I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6788 To enhance our Nation’s nurse and physician workforce during the COVID– 19 crisis by recapturing unused immigrant visas. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2020 Mr. SCHNEIDER (for himself, Mr. COLE, Ms. FINKENAUER, and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To enhance our Nation’s nurse and physician workforce dur- ing the COVID–19 crisis by recapturing unused immi- grant visas. 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 ‘‘Healthcare Workforce 4 Resilience Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6788 IH SEC. 2. RECAPTURING UNUSED IMMIGRANT VISAS FOR 1 PROFESSIONAL NURSES AND PHYSICIANS. 2 Section 106(d) of the American Competitiveness in 3 the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (Public Law 106– 4 313; 8 U.S.C. 1153 note) is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(d) RECAPTURE OF UNUSED EMPLOYMENT-BASED 6 IMMIGRANT VISAS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 8 and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 9 number of employment-based visas made available 10 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and Na- 11 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be increased 12 by the number calculated in paragraph (3). 13 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Visas may only be 15 made available under this subsection for up to 16 40,000 employment-based immigrants (and 17 their family members accompanying or fol- 18 lowing to join under section 203(d) of such Act 19 (8 U.S.C. 1153(d))) whose immigrant worker 20 petitions were filed before the date that is 90 21 days after the termination of the President’s 22 declaration of a national emergency under sec- 23 tions 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies 24 Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) pertaining to the 25 COVID–19 outbreak in the United States (re- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6788 IH ferred to in this subsection as the ‘COVID–19 1 emergency declaration’). 2 ‘‘(B) RESERVATIONS.—Of the visas au- 3 thorized under subparagraph (A)— 4 ‘‘(i) 25,000 shall be reserved for pro- 5 fessional nurses; and 6 ‘‘(ii) 15,000 shall be reserved for phy- 7 sicians. 8 ‘‘(C) EXEMPTION FROM COUNTRY CAPS.— 9 Visas made available under this subsection— 10 ‘‘(i) shall not be subject to the per 11 country numerical limitation set forth in 12 section 202(a)(2) of the Immigration and 13 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)); and 14 ‘‘(ii) shall be issued in order of the 15 priority date assigned at the time the visa 16 petition was filed. 17 ‘‘(3) NUMBER AVAILABLE.— 18 ‘‘(A) UNUSED VISAS.—Subject to subpara- 19 graph (B), the number calculated in this para- 20 graph is the difference between— 21 ‘‘(i) the total number of employment- 22 based visas that were made available in fis- 23 cal years 1992 through 2020; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6788 IH ‘‘(ii) the total number of such visas 1 that were used in such fiscal years. 2 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION AND LIMITATION.—The 3 number described in subparagraph (A) shall be 4 reduced, for each fiscal year following the first 5 fiscal year in which the COVID–19 emergency 6 declaration is in effect, by the cumulative num- 7 ber of immigrant visas used pursuant to para- 8 graph (1). 9 ‘‘(C) FAMILY MEMBERS.— 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Family members 11 described in section 203(d) of the Immi- 12 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 13 1153(d)) who are accompanying or fol- 14 lowing to join a principal beneficiary seek- 15 ing admission under this subsection shall 16 be entitled to an unreserved visa in the 17 same status and in the same order of con- 18 sideration as such principal beneficiary. 19 ‘‘(ii) EXEMPT FROM SKILL-BASED NU- 20 MERICAL LIMITATION.—Visas described in 21 clause (i)— 22 ‘‘(I) shall be made available from 23 the pool of recaptured unused immi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6788 IH grant visas calculated under subpara- 1 graph (A); and 2 ‘‘(II) shall not be counted against 3 the total number of immigrant visas 4 reserved for professional nurses and 5 physicians under paragraph (2). 6 ‘‘(D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 7 in this paragraph may be construed as affecting 8 the application of section 201(c)(3)(C) of the 9 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 10 1151(c)(3)(C)). 11 ‘‘(4) PREMIUM PROCESSING; EXPEDITED PROC- 12 ESSING.— 13 ‘‘(A) PREMIUM PROCESSING.—The Sec- 14 retary of Homeland Security, in conjunction 15 with the Secretary of State, shall provide pre- 16 mium processing procedures, as provided for 17 under section 286(u) of the Immigration and 18 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(u)), for review- 19 ing and acting upon petitions and applications 20 for immigrants described in paragraph (2). 21 Notwithstanding such section, U.S. Citizenship 22 and Immigration Services may not charge a 23 premium fee for such services. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6788 IH ‘‘(B) SHIPPING PETITIONS.—The Director 1 of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 2 shall expedite the shipping of each petition de- 3 scribed in subparagraph (A) requiring consular 4 processing to the Department of State imme- 5 diately after— 6 ‘‘(i) the completed petition has been 7 resolved; and 8 ‘‘(ii) the petitioner has replied to any 9 request from U.S. Citizenship and Immi- 10 gration Services for additional evidence. 11 ‘‘(C) EXPEDITED PROCESSING.—The Sec- 12 retary of State shall expedite the processing of 13 applications for immigrants described in para- 14 graph (2) after receiving a petition on behalf of 15 such immigrants from U.S. Citizenship and Im- 16 migration Services. 17 ‘‘(5) LABOR ATTESTATION.—Before an immi- 18 grant visa reserved under paragraph (2)(B)(i) is 19 issued to an alien, the petitioner shall attest, in the 20 job offer letter presented by the alien to a consular 21 officer during the consular interview, that the hiring 22 of the alien has not displaced and will not displace 23 a United States worker.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:45 May 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6788.IH H6788 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS