RELIEF Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5327 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to end the immigrant visa backlog, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 5, 2019 Ms. SHALALA (for herself and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to end the immigrant visa backlog, 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 ‘‘Resolving Extended 4 Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘RELIEF Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5327 IH 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— 5 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘AND 6 EMPLOYMENT-BASED’’; 7 (2) by striking ‘‘(3), (4), and (5),’’ and insert- 8 ing ‘‘(3) and (4),’’; 9 (3) by striking ‘‘subsections (a) and (b) of sec- 10 tion 203’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 11 (4) by striking ‘‘7’’ and inserting ‘‘15’’; and 12 (5) by striking ‘‘such subsections’’ and inserting 13 ‘‘such section’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 202 of the 15 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is 16 amended— 17 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘both sub- 18 sections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and inserting 19 ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 20 (2) by striking subsection (a)(5); and 21 (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 22 lows: 23 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR COUNTRIES AT CEILING.— 24 If it is determined that the total number of immigrant 25 visas made available under section 203(a) to natives of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5327 IH any single foreign state or dependent area will exceed the 1 numerical limitation specified in subsection (a)(2) in any 2 fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa 3 numbers to natives under section 203(a), visa numbers 4 with respect to natives of that state or area shall be allo- 5 cated (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent 6 with this section and section 203) in a manner so that, 7 except as provided in subsection (a)(4), the proportion of 8 the visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs 9 (1) through (4) of section 203(a) is equal to the ratio of 10 the total number of visas made available under the respec- 11 tive paragraph to the total number of visas made available 12 under section 203(a).’’. 13 (c) COUNTRY-SPECIFIC OFFSET.—Section 2 of the 14 Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (8 U.S.C. 1255 15 note) is amended— 16 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection 17 (e))’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d))’’; and 18 (2) by striking subsection (d) and redesignating 19 subsection (e) as subsection (d). 20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 22 30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 23 fiscal year 2020. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5327 IH (e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED 1 IMMIGRANTS.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the succeeding 3 paragraphs of this subsection and notwithstanding 4 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 5 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.), the following rules shall apply: 6 (A) For fiscal year 2020, 15 percent of the 7 immigrant visas made available under each of 8 paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) of section 203(b) 9 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted 10 to immigrants who are natives of a foreign 11 state or dependent area that is not one of the 12 two states with the largest aggregate numbers 13 of natives who are beneficiaries of approved pe- 14 titions for immigrant status under such para- 15 graphs. 16 (B) For fiscal year 2021, 10 percent of the 17 immigrant visas made available under each of 18 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 19 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 20 area that is not one of the two states with the 21 largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 22 beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi- 23 grant status under such paragraphs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5327 IH (C) For fiscal year 2022, 10 percent of the 1 immigrant visas made available under each of 2 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 3 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 4 area that is not one of the two states with the 5 largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 6 beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi- 7 grant status under such paragraphs. 8 (2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 9 (A) RESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 10 the visas reserved under each of subparagraphs 11 (A) through (C) of paragraph (1), the number 12 of such visas made available to natives of any 13 single foreign state or dependent area in the ap- 14 propriate fiscal year may not exceed 25 percent 15 (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 per- 16 cent (in the case of a dependent area) of the 17 total number of such visas. 18 (B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 19 the immigrant visas made available under each 20 of paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) of section 21 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not 22 reserved under paragraph (1), for each of fiscal 23 years 2020, 2021, and 2022, not more than 85 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5327 IH percent shall be allotted to immigrants who are 1 natives of any single foreign state. 2 (3) SPECIAL RULE TO PREVENT UNUSED 3 VISAS.—If, with respect to fiscal year 2020, 2021, or 4 2022, the operation of paragraphs (1) and (2) of 5 this subsection would prevent the total number of 6 immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) 7 or (3) of section 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 8 1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may be 9 issued during the remainder of such fiscal year with- 10 out regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this sub- 11 section. 12 (4) TRANSITION RULE FOR CURRENTLY AP- 13 PROVED BENEFICIARIES.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec- 15 tion 202 of the Immigration and Nationality 16 Act, as amended by this Act, immigrant visas 17 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 18 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be al- 19 located such that no alien described in subpara- 20 graph (B) receives a visa later than the alien 21 otherwise would have received said visa had this 22 Act not been enacted. 23 (B) ALIEN DESCRIBED.—An alien is de- 24 scribed in this subparagraph if the alien is the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5327 IH beneficiary of a petition for an immigrant visa 1 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 2 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) that was 3 approved prior to the date of enactment of this 4 Act. 5 (5) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 6 202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 7 in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 8 chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 9 (6) ENSURING AVAILABILITY OF IMMIGRANT 10 VISAS.