United States-Uruguay Economic Partnership Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1926 To amend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to make Uruguay eligible for designation as a beneficiary country under that Act, to include Uruguay in the list of foreign states whose nationals are eligible for admission into the United States as E1 and E2 nonimmigrants if nation- als of the United States are treated similarly by the Government of Uruguay, and to require a report on the eligibility of Uruguay for the visa waiver program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2023 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. HAGERTY, and Mr. KAINE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to make Uruguay eligible for designation as a beneficiary country under that Act, to include Uruguay in the list of foreign states whose nationals are eligible for admis- sion into the United States as E1 and E2 nonimmigrants if nationals of the United States are treated similarly by the Government of Uruguay, and to require a report on the eligibility of Uruguay for the visa waiver program, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1926 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Uruguay 2 Economic Partnership Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF URUGUAY FOR DESIGNATION AS A 4 BENEFICIARY COUNTRY UNDER CARIBBEAN 5 BASIN ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT. 6 Section 212(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re- 7 covery Act (19 U.S.C. 2702(b)) is amended by inserting 8 after ‘‘Turks and Caicos Islands’’ the following new item: 9 ‘‘Uruguay’’. 10 SEC. 3. NONIMMIGRANT TRADERS AND INVESTORS. 11 For purposes of clauses (i) and (ii) of section 12 101(a)(15)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 13 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(E)), Uruguay shall be considered to 14 be a foreign state described in such section if the Govern- 15 ment of Uruguay provides similar nonimmigrant status to 16 nationals of the United States. 17 SEC. 4. VISA WAIVER PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY. 18 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 19 gress that the Secretary of Homeland Security, in con- 20 sultation with the Secretary of State, should conduct a re- 21 view as to whether Uruguay meets the eligibility criteria 22 for designation as a program country for purposes of the 23 visa waiver program under section 217 of the Immigration 24 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1926 IS (b) VISA WAIVER PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY.—Not later 1 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 2 the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with 3 the Secretary of State, shall submit to Congress a report 4 that includes— 5 (1) an assessment as to whether Uruguay meets 6 the eligibility criteria for designation as a program 7 country for purposes of the visa waiver program 8 under section 217 of the Immigration and Nation- 9 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187); and 10 (2) in the case of such an assessment that Uru- 11 guay does not meet such eligibility criteria, a de- 12 scription of the actions required of Uruguay in order 13 to meet such criteria. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1926.IS S1926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB