I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 213
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the provisions
that relate to family-sponsored immigrants.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. S
TEUBEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify
the provisions that relate to family-sponsored immigrants.
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 ‘‘Break the Chain Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRATION PRIORITIES. 5
(a) I
MMEDIATE RELATIVEREDEFINED.—Section 6
201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 7
1151) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(A)— 9
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(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘children, 1
spouses, and parents of a citizen of the United 2
States, except that, in the case of parents, such 3
citizens shall be at least 21 years of age.’’ and 4
inserting ‘‘children and spouse of a citizen of 5
the United States.’’; and 6
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘such an im-7
mediate relative’’ and inserting ‘‘the immediate 8
relative spouse of a United States citizen’’; 9
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 10
following: 11
‘‘(c) W
ORLDWIDELEVEL OFFAMILY-SPONSORED 12
I
MMIGRANTS.—(1) The worldwide level of family-spon-13
sored immigrants under this subsection for a fiscal year 14
is equal to 87,934 minus the number computed under 15
paragraph (2). 16
‘‘(2) The number computed under this paragraph for 17
a fiscal year is the number of aliens who were paroled into 18
the United States under section 212(d)(5) in the second 19
preceding fiscal year who— 20
‘‘(A) did not depart from the United States 21
(without advance parole) within 365 days; and 22
‘‘(B)(i) did not acquire the status of an alien 23
lawfully admitted to the United States for perma-24
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nent residence during the two preceding fiscal years; 1
or 2
‘‘(ii) acquired such status during such period 3
under a provision of law (other than subsection (b)) 4
that exempts adjustment to such status from the nu-5
merical limitation on the worldwide level of immigra-6
tion under this section.’’; and 7
(3) in subsection (f)— 8
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘section 9
203(a)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 10
(B) by striking paragraph (3); 11
(C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 12
paragraph (3); and 13
(D) in paragraph (3), as redesignated, by 14
striking ‘‘(1) through (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) 15
and (2)’’. 16
(b) F
AMILY-BASEDVISAPREFERENCES.—Section 17
203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 18
1153(a)) is amended to read as follows: 19
‘‘(a) S
POUSES ANDMINORCHILDREN OFPERMA-20
NENTRESIDENTALIENS.—Family-sponsored immigrants 21
described in this subsection are qualified immigrants who 22
are the spouse or a child of an alien lawfully admitted 23
for permanent residence. Such immigrants shall be allo-24
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cated visas in accordance with the number computed 1
under section 201(c).’’. 2
(c) A
GINGOUT.—Section 203(h) of the Immigration 3
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(h)) is amended— 4
(1) by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such 5
term appears and inserting ‘‘(a)’’; 6
(2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-7
lows: 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 9
for purposes of subsections (a) and (d), a determina-10
tion of whether an alien satisfies the age require-11
ment in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) of 12
section 101(b)(1) shall be made using the age of the 13
alien on the date on which a petition is filed with 14
the Secretary of Homeland Security.’’; 15
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 16
(4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively; 17
(4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-18
lowing: 19
‘‘(2) L
IMITATION.—Notwithstanding the age of 20
an alien on the date on which a petition is filed, an 21
alien who marries or turns 25 years of age prior to 22
a visa becoming available for issuance pursuant to 23
subsection (a) or (d), no longer satisfies the age re-24
quirement described in paragraph (1).’’; and 25
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(5) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, by 1
striking ‘‘(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(4)’’. 2
(d) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 3
(1) D
EFINITION OF V NONIMMIGRANT .—Section 4
101(a)(15)(V) of the Immigration and Nationality 5
