I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2260 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to impose e-bonding requirements on certain nonimmigrant visa applicants, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 10, 2019 Mr. KING of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to impose e-bonding requirements on certain nonimmigrant visa ap- plicants, 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 ‘‘E-bonding for Immi- 4 gration Integrity Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF BOND. 6 (a) BOND REQUIRED.—Prior to arriving at a port of 7 entry of the United States, an alien seeking admission to 8 the United States shall post a bond, in accordance with 9 subsection (d), in an amount determined by the Secretary 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2260 IH if such alien seeks admission to the United States as a 1 nonimmigrant in a category— 2 (1) described under subparagraph (B), (F), 3 (H)(i)(b), (H)(ii)(b), or (K) of section 101(a)(15) of 4 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 5 1101(a)(15)); or 6 (2) identified by the Secretary, in accordance 7 with section 3, to have a visa overstay rate that is 8 more than 1.5 percent. 9 (b) AMOUNT OF BOND.—Not later than 1 year after 10 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 11 shall, by rule, establish the amount of the bond required 12 by subsection (a) for each visa category under subsection 13 (a)(1) and each visa category identified by the Secretary 14 under section 3, which amount shall— 15 (1) be not less than $2,500 and not more than 16 $10,000; and 17 (2) be determined based on the Secretary’s as- 18 sessment of the level of risk of visa overstays for 19 that category. 20 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNT OF BOND.—On an an- 21 nual basis, the Secretary shall review, and, as appropriate, 22 adjust the amounts of the bonds described in subsection 23 (b). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2260 IH (d) PAYMENT OF BOND.—An alien required to post 1 the bond under subsection (a) shall post such bond— 2 (1) in electronic form; and 3 (2) with a bonding agent designated by the Sec- 4 retary as qualified to hold such bond. 5 (e) RELEASE OF BOND.—The Secretary shall author- 6 ize a bonding agent to release a bond— 7 (1) to an alien required to post such bond— 8 (A) after receiving a notification from the 9 United States embassy or consulate in the 10 alien’s country of origin that such alien de- 11 parted the United States and returned to such 12 country of origin; or 13 (B) if such alien changed or adjusted their 14 status to an immigration status not required to 15 post a bond under this section; and 16 (2) to the E-bond Enforcement Fund under 17 section 4 upon a determination by the Secretary that 18 an alien— 19 (A) overstayed their visa; or 20 (B) did not return to their country of ori- 21 gin following the termination of their visa. 22 (f) CHANGE OF STATUS.—An alien who has been ad- 23 mitted to the United States and who is required to post 24 a bond under subsection (a) may be required to post an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2260 IH additional bond if such alien changes their status to that 1 of a nonimmigrant in a category required to pay a higher 2 bond under this section. 3 (g) COLLECTION OF RECORDS RELATING TO 4 BONDS.—The United States Embassy or United States 5 consular office in the alien’s country of origin shall collect 6 any records necessary to carry out this section. 7 (h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 8 on the date that is 120 calendar days after the date of 9 the enactment of this Act. 10 SEC. 3. VISA OVERSTAY RATE CATEGORIES. 11 The Secretary shall identify— 12 (1) the visa overstay rate for each category of 13 nonimmigrant aliens described under section 14 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 15 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) in the previous year; and 16 (2) each category of nonimmigrant aliens de- 17 scribed under such section that had a visa overstay 18 rate in the previous year that was more than 1.5 19 percent. 20 SEC. 4. E-BOND ENFORCEMENT FUND. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the general 22 fund of the Treasury a separate account, which shall be 23 known as the ‘‘E-bond Enforcement Fund’’ (in this sub- 24 section referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2260 IH (b) DEPOSITS.—There shall be deposited as offset- 1 ting receipts into the Fund all amounts released under 2 section 2(e)(2) of this Act. 3 (c) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts deposited into the 4 Fund shall remain available until expended and shall be 5 refunded out of the Fund by the Secretary of the Treas- 6 ury, to the Secretary of Homeland Security to— 7 (1) ensure compliance with this Act; and 8 (2) administer enforcement programs. 9 SEC. 5. REPORT. 10 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact- 11 ment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Secretary 12 shall submit to the committees of appropriate jurisdiction 13 a report that includes— 14 (1) the visa overstay rate for each category of 15 nonimmigrant alien described under section 16 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 17 (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) in the previous year; 18 (2) the categories that had a visa overstay rate 19 in the previous year that was more than 1.5 percent, 20 as determined by the Secretary in accordance with 21 section 3; 22 (3) the amounts of the bonds, as determined by 23 the Secretary in accordance with section 2; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2260 IH (4) information relating to the Fund under sec- 1 tion 4; and 2 (5) any other information determined appro- 3 priate by the Secretary. 4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 5 In this Act: 6 (1) COMMITTEES OF APPROPRIATE JURISDIC- 7 TION.—The term ‘‘committees of appropriate juris- 8 diction’’ means— 9 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 10 House of Representatives; 11 (B) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 12 Senate; 13 (C) the Committee on Homeland Security 14 of the House of Representatives; and 15 (D) the Committee on Homeland Security 16 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 17 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 18 the Secretary of Homeland Security, unless other- 19 wise provided. 20 (3) VISA OVERSTAY RATE.—The term ‘‘visa 21 overstay rate’’ means the ratio of, for each category 22 of nonimmigrant aliens described in section 23 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 24 (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(15))— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2260 IH (A) the number of aliens admitted to the 1 United States for each such category whose pe- 2 riod of authorized stays ended during a fiscal 3 year but who remained unlawfully in the United 4 States beyond such period; to 5 (B) the total number of aliens admitted to 6 the United States for each such category during 7 that fiscal year. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Apr 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2260.IH H2260 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS