I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2627
To provide lawful permanent resident status for certain advanced STEM
degree holders, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Mr. F
OSTER(for himself, Mr. LAWLER, Ms. HOULAHAN, and Ms. NORTON)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To provide lawful permanent resident status for certain
advanced STEM degree holders, 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 ‘‘Keep STEM Talent 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. VISA REQUIREMENTS. 6
(a) G
RADUATEDEGREEVISAREQUIREMENTS.—To 7
be approved for or maintain nonimmigrant status under 8
section 101(a)(15)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality 9
Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(F)), a student seeking to pur-10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 2627 IH
sue an advanced degree in a STEM field (as defined in 1
section 201(b)(1)(F)(ii) of the Immigration and Nation-2
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)(F)(ii))) (as amended by 3
section 3(a)) for a degree at the master’s level or higher 4
at a United States institution of higher education (as de-5
fined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 6
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)) must apply for admission prior 7
to beginning such advanced degree program. 8
(b) S
TRENGTHENED VETTINGPROCESS.—The Sec-9
retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State 10
shall establish procedures to ensure that aliens described 11
in subsection (a) are admissible pursuant to section 12
212(a)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 13
U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(A)). Such procedures shall ensure that 14
such aliens seeking admission from within the United 15
States undergo verification of academic credentials, com-16
prehensive background checks, and interviews in a manner 17
equivalent to that of an alien seeking admission from out-18
side of the United States. To the greatest extent prac-19
ticable, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Sec-20
retary of State shall also take steps to ensure that such 21
applications for admission are processed in a timely man-22
ner to allow the pursuit of graduate education. 23
(c) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of 24
Homeland Security and the Secretary of State shall sub-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 2627 IH
mit an annual report to the Committee on the Judiciary 1
of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 2
House of Representatives detailing the implementation 3
and effectiveness of the requirement for foreign graduate 4
students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields to 5
seek admission prior to pursuing a graduate degree pro-6
gram. The report shall include data on visa application 7
volumes, processing times, security outcomes, and eco-8
nomic impacts. 9
SEC. 3. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR CER-10
TAIN ADVANCED STEM DEGREE HOLDERS. 11
(a) A
LIENSNOTSUBJECT TODIRECTNUMERICAL 12
L
IMITATIONS.—Section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and 13
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)) is amended by add-14
ing at the end the following: 15
‘‘(F)(i) Aliens who— 16
‘‘(I) have earned a degree in a STEM 17
field at the master’s level or higher while 18
physically present in the United States 19
from a United States institution of higher 20
education (as defined in section 101(a) of 21
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 22
U.S.C. 1001(a))) accredited by an accred-23
iting entity recognized by the Department 24
of Education; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:22 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 2627 IH
‘‘(II) have an offer of employment 1
from, or are employed by, a United States 2
employer to perform work that is directly 3
related to such degree at a rate of pay that 4
is higher than the median wage level for 5
the occupational classification in the area 6
of employment, as determined by the Sec-7
retary of Labor; and 8
‘‘(III) have an approved labor certifi-9
cation under section 212(a)(5)(A)(i); or 10
‘‘(IV) are the spouses and children of 11
aliens described in subclauses (I) through 12
(III) who are accompanying or following to 13
join such aliens. 14
‘‘(ii) In this subparagraph, the term 15
‘STEM field’ means a field of science, 16
technology, engineering, or mathematics 17
described in the most recent version of the 18
Classification of Instructional Programs of 19
the Department of Education taxonomy 20
under the summary group of— 21
‘‘(I) computer and information 22
sciences and support services; 23
‘‘(II) engineering; 24
‘‘(III) mathematics and statistics; 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 2627 IH
‘‘(IV) biological and biomedical 1
sciences; 2
‘‘(V) physical sciences; 3
‘‘(VI) agriculture sciences; or 4
‘‘(VII) natural resources and con-5
servation sciences.’’. 6
(b) P
ROCEDURE FOR GRANTINGIMMIGRATIONSTA-7
TUS.—Section 204(a)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Na-8
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(F)) is amended— 9
(1) by striking ‘‘203(b)(2)’’ and all that follows 10
through ‘‘Attorney General’’; and 11
(2) by inserting ‘‘203(b)(2), 203(b)(3), or 12
201(b)(1)(F) may file a petition with the Secretary 13
of Homeland Security’’. 14
(c) L
ABORCERTIFICATION.—Section 212(a)(5)(D) 15
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 16
1182(a)(5)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘section 17
201(b)(1)(F) or under’’ after ‘‘adjustment of status 18
under’’. 19
(d) D
UALINTENT FORF NONIMMIGRANTSSEEKING 20
A
DVANCEDSTEM DEGREES ATUNITEDSTATESINSTI-21
TUTIONS OFHIGHEREDUCATION.—Notwithstanding sec-22
tions 101(a)(15)(F)(i) and 214(b) of the Immigration and 23
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(F)(i) and 24
1184(b)), an alien who is a bona fide student admitted 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:22 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 2627 IH
to a program in a STEM field (as defined in subparagraph 1
(F)(ii) of section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and Na-2
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1))) for a degree at the 3
master’s level or higher at a United States institution of 4
higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High-5
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) accredited 6
by an accrediting entity recognized by the Department of 7
Education may obtain a student visa, be admitted to the 8
United States as a nonimmigrant student, or extend or 9
change nonimmigrant status to pursue such degree even 10
if such alien seeks lawful permanent resident status in the 11
United States. Nothing in this subsection may be con-12
strued to modify or amend section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 13
214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 14
1101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 1184(b)), or any regulation inter-15
preting these authorities for an alien who is not described 16
in this subsection. 17
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:22 Apr 09, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2627.IH H2627
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB