I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1837
To require aliens seeking admission to the United States as nonimmigrants
to pay a bond or cash payment and to impose penalties on such aliens
who fail to timely depart the United States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH4, 2025
Mr. O
NDER(for himself, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. GILLof
Texas, Mr. H
ARRISof Maryland, Mr. HARIDOPOLOS, and Mr. HARRISof
North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require aliens seeking admission to the United States
as nonimmigrants to pay a bond or cash payment and
to impose penalties on such aliens who fail to timely
depart the United States, 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 ‘‘Timely Departure 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. VISA OVERSTAY BONDS AND PENALTIES. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 7
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A term used in this section 1
that is used in the immigration laws shall have the 2
meaning given such term in the immigration laws. 3
(2) I
MMIGRATION LAWS.—The term ‘‘immigra-4
tion laws’’ has the meaning given such term under 5
section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 6
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)). 7
(b) N
ONIMMIGRANTBONDS.— 8
(1) A
DMISSION CONTINGENT ON POSTING OF 9
BOND.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 11
subparagraph (B), an alien seeking admission 12
to the United States as a nonimmigrant shall 13
pay a bond or cash payment in an amount not 14
less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000 to 15
help ensure that the alien departs the United 16
States before the date on which his or her pe-17
riod of stay authorized by the Secretary of 18
Homeland Security in connection with such sta-19
tus expires. 20
(B) N
ONAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN 21
ALIENS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to 22
any alien who— 23
(i) is present in the United States 24
pursuant to a nonimmigrant visa issued 25
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under subparagraph (A), (C), (G), (P)(i), 1
(T), or (U) of section 101(a)(15) of the 2
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 3
1101(a)(15)); or 4
(ii) is a national of a program country 5
for purposes of the visa waiver program 6
under section 217 of the Immigration and 7
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187). 8
(2) A
UTOMATIC AND NONAPPEALABLE FOR -9
FEITURE.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of a non-11
immigrant who has paid a bond or cash pay-12
ment under paragraph (1) who fails to depart 13
the United States before midnight (Pacific 14
Time) on the date on which his or her author-15
ized period of stay expires, such bond or cash 16
payment shall be forfeited without the oppor-17
tunity for appeal or review. 18
(B) O
FFSETTING ACCOUNT .—A forfeited 19
bond or cash payment under this paragraph 20
shall be deposited in an offsetting account 21
under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of 22
Homeland Security, to be known as the ‘‘Immi-23
gration Detention and Enforcement Account’’, 24
and the amounts deposited into such account 25
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shall be used solely for purposes of funding 1
alien detention facilities and international 2
transportation for aliens ordered removed from 3
the United States. 4
(3) R
EMOVAL AND IMMIGRATION PENALTY .— 5
An alien whose bond or cash payment is forfeited 6
under paragraph (2) shall be— 7
(A) promptly removed from the United 8
States; and 9
(B) for a period not less than 4 years and 10
not more than 12 years beginning on the date 11
of such forfeiture, ineligible for any lawful im-12
migration status or adjustment of status under 13
the immigration laws. 14
(c) L
IMITATION ONASYLUM ANDWITHHOLDING OF 15
R
EMOVALCLAIMS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An alien present in the 17
United States pursuant to admission as a non-18
immigrant who intends to seek asylum or with-19
holding of removal in the United States shall submit 20
an application for asylum or withholding of removal 21
before midnight (Pacific Time) on the date on which 22
his or her authorized period of stay in connection 23
with nonimmigrant status expires. 24
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(2) CONSEQUENCE OF FAILURE TO TIMELY DE -1
PART.—An alien described in paragraph (1) who 2
fails to depart the United States before midnight 3
(Pacific Time) on the date on which his or her au-4
thorized period of stay expires and who has not sub-5
mitted an application for asylum or withholding of 6
removal shall be ineligible to submit such an applica-7
tion after such date. 8
(d) R
EGULATIONS.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing this sec-10
tion, the Secretary of Homeland Security may only 11
issue regulations or policy guidance with respect 12
to— 13
(A) the collection and retention of bonds 14
and cash payments; 15
(B) the notification of the Attorney Gen-16
eral with respect to the failure of an alien to 17
timely depart the United States before midnight 18
(Pacific Time) on the date on which his or her 19
authorized period of stay in connection with 20
nonimmigrant status expires; and 21
(C) the prevention of the circumvention of 22
the requirement to pay a bond or cash payment 23
under subsection (b)(1). 24
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(2) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary of Homeland 1
Security shall not waive or nullify any requirement 2
of this section, whether by rulemaking, order, or 3
other action. 4
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take effect 5
on the date that is 30 days after the date of the enactment 6
of this Act. 7
Æ
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