Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1887 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1887
5	5	To provide visa availability for the Government Employee Immigrant Visa
6	6	program, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JUNE8, 2023
9	9	Mr. V
10	10	ANHOLLEN(for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To provide visa availability for the Government Employee
14	14	Immigrant Visa program, and for other purposes.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Granting Recognition 4
19	19	to Accomplished Talented Employees For Unwavering 5
20	20	Loyalty Act’’ or ‘‘GRATEFUL Act’’. 6
21	21	SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7
22	22	(a) F
23	23	INDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-8
24	24	ings: 9
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27	27	•S 1887 IS
28	28	(1) In 1952, with the enactment of the Immi-1
29	29	gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), 2
30	30	Congress established an immigrant visa program to 3
31	31	reward foreign nationals who are United States Gov-4
32	32	ernment employees for their service to the United 5
33	33	States (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Government 6
34	34	Employee Immigrant Visa program’’). 7
35	35	(2) For 71 years, the Government Employee 8
36	36	Immigrant Visa program has allowed foreign nation-9
37	37	als with at least 15 years of exceptional service to 10
38	38	the United States to immigrate to the United States 11
39	39	with their families. 12
40	40	(3) Such foreign national employees of the 13
41	41	United States Government are the bulwark of 14
42	42	United States foreign policy, risking their lives year 15
43	43	after year through civil unrest, terrorism, natural 16
44	44	disasters, and war. 17
45	45	(4) The work of such foreign nationals— 18
46	46	(A) ensures the safety and well-being of 19
47	47	United States citizens; 20
48	48	(B) provides security and logistics for vis-21
49	49	iting delegations; and 22
50	50	(C) supports United States Government 23
51	51	operations abroad. 24
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54	54	•S 1887 IS
55	55	(5) Such foreign nationals include employees of 1
56	56	the Department of State, the United States Agency 2
57	57	for International Development, the Department of 3
58	58	Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the 4
59	59	Department of Justice, the Department of Com-5
60	60	merce, and the Department of Agriculture. 6
61	61	(b) S
62	62	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-7
63	63	gress that the United States should preserve the immi-8
64	64	grant visa program for foreign nationals who are employ-9
65	65	ees of the United States Government abroad or of the 10
66	66	American Institute in Taiwan, and who have provided ex-11
67	67	ceptional service over a long term to the United States, 12
68	68	by providing a dedicated allocation of visas for such em-13
69	69	ployees and their immediate family members when visas 14
70	70	are not immediately available in the corresponding visa 15
71	71	category. 16
72	72	SEC. 3. VISA AVAILABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE 17
73	73	IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM. 18
74	74	(a) I
75	75	NGENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2024, 19
76	76	subject to subsection (b), visas shall be made available to 20
77	77	a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of 21
78	78	the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 22
79	79	1101(a)(27)(D)) if a visa is not immediately available for 23
80	80	issuance to the special immigrant under section 203(b)(4) 24
81	81	of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)). 25
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84	84	•S 1887 IS
85	85	(b) NUMERICALLIMITATIONS.— 1
86	86	(1) F
87	87	ISCAL YEAR 2024.—For fiscal year 2024, 2
88	88	not more than 3,500 visas shall be made available 3
89	89	under subsection (a). 4
90	90	(2) S
91	91	UBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS .—For fiscal 5
92	92	year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter, not more 6
93	93	than 3,000 visas shall be made available under sub-7
94	94	section (a). 8
95	95	(c) T
96	96	EMPORARYREDUCTION INDIVERSITYVISAS.— 9
97	97	Section 203(d)(2) of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Cen-10
98	98	tral America Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 note; Public Law 11
99	99	105–100) is amended— 12
100	100	(1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol-13
101	101	lows: 14
102	102	‘‘(2) In no case shall the reduction under paragraph 15
103	103	(1) for a fiscal year exceed the amount by which— 16
104	104	‘‘(A) the sum of— 17
105	105	‘‘(i) one-half of the total number of individ-18
106	106	uals described in subclauses (I), (II), (III), and 19
107	107	(IV) of section 309(c)(5)(C)(i) of the Illegal Im-20
108	108	migration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 21
109	109	Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 22
110	110	104–208) who have adjusted their status to 23
111	111	that of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 24
112	112	residence under section 202 of the Nicaraguan 25
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115	115	•S 1887 IS
116	116	Adjustment and Central American Relief Act 1
117	117	(Public Law 105–100; 8 U.S.C. 1255 note) as 2
118	118	of the end of the previous fiscal year; and 3
119	119	‘‘(ii) the total number of individuals de-4
120	120	scribed in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi-5
121	121	gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 6
122	122	1101(a)(27)(D)) for whom visas shall be made 7
123	123	available for the applicable fiscal year under 8
124	124	section 3(b) of the Granting Recognition to Ac-9
125	125	complished Talented Employees For Unwaver-10
126	126	ing Loyalty Act; exceeds 11
127	127	‘‘(B) the total of the reductions in available 12
128	128	visas under this subsection for all previous fiscal 13
129	129	years.’’; and 14
130	130	(2) by adding at the end the following: 15
131	131	‘‘(3)(A) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in a fiscal year 16
132	132	following a fiscal year for which the total number of aliens 17
133	133	described in subparagraph (B) is zero. 18
134	134	‘‘(B) For a fiscal year, the total number of aliens de-19
135	135	scribed in this subparagraph is the total number of indi-20
136	136	viduals described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi-21
137	137	gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)) 22
138	138	who have been issued visas during the previous fiscal year 23
139	139	under the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Talented 24
140	140	Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act. 25
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143	143	•S 1887 IS
144	144	‘‘(C) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed— 1
145	145	‘‘(i) to repeal, modify, or render permanently 2
146	146	inapplicable paragraph (1); or 3
147	147	‘‘(ii) to prevent the offsetting of the number of 4
148	148	visas described in that paragraph for the purpose of 5
149	149	providing visa availability for aliens described in sub-6
150	150	paragraph (B). 7
151	151	‘‘(4) In the event that the number of visas available 8
152	152	for a fiscal year under section 201(e) of the Immigration 9
153	153	and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) is reduced to a 10
154	154	number fewer than 50,000, not fewer than 3,000 visas 11
155	155	shall be made available for individuals described in section 12
156	156	3(a) of the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Tal-13
157	157	ented Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act.’’. 14
158	158	(d) R
159	159	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-15
160	160	tion or the amendments made by this section may be con-16
161	161	strued to modify the number of visas available under sec-17
162	162	tion 203(b)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 18
163	163	U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)) to special immigrants described in sec-19
164	164	tion 101(a)(27)(D) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 20
165	165	1101(a)(27)(D)). 21
166	166	Æ
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