I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8838 To overhaul the legal immigration system, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 2, 2020 Mr. KING of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Foreign Affairs, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To overhaul the legal immigration system, 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 ‘‘Legal Immigration for 4 the U.S. Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8838 IH TITLE I—LEGAL IMMIGRATION 1 SEC. 101. WORLDWIDE LEVELS OF FAMILY-SPONSORED 2 AND EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS. 3 (a) FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRANTS.—Section 4 201(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 5 1151(c)) is amended to read as follows: 6 ‘‘(c) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF FAMILY-SPONSORED 7 IMMIGRANTS.—The worldwide level of family-sponsored 8 immigrants is capped at 195,000 for each fiscal year.’’. 9 (b) EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS.—Section 10 201(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 11 1151(d)) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘(c) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED 13 IMMIGRANTS.—The worldwide level of employment-based 14 immigrants is capped at 480,000 for each fiscal year.’’. 15 SEC. 102. PARENTS OF CITIZENS. 16 Section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Na- 17 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)) is amended in 18 the first sentence by striking the period at the end and 19 inserting ‘‘and shall demonstrate that the parent has a 20 financial or physical need to reside in the household of 21 the citizen.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8838 IH SEC. 103. ELIMINATION OF DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT PRO- 1 GRAM. 2 (a) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF DIVERSITY IMMI- 3 GRANTS.—Section 201 of the Immigration and Nation- 4 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)— 6 (A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of para- 7 graph (1); 8 (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of para- 9 graph (2) and inserting a period; and 10 (C) by striking paragraph (3); and 11 (2) by striking subsection (e). 12 (b) ALLOCATION OF DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISAS.— 13 Section 203 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) is amended— 14 (1) by striking subsection (c); 15 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 16 (c),’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b),’’; 17 (3) in subsection (e), by striking paragraph (2) 18 and redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); 19 (4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 20 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b)’’; and 21 (5) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), and 22 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) and (b)’’. 23 (c) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STA- 24 TUS.—Section 204 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amend- 25 ed— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8838 IH (1) by striking subsection (a)(1)(I); and 1 (2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 2 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b)’’. 3 SEC. 104. ANNUAL ADMISSION OF REFUGEES AND ASYLEES. 4 Section 207(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1157(a)) is amended by adding at the end 6 the following: 7 ‘‘(5) The number of refugees who may be admitted 8 under this section, and the number of aliens granted asy- 9 lum whose status may be adjusted under section 209, may 10 not exceed a total of 50,000 in any fiscal year after fiscal 11 year 2020.’’. 12 SEC. 105. ELIMINATION OF ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS EX- 13 CEPTION. 14 Section 245(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 15 Act (8 U.S.C. 1255(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘(other 16 than an immediate relative as defined in section 201(b) 17 or a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(H), 18 (I), (J), or (K))’’. 19 SEC. 106. MERIT-BASED ALLOCATION OF EMPLOYMENT- 20 BASED IMMIGRANT VISAS. 21 Section 203(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) is amended by striking paragraph 23 (1) and all that follows through the end and inserting the 24 following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8838 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Visas made available under 1 this subsection shall be awarded based on a 5-factor, 2 100-point assessment. Applicants who score 67 and 3 higher may qualify. Those who score lower than 67 4 do not qualify, but can work on the requisite quali- 5 fications and try again. 6 ‘‘(2) AWARDING OF POINTS.—Points are award- 7 ed as follows: 8 ‘‘(A) English language skills (reading, 9 writing, listening and speaking) (maximum 28 10 points)—completed through an approved test 11 administered by the Department of State. A 12 maximum of 7 points each is allocated for each 13 skill area. 14 ‘‘(B) Education (maximum of 20 points). 15 ‘‘(C) Work experience (maximum of 20 16 points) for demonstrating substantive experi- 17 ence in a critical needs occupation in the econ- 18 omy of the United States, as determined by the 19 Secretary of Labor under paragraph (3). 20 ‘‘(D) Arranged employment in the United 21 States (maximum of 10 points) for dem- 22 onstrating a job offer of at least 1 year from 23 an employer in the United States in a critical 24 needs occupation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8838 IH ‘‘(E) Adaptability (maximum of 10 points) 1 for demonstrating, through use of the English 2 language, past or present ties with the United 3 States (such as a spouse, family, studies, work, 4 arranged employment) that would enable an in- 5 dividual to assimilate well into life and work in 6 the United States. 7 ‘‘(F) Age-based points are assessed for age 8 on the date that the petition for classification 9 under section 204 is received, as follows: 10 ‘‘(i) Zero points for aliens under 18 11 years of age and over 46 years of age. 12 ‘‘(ii) Twelve points for aliens 18 to 35 13 years of age. 14 ‘‘(iii) Eleven points for aliens 36 years 15 of age. 16 ‘‘(iv) Ten points for aliens 37 years of 17 age. 18 ‘‘(v) Nine points for aliens 38 years of 19 age. 20 ‘‘(vi) Eight points for aliens 39 years 21 of age. 22 ‘‘(vii) Seven points for aliens 40 years 23 of age. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8838 IH ‘‘(viii) Six points for aliens 41 years 1 of age. 2 ‘‘(ix) Five points for aliens 42 years 3 of age. 4 ‘‘(x) Four points for aliens 43 years 5 of age. 6 ‘‘(xi) Three points for aliens 44 years 7 of age. 8 ‘‘(xii) Two points for aliens 45 years 9 of age. 10 ‘‘(xiii) One point for aliens 46 years of 11 age. 12 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL NEEDS.— 13 The Secretary of Labor shall determine critical 14 needs occupations by examining job openings, hires, 15 and total separations by industry during each month 16 in which an alien’s qualifications may be assessed.’’. 17 SEC. 107. EFFECTIVE DATE. 18 The amendments made by this title shall take effect 19 on October 1, 2020. 20 TITLE II—NATURALIZATION 21 REFORM 22 SEC. 201. GOOD MORAL CHARACTER. 23 Section 101(f)(7) of the Immigration and Nationality 24 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(f)(7)) is amended to read as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8838 IH ‘‘(7) one who at any time is convicted of a 1 crime for which the term of imprisonment is in ex- 2 cess of 180 days;’’. 3 SEC. 202. ENGLISH AND CIVICS EXAMS. 4 Section 312(a)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality 5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1423(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘United 6 States.’’ and inserting ‘‘United States by means of suc- 7 cessful completion of an examination administered only in 8 English.’’. 9 SEC. 203. INVESTIGATION OF APPLICANTS. 10 Section 335(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 11 Act (8 U.S.C. 1446(a)) is amended by adding at the end 12 the following: ‘‘Each applicant for naturalization shall 13 have a background check interview conducted in 14 English.’’. 15 SEC. 204. MARRIED PERSONS. 16 Section 319(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 17 Act (8 U.S.C. 1430(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘for at 18 least three’’ and inserting ‘‘for at least five’’. 19 TITLE III—BIRTHRIGHT 20 CITIZENSHIP ACT 21 SEC. 301. CITIZENSHIP AT BIRTH FOR CERTAIN PERSONS 22 BORN IN THE UNITED STATES. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301 of the Immigration 24 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8838 IH (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ before 1 ‘‘The following’’; 2 (2) by redesignating subsections (a) through (h) 3 as paragraphs (1) through (8), respectively; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—Acknowledging the right of birth- 6 right citizenship established by section 1 of the 14th 7 amendment to the Constitution, a person born in the 8 United States shall be considered ‘subject to the jurisdic- 9 tion’ of the United States for purposes of subsection (a)(1) 10 if the person is born in the United States of parents, one 11 of whom is— 12 ‘‘(1) a citizen or national of the United States; 13 ‘‘(2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 14 residence in the United States whose residence is in 15 the United States; or 16 ‘‘(3) an alien performing active service in the 17 armed forces (as defined in section 101 of title 10, 18 United States Code).’’. 19 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 20 section (a)(3) shall not be construed to affect the citizen- 21 ship or nationality status of any person born before the 22 date of the enactment of this Act. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8838 IH TITLE IV—RELIGIOUS WORKER 1 VISA RECIPROCITY ACT 2 SEC. 401. REQUIRING RECIPROCAL IMMIGRATION TREAT- 3 MENT. 4 Section 204(a)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nation- 5 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(G)) is amended by adding 6 at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(iii) Beginning on October 1, 2019, no petition may 8 be approved for classification of an alien as a special immi- 9 grant under section 101(a)(27)(C) if the Secretary of 10 Homeland Security has determined that the country of the 11 alien’s nationality— 12 ‘‘(I) is identified as a ‘Country of Particular 13 Concern’ or a country where religious freedom is of 14 significant interest in the 2013 International Reli- 15 gious Freedom Report; or 16 ‘‘(II) does not extend reciprocal immigration 17 treatment to nationals of the United States who are 18 seeking resident status in order to work in a reli- 19 gious vocation or occupation.’’. 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8838 IH TITLE V—TERMINATE THE EB–5 1 PROGRAM 2 SEC. 501. TERMINATION OF EB–5 PROGRAM. 3 (a) REPEAL OF PROVISIONS.—Effective on the date 4 of the enactment of this Act, the following provisions are 5 repealed: 6 (1) Section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and 7 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)). 8 (2) Section 204(a)(1)(H) of the Immigration 9 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H)). 10 (3) Section 216A of the Immigration and Na- 11 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1186b). 12 (4) Section 610 of the Departments of Com- 13 merce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Re- 14 lated Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993 (8 U.S.C. 15 1153 note). 16 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Beginning on the date of the 17 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 18 rity— 19 (1) shall cease to accept petitions and applica- 20 tions under any authority repealed under subsection 21 (a); and 22 (2) shall dismiss all pending petitions and appli- 23 cations described in paragraph (1). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8838 IH TITLE VI—THE E-BONDING FOR 1 IMMIGRATION INTEGRITY ACT 2 SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT OF BOND. 3 (a) BOND REQUIRED.—Prior to arriving at a port of 4 entry of the United States, an alien seeking admission to 5 the United States shall post a bond, in accordance with 6 subsection (d), in an amount determined by the Secretary 7 if such alien seeks admission to the United States as a 8 nonimmigrant in a category— 9 (1) described under subparagraph (B), (F), 10 (H)(ii)(b), (H)(ii)(b), or (K) of section 101(a)(15) of 11 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 12 1101(a)(15)); or 13 (2) identified by the Secretary, in accordance 14 with section 502, to have a visa overstay rate that 15 is more than 1.5 percent. 16 (b) AMOUNT OF BOND.—Not later than 1 year after 17 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 18 shall, by rule, establish the amount of the bond required 19 by subsection (a) for each visa category under subsection 20 (a)(1) and each visa category identified by the Secretary 21 under section 502, which amount shall— 22 (1) be not less than $2,500 and not more than 23 $10,000; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:14 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8838.IH H8838 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 8838 IH (2) be determined based on the Secretary’s as- 1 sessment of the level of risk of visa overstays for 2 that category. 3 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNT OF BOND.—On an an- 4 nual basis, the Secretary shall review, and, as appropriate, 5 adjust the amounts of the bonds described in subsection 6 (b). 7 (d) PAYMENT OF BOND.—An alien required to post 8 the bond under subsection (a) shall post such bond— 9 (1) in electronic form; and 10 (2) with a bonding agent designated by the Sec- 11 retary as qualified to hold such bond. 12 (e) RELEASE OF BOND.—The Secretary shall author- 13 ize a bonding agent to release a bond— 14 (1) to an alien required to post s [Text truncated for display. 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