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(V)) is amended by strik-6
ing ‘‘section 203(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term ap-7
pears and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’. 8
(2) P
ROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT 9
STATUS.—Section 204 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) 10
is amended— 11
(A) in subsection (a)(1)— 12
(i) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 13
‘‘to classification by reason of a relation-14
ship described in paragraph (1), (3), or (4) 15
of section 203(a) or’’; 16
(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 17
(I) in clause (i), by redesignating 18
the second subclause (I) as subclause 19
(II); and 20
(II) by striking ‘‘203(a)(2)(A)’’ 21
each place such terms appear and in-22
serting ‘‘203(a)’’; and 23
(iii) in subparagraph (D)(i)(I), by 24
striking ‘‘a petitioner’’ and all that follows 25
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through ‘‘section 204(a)(1)(B)(iii).’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘an individual younger than 21 2
years of age for purposes of adjudicating 3
such petition and for purposes of admis-4
sion as an immediate relative under section 5
201(b)(2)(A)(i) or a family-sponsored im-6
migrant under section 203(a), as appro-7
priate, notwithstanding the actual age of 8
the individual.’’; 9
(B) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘, 10
203(a)(1), or 203(a)(3), as appropriate’’; and 11
(C) by striking subsection (k). 12
(3) W
AIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY .—Section 13
212 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended— 14
(A) in subsection (a)(6)(E)(ii), by striking 15
‘‘section 203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 16
203(a)’’; and 17
(B) in subsection (d)(11), by striking 18
‘‘(other than paragraph (4) thereof)’’. 19
(4) E
MPLOYMENT OF V NONIMMIGRANTS .—Sec-20
tion 214(q)(1)(B)(i) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 21
1184(q)(1)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 22
203(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term appears and in-23
serting ‘‘section 203(a)’’. 24
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(5) DEFINITION OF ALIEN SPOUSE .—Section 1
216(h)(1)(C) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1186a(h)(1)(C)) 2
is amended by striking ‘‘section 203(a)(2)’’ and in-3
serting ‘‘section 203(a)’’. 4
(6) C
LASSES OF DEPORTABLE ALIENS .—Sec-5
tion 237(a)(1)(E)(ii) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 6
1227(a)(1)(E)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 7
203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’. 8
(e) C
REATION OFNONIMMIGRANTCLASSIFICATION 9
FORALIENPARENTS OFADULTUNITEDSTATESCITI-10
ZENS.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 101(a)(15) of the 12
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 13
1101(a)(15)) is amended— 14
(A) in subparagraph (T)(ii)(III), by strik-15
ing the period at the end and inserting a semi-16
colon; 17
(B) in subparagraph (U)(iii), by striking 18
‘‘or’’ at the end; 19
(C) in subparagraph (V)(ii)(II), by striking 20
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 21
(D) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(W) subject to section 214(s), an alien 23
who is a parent of a citizen of the United 24
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States, if the citizen is at least 21 years of 1
age.’’. 2
(2) C
ONDITIONS ON ADMISSION .—Section 214 3
of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is amended by adding 4
at the end the following: 5
‘‘(s)(1) The initial period of authorized admission for 6
a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) shall 7
be 5 years, but may be extended by the Secretary of 8
Homeland Security for additional 5-year periods if the 9
United States citizen son or daughter of the nonimmigrant 10
is still residing in the United States. 11
‘‘(2) A nonimmigrant described in section 12
101(a)(15)(W)— 13
‘‘(A) is not authorized to be employed in the 14
United States; and 15
‘‘(B) is not eligible for any Federal, State, or 16
local public benefit. 17
‘‘(3) The United States citizen son or daughter shall 18
file a petition with the Secretary of Homeland Security 19
on behalf of the alien parent in order for the alien parent 20
to be issued a visa or otherwise be provided nonimmigrant 21
status under section 101(a)(15)(W). 22
‘‘(4) An alien is ineligible to be issued a visa or other-23
wise be provided nonimmigrant status under section 24
101(a)(15)(W), or to be admitted into the United States 25
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as a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W), 1