—For each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024, 11 notwithstanding sections 201 and 202 of the Immi- 12 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151, 1152), 13 as amended by this Act, additional immigrant visas 14 under section 203 of the Immigration and Nation- 15 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) shall be made available 16 and allocated— 17 (A) such that no alien who is a beneficiary 18 of a petition for an immigrant visa under such 19 section 203 receives a visa later than the alien 20 otherwise would have received such visa had 21 this Act not been enacted; and 22 (B) to permit all visas to be distributed in 23 accordance with this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5327 IH SEC. 3. ENDING IMMIGRANT VISA BACKLOG. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any immigrant visa 2 made available under the Immigration and Nationality Act 3 (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), as amended by this Act, subject 4 to paragraphs (1) and (2), the Secretary of State shall 5 make immigrant visas available to— 6 (1) aliens who are beneficiaries of petitions filed 7 under subsection (b) of section 203 of such Act (8 8 U.S.C. 1153) before the date of the enactment of 9 this Act; and 10 (2) aliens who are beneficiaries of petitions filed 11 under subsection (a) of such section before the date 12 of the enactment of this Act. 13 (b) ALLOCATION OF VISAS.—The visas made avail- 14 able under this section shall be allocated as follows: 15 (1) EMPLOYMENT-SPONSORED IMMIGRANT 16 VISAS.—In each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024, 17 the Secretary of State shall allocate to aliens de- 18 scribed in subsection (a)(1) a number of immigrant 19 visas equal to 1⁄5 of the number of aliens described 20 in such subsection the visas of whom have not been 21 issued as of the date of the enactment of this Act. 22 (2) FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRANT VISAS.—In 23 each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024, the Sec- 24 retary of State shall allocate to aliens described in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5327 IH subsection (a)(2) a number of immigrant visas equal 1 to 1⁄5 of the difference between— 2 (A) the number of aliens described in such 3 subsection the visas of whom have not been 4 issued as of the date of the enactment of this 5 Act; and 6 (B) the number of aliens described in sub- 7 section (a)(1). 8 (c) ORDER OF ISSUANCE FOR PREVIOUSLY FILED 9 APPLICATIONS.—The visas made available under this sec- 10 tion shall be issued in accordance with section 202 of the 11 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152), as 12 amended by this Act, in the order in which the petitions 13 under section 203 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) were filed. 14 SEC. 4. KEEPING AMERICAN FAMILIES TOGETHER. 15 (a) RECLASSIFICATION OF SPOUSES AND MINOR 16 CHILDREN OF LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENTS AS IM- 17 MEDIATE RELATIVES AND EXEMPTION OF DERIVA- 18 TIVES.—The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 19 1101 et seq.) is amended— 20 (1) in section 201(b) (8 U.S.C. 1151(b))— 21 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 22 the following: 23 ‘‘(F) Aliens who derive status under section 24 203(d).’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 5327 IH (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 1 follows: 2 ‘‘(2)(A) IMMEDIATE RELATIVES.—Aliens who 3 are immediate relatives. 4 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF IMMEDIATE RELATIVE.— 5 In this paragraph, the term ‘immediate relative’ 6 means— 7 ‘‘(i) a child, spouse, or parent of a citizen 8 of the United States, except that in the case of 9 such a parent such citizen shall be at least 21 10 years of age; 11 ‘‘(ii) a child or spouse of an alien lawfully 12 admitted for permanent residence; 13 ‘‘(iii) a child or spouse of an alien de- 14 scribed in clause (i), who is accompanying or 15 following to join the alien; 16 ‘‘(iv) a child or spouse of an alien de- 17 scribed in clause (ii), who is accompanying or 18 following to join the alien; 19 ‘‘(v) an alien admitted under section 20 211(a) on the basis of a prior issuance of a visa 21 to the alien’s accompanying parent who is an 22 immediate relative; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 5327 IH ‘‘(vi) an alien born to an alien lawfully ad- 1 mitted for permanent residence during a tem- 2 porary visit abroad. 3 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF SPOUSE AND CHILDREN 4 OF DECEASED CITIZEN OR LAWFUL PERMANENT 5 RESIDENT.—If an alien who was the spouse or child 6 of a citizen of the United States or of an alien law- 7 fully admitted for permanent residence and was not 8 legally separated from the citizen or lawful perma- 9 nent resident at the time of the citizen’s or lawful 10 permanent resident’s death files a petition under 11 section 204(a)(1)(B), the alien spouse (and each 12 child of the alien) shall remain, for purposes of this 13 paragraph, an immediate relative during the period 14 beginning on the date of the citizen’s or permanent 15 resident’s death and ending on the date on which 16 the alien spouse remarries. 17 ‘‘(D) PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF ABUSE.—An 18 alien who has filed a petition under clause (iii) or 19 (iv) of section 204(a)(1)(A) shall remain, for pur- 20 poses of this paragraph, an immediate relative if the 21 United States citizen or lawful permanent resident 22 spouse or parent loses United States citizenship on 23 account of the abuse.’’; and 24 (2) in section 203(a) (8 U.S.C. 1153(a))— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5327.IH H5327 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 5327 IH (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘23,400’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘111,334’’; and 2 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 3 follows: 4 ‘‘(2) UNMARRIED SONS AND UNMARRIED 5 DAUGHTERS OF LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENTS.— 6 Qualified immigrants who are the unmarried sons or 7 unmarried daughters (but are not the children) of 8 aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence 9 shall be allocated visas in a number not to exceed 10 26,266, plus— 11 ‘‘(A) the number of visas by which the 12 worldwide level exceeds 226,000; and 13 ‘‘(B) the number of visas not required for 14 the class specified in paragraph (1).’’. 15 (b) PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM AGING OUT.— 16 Section 203(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 17 U.S.C. 1153(h)) is amended— 18 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol- 19 lows: 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 21 (d), a determination of whether an alien satisfies the 22 age requirement in the matter preceding subpara- 23 graph (A) of section 101(b)(1) shall be made using 24 the age of the a [Text truncated for display. 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