber of the Caribbean Community 2 (CARICOM); and 3 ‘‘(ii) is listed in the regulations de- 4 scribed in subparagraph (D). 5 ‘‘(C) ALIEN WAIVER OF RIGHTS.—An alien 6 may not be provided a waiver under this para- 7 graph unless the alien has waived any right— 8 ‘‘(i) to review or appeal under this Act 9 an immigration officer’s determination as 10 to the admissibility of the alien at the port 11 of entry into the United States Virgin Is- 12 lands; or 13 ‘‘(ii) to contest, other than on the 14 basis of an application for withholding of 15 removal under section 241(b)(3) of this 16 Act or under the Convention Against Tor- 17 ture, or an application for asylum if per- 18 mitted under section 208, any action for 19 removal of the alien. 20 ‘‘(D) REGULATIONS.—All necessary regu- 21 lations to implement this paragraph shall be 22 promulgated by the Secretary of Homeland Se- 23 curity, in consultation with the Secretary of the 24 Interior and the Secretary of State, on or be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 407 IH fore the date that is 1 year after the date of en- 1 actment of the Virgin Islands Visa Waiver Act 2 of 2019. The promulgation of such regulations 3 shall be considered a foreign affairs function for 4 purposes of section 553(a) of title 5, United 5 States Code. At a minimum, such regulations 6 should include, but not necessarily be limited 7 to— 8 ‘‘(i) a listing of all member or asso- 9 ciate member countries of the Caribbean 10 Community (CARICOM) whose nationals 11 may obtain, on a country by country basis, 12 the waiver provided by this paragraph, ex- 13 cept that such regulations shall not provide 14 for a listing of any country if the Secretary 15 of Homeland Security determines that 16 such country’s inclusion on such list would 17 represent a threat to the welfare, safety, or 18 security of the United States or its terri- 19 tories and commonwealths; and 20 ‘‘(ii) any bonding requirements for na- 21 tionals of some or all of those countries 22 who may present an increased risk of 23 overstays or other potential problems, if 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 407 IH different from such requirements otherwise 1 provided by law for nonimmigrant visitors. 2 ‘‘(E) FACTORS.—In determining whether 3 to grant or continue providing the waiver under 4 this paragraph to nationals of any country, the 5 Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation 6 with the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec- 7 retary of State, shall consider all factors that 8 the Secretary deems relevant, including elec- 9 tronic travel authorizations, procedures for re- 10 porting lost and stolen passports, repatriation 11 of aliens, rates of refusal for nonimmigrant vis- 12 itor visas, overstays, exit systems, and informa- 13 tion exchange. 14 ‘‘(F) SUSPENSION.—The Secretary of 15 Homeland Security shall monitor the admission 16 of nonimmigrant visitors to the United States 17 Virgin Islands under this paragraph. If the Sec- 18 retary determines that such admissions have re- 19 sulted in an unacceptable number of visitors 20 from a country remaining unlawfully in the 21 United States Virgin Islands, unlawfully obtain- 22 ing entry to other parts of the United States, 23 or seeking withholding of removal or asylum, or 24 that visitors from a country pose a risk to law 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 407 IH enforcement or security interests of the United 1 States Virgin Islands or of the United States 2 (including the interest in the enforcement of the 3 immigration laws of the United States), the 4 Secretary shall suspend the admission of na- 5 tionals of such country under this paragraph. 6 The Secretary of Homeland Security may in the 7 Secretary’s discretion suspend the United 8 States Virgin Islands visa waiver program at 9 any time, on a country-by-country basis, for 10 other good cause. 11 ‘‘(G) ADDITION OF COUNTRIES.—The Gov- 12 ernor of the United States Virgin Islands may 13 request the Secretary of the Interior and the 14 Secretary of Homeland Security to add a par- 15 ticular country to the list of countries whose 16 nationals may obtain the waiver provided by 17 this paragraph, and the Secretary of Homeland 18 Security may grant such request after consulta- 19 tion with the Secretary of the Interior and the 20 Secretary of State, and may promulgate regula- 21 tions with respect to the inclusion of that coun- 22 try and any special requirements the Secretary 23 of Homeland Security, in the Secretary’s sole 24 discretion, may impose prior to allowing nation- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 407 IH als of that country to obtain the waiver pro- 1 vided by this paragraph.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 3 (1) DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 4 212(a)(7)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality 5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(7)(iii)) is amended to read as 6 follows: 7 ‘‘(iii) SPECIAL VISA WAIVER PRO- 8 GRAMS.—For a provision authorizing waiv- 9 er of clause (i) in the case of visitors to 10 Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern 11 Mariana Islands, or the United States Vir- 12 gin Islands, see subsection (l).’’. 13 (2) ADMISSION OF NONIMMIGRANTS.—Section 14 214(a)(1) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(a)(1)) is 15 amended by inserting before the final sentence the 16 following: ‘‘No alien admitted to the United States 17 Virgin Islands without a visa pursuant to section 18 212(l)(7) may be authorized to enter or stay in the 19 United States other than in the United States Vir- 20 gin Islands or to remain in the United States Virgin 21 Islands for a period exceeding 30 days from date of 22 admission to the United States Virgin Islands.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Jan 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H407.IH H407 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS