Nuclear Family Priority Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 891 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immi- grants, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2019 Mr. HICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. CRAWFORD, and Mr. PERRY) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immigrants, 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 ‘‘Nuclear Family Pri- 4 ority Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 891 IH SEC. 2. IMMEDIATE RELATIVE DEFINITION. 1 Section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Na- 2 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)) is amended— 3 (1) by striking ‘‘children, spouses, and parents’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘children and spouses’’; and 5 (2) by striking ‘‘States, except that’’ and all 6 that follows through ‘‘of age.’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘States.’’. 8 SEC. 3. CHANGE IN FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRANT CAT- 9 EGORIES. 10 Section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 11 Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE ALLOCATION FOR SPOUSES AND 13 CHILDREN OF PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIENS.—Quali- 14 fied immigrants who are the spouses or children of an 15 alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence shall be 16 allotted visas in a number not to exceed the worldwide 17 level specified in section 201(c).’’. 18 SEC. 4. CHANGE IN WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF FAMILY-SPON- 19 SORED IMMIGRANTS. 20 Section 201(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 21 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(c)) is amended— 22 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: 23 ‘‘(1) The worldwide level of family-sponsored 24 immigrants under this subsection for a fiscal year is 25 equal to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 891 IH ‘‘(A) 88,000; minus 1 ‘‘(B) the number computed under para- 2 graph (2).’’; 3 (2) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and (5); 4 and 5 (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para- 6 graph (2). 7 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 8 (a) NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOR- 9 EIGN STATE.—Section 202 of the Immigration and Na- 10 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is amended— 11 (1) in subsection (a)(4)— 12 (A) by amending subparagraphs (A) and 13 (B) to read as follows: 14 ‘‘(A) 75 PERCENT OF FAMILY-SPONSORED 15 IMMIGRANTS NOT SUBJECT TO PER COUNTRY 16 LIMITATION.—Of the visa numbers made avail- 17 able under section 203(a) in any fiscal year, 75 18 percent shall be issued without regard to the 19 numerical limitation under paragraph (2). 20 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF REMAINING 25 PER- 21 CENT FOR COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO SUB- 22 SECTION (e).— 23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Of the visa num- 24 bers made available under section 203(a) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 891 IH in any fiscal year, the remaining 25 per- 1 cent shall be available, in the case of a for- 2 eign state or dependent area that is sub- 3 ject to subsection (e) only to the extent 4 that the total number of visas issued in ac- 5 cordance with subsection (A) to natives of 6 the foreign state or dependent area is less 7 than the subsection (e) ceiling (as defined 8 in clause (ii)). 9 ‘‘(ii) SUBSECTION (e) CEILING DE- 10 FINED.—In clause (i), the term ‘subsection 11 (e) ceiling’ means, for a foreign state or 12 dependent area, 77 percent of the max- 13 imum number of visas that may be made 14 available under section 203(a) to immi- 15 grants who are natives of the state or area 16 consistent with subsection (e).’’; and 17 (B) by striking subparagraphs (C) and 18 (D); and 19 (2) in subsection (e)— 20 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 21 the end; 22 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and redesig- 23 nating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 891 IH (C) in the final sentence, by striking ‘‘re- 1 spectively,’’ and all that follows through the pe- 2 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘respectively.’’. 3 (b) RULES FOR DETERMINING WHETHER CERTAIN 4 ALIENS ARE CHILDREN.—Section 203(h) of the Immigra- 5 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(h)) is amended 6 by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term appears and 7 inserting ‘‘(a)’’. 8 (c) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STA- 9 TUS.—Section 204 of the Immigration and Nationality 10 Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amended— 11 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘to 13 classification by reason of a relationship de- 14 scribed in paragraph (1), (3), or (4) of section 15 203(a) or’’; 16 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 17 ‘‘203(a)(2)(A)’’ and ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ each place 18 such terms appear and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’; and 19 (C) in subparagraph (D)(i)(I), by striking 20 ‘‘a petitioner for preference status under para- 21 graph (1), (2), or (3)’’ and all that follows 22 through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘an 23 individual under 21 years of age for purposes of 24 adjudicating such petition and for purposes of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 891 IH admission as an immediate relative under sec- 1 tion 201(b)(2)(A)(i) or a family-sponsored im- 2 migrant under section 203(a), as appropriate, 3 notwithstanding the actual age of the indi- 4 vidual.’’; 5 (2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘201(b), 6 203(a)(1), or 203(a)(3), as appropriate.’’ and insert- 7 ing ‘‘201(b).’’; and 8 (3) by striking subsection (k). 9 (d) WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY.—Section 10 212(d)(11) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 11 U.S.C. 1182(d)(11)) is amended by striking ‘‘(other than 12 paragraph (4) thereof)’’. 13 (e) CONDITIONAL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS 14 FOR CERTAIN ALIEN SPOUSES AND SONS AND DAUGH- 15 TERS.—Section 216(h)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Na- 16 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1186a(h)(1)(C)) is amended by 17 striking ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’. 18 (f) CLASSES OF DEPORTABLE ALIENS.—Section 19 237(a)(1)(E)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 20 (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(1)(E)(ii)) is amended by striking 21 ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 891 IH SEC. 6. NONIMMIGRANT STATUS FOR ALIEN PARENT OF 1 ADULT UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(a)(15) of the Immi- 3 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is 4 amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (U), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 6 the end; 7 (2) in subparagraph (V), by striking the period 8 at the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(W) Subject to section 214(s), an alien who is 11 a parent of a citizen of the United States, if the cit- 12 izen is at least 21 years of age.’’. 13 (b) CONDITIONS ON ADMISSION.—Section 214 of the 14 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is 15 amended by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(s)(1) The initial period of authorized admission for 17 a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) shall 18 be 5 years. Such period may be extended by the Secretary 19 of Homeland Security so long as the United States citizen 20 son or daughter of the nonimmigrant is residing in the 21 United States. 22 ‘‘(2) A nonimmigrant described in section 23 101(a)(15)(W) is not authorized to be employed in the 24 United States and is not eligible, notwithstanding any 25 other provision of law, for any Federal, State, or local pub- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 891 IH lic benefit. In the case of such a nonimmigrant, the United 1 States citizen son or daughter shall be responsible for the 2 support of the nonimmigrant, regardless of the resources 3 of the nonimmigrant. 4 ‘‘(3) An alien is ineligible to receive a visa and ineli- 5 gible to be admitted into the United States as a non- 6 immigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) unless the 7 alien provides satisfactory proof that the United States 8 citizen son or daughter has arranged for the provision to 9 the alien, at no cost to the alien, of health insurance cov- 10 erage applicable during the period of the alien’s presence 11 in the United States.’’. 12 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 13 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 14 on the first day of the second fiscal year that begins after 15 the date of the enactment of this Act, except that the fol- 16 lowing shall be considered invalid: 17 (1) Any petition under section 204 of the Immi- 18 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) seeking 19 classification of an alien under a family-sponsored 20 immigrant category eliminated by the amendments 21 made by this Act that is filed after the date of the 22 introduction of this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 891 IH (2) Any application for an immigrant visa based 1 on a petition described in paragraph (1). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H891.IH H891 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS