| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 5982 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide visa availability for the Government Employee Immigrant Visa |
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| 6 | 6 | | program, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | OCTOBER18, 2023 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Ms. K |
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| 10 | 10 | | AMLAGER-DOVE(for herself and Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the following |
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| 11 | 11 | | bill |
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| 12 | 12 | | O |
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| 13 | 13 | | CTOBER25, 2023 |
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| 14 | 14 | | Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To provide visa availability for the Government Employee |
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| 17 | 17 | | Immigrant Visa program, and for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Granting Recognition 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | to Accomplished Talented Employees For Unwavering 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Loyalty Act’’ or the ‘‘GRATEFUL Act’’. 6 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) F |
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| 26 | 26 | | INDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-8 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ings: 9 |
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| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •HR 5982 IH |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) In 1952, with the enactment of the Immi-1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Congress established an immigrant visa program to 3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | reward foreign nationals who are United States Gov-4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | ernment employees for their service to the United 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | States (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Government 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Employee Immigrant Visa program’’). 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (2) For 71 years, the Government Employee 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | Immigrant Visa program has allowed foreign nation-9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | als with at least 15 years of exceptional service to 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | the United States to immigrate to the United States 11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | with their families. 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (3) Such foreign national employees of the 13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | United States Government are the bulwark of 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | United States foreign policy, risking their lives year 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | after year through civil unrest, terrorism, natural 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | disasters, and war. 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (4) The work of such foreign nationals— 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (A) ensures the safety and well-being of 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | United States citizens; 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (B) provides security and logistics for vis-21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | iting delegations; and 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (C) supports United States Government 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | operations abroad. 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 5982 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | (5) Such foreign nationals include employees of 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | the Department of State, the United States Agency 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | for International Development, the Department of 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | Department of Justice, the Department of Com-5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | merce, and the Department of Agriculture. 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (b) S |
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| 65 | 65 | | ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | gress that the United States should preserve the immi-8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | grant visa program for foreign nationals who are employ-9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ees of the United States Government abroad or of the 10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | American Institute in Taiwan, and who have provided ex-11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | ceptional service over a long term to the United States, 12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | by providing a dedicated allocation of visas for such em-13 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ployees and their immediate family members when visas 14 |
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| 73 | 73 | | are not immediately available in the corresponding visa 15 |
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| 74 | 74 | | category. 16 |
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| 75 | 75 | | SEC. 3. VISA AVAILABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE 17 |
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| 76 | 76 | | IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM. 18 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (a) I |
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| 78 | 78 | | NGENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2024, 19 |
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| 79 | 79 | | subject to subsection (b), visas shall be made available to 20 |
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| 80 | 80 | | a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of 21 |
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| 81 | 81 | | the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 22 |
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| 82 | 82 | | 1101(a)(27)(D)) if a visa is not immediately available for 23 |
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| 83 | 83 | | issuance to the special immigrant under section 203(b)(4) 24 |
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| 84 | 84 | | of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)). 25 |
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| 86 | 86 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 87 | 87 | | •HR 5982 IH |
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| 88 | 88 | | (b) NUMERICALLIMITATIONS.— 1 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (1) F |
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| 90 | 90 | | ISCAL YEAR 2024.—For fiscal year 2024, 2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | not more than 3,500 visas shall be made available 3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | under subsection (a). 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | (2) S |
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| 94 | 94 | | UBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS .—For fiscal 5 |
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| 95 | 95 | | year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter, not more 6 |
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| 96 | 96 | | than 3,000 visas shall be made available under sub-7 |
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| 97 | 97 | | section (a). 8 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (c) T |
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| 99 | 99 | | EMPORARYREDUCTION INDIVERSITYVISAS.— 9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | Section 203(d)(2) of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Cen-10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | tral America Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 note; Public Law 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | 105–100) is amended— 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | (1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | lows: 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | ‘‘(2) In no case shall the reduction under paragraph 15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (1) for a fiscal year exceed the amount by which— 16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | ‘‘(A) the sum of— 17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | ‘‘(i) one-half of the total number of individ-18 |
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| 109 | 109 | | uals described in subclauses (I), (II), (III), and 19 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (IV) of section 309(c)(5)(C)(i) of the Illegal Im-20 |
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| 111 | 111 | | migration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 21 |
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| 112 | 112 | | Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 22 |
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| 113 | 113 | | 104–208) who have adjusted their status to 23 |
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| 114 | 114 | | that of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 24 |
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| 115 | 115 | | residence under section 202 of the Nicaraguan 25 |
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| 116 | 116 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5982.IH H5982 |
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| 117 | 117 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 118 | 118 | | •HR 5982 IH |
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| 119 | 119 | | Adjustment and Central American Relief Act 1 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (Public Law 105–100; 8 U.S.C. 1255 note) as 2 |
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| 121 | 121 | | of the end of the previous fiscal year; and 3 |
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| 122 | 122 | | ‘‘(ii) the total number of individuals de-4 |
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| 123 | 123 | | scribed in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi-5 |
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| 124 | 124 | | gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 6 |
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| 125 | 125 | | 1101(a)(27)(D)) for whom visas shall be made 7 |
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| 126 | 126 | | available for the applicable fiscal year under 8 |
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| 127 | 127 | | section 3(b) of the Granting Recognition to Ac-9 |
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| 128 | 128 | | complished Talented Employees For Unwaver-10 |
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| 129 | 129 | | ing Loyalty Act; exceeds 11 |
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| 130 | 130 | | ‘‘(B) the total of the reductions in available 12 |
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| 131 | 131 | | visas under this subsection for all previous fiscal 13 |
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| 132 | 132 | | years.’’; and 14 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (2) by adding at the end the following: 15 |
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| 134 | 134 | | ‘‘(3)(A) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in a fiscal year 16 |
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| 135 | 135 | | following a fiscal year for which the total number of aliens 17 |
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| 136 | 136 | | described in subparagraph (B) is zero. 18 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ‘‘(B) For a fiscal year, the total number of aliens de-19 |
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| 138 | 138 | | scribed in this subparagraph is the total number of indi-20 |
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| 139 | 139 | | viduals described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi-21 |
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| 140 | 140 | | gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)) 22 |
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| 141 | 141 | | who have been issued visas during the previous fiscal year 23 |
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| 142 | 142 | | under the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Talented 24 |
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| 143 | 143 | | Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act. 25 |
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| 145 | 145 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 146 | 146 | | •HR 5982 IH |
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| 147 | 147 | | ‘‘(C) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed— 1 |
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| 148 | 148 | | ‘‘(i) to repeal, modify, or render permanently 2 |
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| 149 | 149 | | inapplicable paragraph (1); or 3 |
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| 150 | 150 | | ‘‘(ii) to prevent the offsetting of the number of 4 |
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| 151 | 151 | | visas described in that paragraph for the purpose of 5 |
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| 152 | 152 | | providing visa availability for aliens described in sub-6 |
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| 153 | 153 | | paragraph (B). 7 |
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| 154 | 154 | | ‘‘(4) In the event that the number of visas available 8 |
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| 155 | 155 | | for a fiscal year under section 201(e) of the Immigration 9 |
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| 156 | 156 | | and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) is reduced to a 10 |
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| 157 | 157 | | number fewer than 50,000, not fewer than 3,000 visas 11 |
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| 158 | 158 | | shall be made available for individuals described in section 12 |
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| 159 | 159 | | 3(a) of the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Tal-13 |
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| 160 | 160 | | ented Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act.’’. 14 |
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| 161 | 161 | | (d) R |
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| 162 | 162 | | ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-15 |
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| 163 | 163 | | tion or the amendments made by this section may be con-16 |
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| 164 | 164 | | strued to modify the number of visas available under sec-17 |
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| 165 | 165 | | tion 203(b)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 18 |
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| 166 | 166 | | U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)) to special immigrants described in sec-19 |
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| 167 | 167 | | tion 101(a)(27)(D) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 20 |
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| 168 | 168 | | 1101(a)(27)(D)). 21 |
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| 169 | 169 | | Æ |
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| 171 | 171 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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