unless the alien provides satisfactory proof that the United 2
States citizen son or daughter has arranged for health in-3
surance coverage for the alien, at no cost to the alien, dur-4
ing the anticipated period of the alien’s residence in the 5
United States.’’. 6
(3) A
FFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT.— 7
(A) G
ROUND OF INADMISSIBILITY .—Sec-8
tion 212(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Na-9
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)(C)) is 10
amended— 11
(i) in the heading by adding at the 12
end the following: ‘‘
AND NONIMMIGRANTS ’’; 13
and 14
(ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), 15
by striking ‘‘section 201(b)(2) or 203(a)’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘section 101(a)(15)(W), 17
201(b)(2), or 203(a)’’. 18
(B) A
FFIDAVIT REQUIRED.—Section 213A 19
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 20
U.S.C. 1183a) is amended— 21
(i) in subsection (a)(2)— 22
(I) by striking ‘‘An affidavit of 23
support’’ and inserting the following: 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 1
subparagraph (B), an affidavit of support’’; and 2
(II) by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(B) S
PECIAL RULE.—In the case of an 5
alien who has been issued a visa or otherwise 6
provided nonimmigrant status under section 7
101(a)(15)(W), an affidavit of support shall be 8
enforceable with respect to benefits provided for 9
an alien while the alien is physically present in 10
the United States.’’; and 11
(ii) in subsection (f)(1)(D), by insert-12
ing after ‘‘section 204’’ the following: ‘‘or 13
petitioning for the alien to be provided a 14
visa under or accorded status under sec-15
tion 101(a)(15)(W)’’. 16
(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE; APPLICABILITY.— 17
(1) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 18
by this section shall take effect on October 1, 2023. 19
(2) I
NVALIDITY OF CERTAIN PETITIONS AND 20
APPLICATIONS.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—No person may file, 22
and the Secretary of Homeland Security and 23
the Secretary of State may not accept, adju-24
dicate, or approve any petition under section 25
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204 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 1
U.S.C. 1154) filed on or after the date of enact-2
ment of this Act seeking classification of an 3
alien under section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) with respect 4
to a parent of a United States citizen, or under 5
section 203(a)(1), (2)(B), (3), or (4) of such 6
Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i), 1153(a)(1), 7
(2)(B), (3), or (4)). Any application for adjust-8
ment of status or an immigrant visa based on 9
such a petition shall be invalid. 10
(B) P
ENDING PETITIONS .—Neither the 11
Secretary of Homeland Security nor the Sec-12
retary of State may adjudicate or approve any 13
petition under section 204 of the Immigration 14
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) pending 15
as of the date of enactment of this Act seeking 16
classification of an alien under section 17
201(b)(2)(A)(i) with respect to a parent of a 18
United States citizen, or under section 19
203(a)(1), (2)(B), (3), or (4) of such Act (8 20
U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i), 1153(a)(1), (2)(B), 21
(3), or (4)). Any application for adjustment of 22
status or an immigrant visa based on such a 23
petition shall be invalid. 24
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(3) APPLICABILITY TO WAITLISTED APPLI -1
CANTS.— 2
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the 3
amendments made by this section, an alien with 4
regard to whom a petition or application for 5
status under paragraph (1), (2)(B), (3), or (4) 6
of section 203(a) of the Immigration and Na-7
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)), as in effect on 8
September 30, 2020, was approved prior to the 9
date of the enactment of this Act, may be 10
issued a visa pursuant to that paragraph in ac-11
cordance with the availability of visas under 12
subparagraph (B). 13
(B) A
VAILABILITY OF VISAS.—Visas may 14
be issued to beneficiaries of approved petitions 15
under each category described in subparagraph 16
(A), but only until such time as the number of 17
visas that would have been allocated to that 18
category in fiscal year 2023, notwithstanding 19
the amendments made by this section, have 20
been issued. When the number of visas de-21
scribed in the previous sentence have been 22
issued for each category described in subpara-23
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graph (A), no additional visas may be issued for 1
that category. 2
Æ
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