Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 386 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 7, 2019 Mr. LEE (for himself, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. COTTON, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BENNET, and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 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 ‘‘Fairness for High- 4 Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 386 IS SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN 1 STATE. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immi- 3 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(2) PER COUNTRY LEVELS FOR FAMILY-SPON- 6 SORED IMMIGRANTS.—Subject to paragraphs (3) 7 and (4), the total number of immigrant visas made 8 available to natives of any single foreign state or de- 9 pendent area under section 203(a) in any fiscal year 10 may not exceed 15 percent (in the case of a single 11 foreign state) or 2 percent (in the case of a depend- 12 ent area) of the total number of such visas made 13 available under such section in that fiscal year.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 202 of 15 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is amended— 16 (1) in subsection (a)— 17 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘both 18 subsections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and in- 19 serting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; and 20 (B) by striking paragraph (5); and 21 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 22 lows: 23 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR COUNTRIES AT CEILING.— 24 If the total number of immigrant visas made available 25 under section 203(a) to natives of any single foreign state 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 386 IS or dependent area will exceed the numerical limitation 1 specified in subsection (a)(2) in any fiscal year, immigrant 2 visas shall be allotted to such natives under section 203(a) 3 (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent with 4 this section and section 203) in a manner so that, except 5 as provided in subsection (a)(4), the proportion of the 6 visas made available under each of paragraphs (1) through 7 (4) of section 203(a) is equal to the ratio of the total visas 8 made available under the respective paragraph to the total 9 visas made available under section 203(a).’’. 10 (c) COUNTRY-SPECIFIC OFFSET.—Section 2 of the 11 Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (8 U.S.C. 1255 12 note) is amended— 13 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(as defined 14 in subsection (e))’’; 15 (2) by striking subsection (d); and 16 (3) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub- 17 section (d). 18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 19 this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 20 30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal year 2020 and each 21 subsequent fiscal year. 22 (e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED 23 IMMIGRANTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 386 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 1 through (5), and notwithstanding title II of the Im- 2 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 et 3 seq.), the following rules shall apply: 4 (A) For fiscal year 2020, 15 percent of the 5 immigrant visas made available under each of 6 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 203(b) of 7 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted to 8 immigrants who are natives of a foreign state 9 or dependent area that is not one of the two 10 states with the largest aggregate numbers of 11 natives obtaining immigrant visas under such 12 paragraphs. 13 (B) For fiscal year 2021, 10 percent of the 14 immigrant visas made available under each of 15 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 16 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 17 area that is not one of the two states with the 18 largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining 19 immigrant visas under such paragraphs. 20 (C) For fiscal year 2022, 10 percent of the 21 immigrant visas made available under each of 22 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 23 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 24 area that is not one of the two states with the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 386 IS largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining 1 immigrant visas under such paragraphs. 2 (2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 3 (A) RESERVED VISAS.—The number of 4 visas reserved under each of subparagraphs (A) 5 through (C) of paragraph (1) made available to 6 natives of any single foreign state or dependent 7 area in the appropriate fiscal year may not ex- 8 ceed 25 percent (in the case of a single foreign 9 state) or 2 percent (in the case of a dependent 10 area) of the total number of such visas. 11 (B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—Not more than 12 85 percent of the immigrant visas made avail- 13 able under each of paragraphs (2) and (3) of 14 section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nation- 15 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not reserved 16 under paragraph (1), for each of the fiscal 17 years 2020, 2021, and 2022, may be allotted to 18 immigrants who are natives of any single for- 19 eign state. 20 (3) SPECIAL RULE TO PREVENT UNUSED 21 VISAS.—If, with respect to fiscal year 2020, 2021, or 22 2022, the application of paragraphs (1) and (2) 23 would prevent the total number of immigrant visas 24 made available under paragraph (2) or (3) of section 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 386 IS 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 1 U.S.C. 1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may 2 be issued during the remainder of such fiscal year 3 without regard to paragraphs (1) and (2). 4 (4) TRANSITION RULE FOR CURRENTLY AP- 5 PROVED BENEFICIARIES.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec- 7 tion 202 of the Immigration and Nationality 8 Act, as amended by this Act, immigrant visas 9 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 10 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be al- 11 located such that no alien described in subpara- 12 graph (B) receives a visa later than the alien 13 otherwise would have received said visa had this 14 Act not been enacted. 15 (B) ALIEN DESCRIBED.—An alien is de- 16 scribed in this subparagraph if the alien is the 17 beneficiary of a petition for an immigrant visa 18 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 19 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) that was 20 approved prior to the date of enactment of this 21 Act. 22 (5) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 23 202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 386 IS in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 1 chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S386.IS S386 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS