Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2627 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2627
5	5	To provide lawful permanent resident status for certain advanced STEM
6	6	degree holders, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	APRIL3, 2025
9	9	Mr. F
10	10	OSTER(for himself, Mr. LAWLER, Ms. HOULAHAN, and Ms. NORTON)
11	11	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
12	12	Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To provide lawful permanent resident status for certain
15	15	advanced STEM degree holders, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep STEM Talent 4
20	20	Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. VISA REQUIREMENTS. 6
22	22	(a) G
23	23	RADUATEDEGREEVISAREQUIREMENTS.—To 7
24	24	be approved for or maintain nonimmigrant status under 8
25	25	section 101(a)(15)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality 9
26	26	Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(F)), a student seeking to pur-10
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29	29	•HR 2627 IH
30	30	sue an advanced degree in a STEM field (as defined in 1
31	31	section 201(b)(1)(F)(ii) of the Immigration and Nation-2
32	32	ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)(F)(ii))) (as amended by 3
33	33	section 3(a)) for a degree at the master’s level or higher 4
34	34	at a United States institution of higher education (as de-5
35	35	fined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 6
36	36	1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)) must apply for admission prior 7
37	37	to beginning such advanced degree program. 8
38	38	(b) S
39	39	TRENGTHENED VETTINGPROCESS.—The Sec-9
40	40	retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State 10
41	41	shall establish procedures to ensure that aliens described 11
42	42	in subsection (a) are admissible pursuant to section 12
43	43	212(a)(3)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 13
44	44	U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(A)). Such procedures shall ensure that 14
45	45	such aliens seeking admission from within the United 15
46	46	States undergo verification of academic credentials, com-16
47	47	prehensive background checks, and interviews in a manner 17
48	48	equivalent to that of an alien seeking admission from out-18
49	49	side of the United States. To the greatest extent prac-19
50	50	ticable, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Sec-20
51	51	retary of State shall also take steps to ensure that such 21
52	52	applications for admission are processed in a timely man-22
53	53	ner to allow the pursuit of graduate education. 23
54	54	(c) R
55	55	EPORTINGREQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of 24
56	56	Homeland Security and the Secretary of State shall sub-25
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59	59	•HR 2627 IH
60	60	mit an annual report to the Committee on the Judiciary 1
61	61	of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 2
62	62	House of Representatives detailing the implementation 3
63	63	and effectiveness of the requirement for foreign graduate 4
64	64	students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields to 5
65	65	seek admission prior to pursuing a graduate degree pro-6
66	66	gram. The report shall include data on visa application 7
67	67	volumes, processing times, security outcomes, and eco-8
68	68	nomic impacts. 9
69	69	SEC. 3. LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS FOR CER-10
70	70	TAIN ADVANCED STEM DEGREE HOLDERS. 11
71	71	(a) A
72	72	LIENSNOTSUBJECT TODIRECTNUMERICAL 12
73	73	L
74	74	IMITATIONS.—Section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and 13
75	75	Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)) is amended by add-14
76	76	ing at the end the following: 15
77	77	‘‘(F)(i) Aliens who— 16
78	78	‘‘(I) have earned a degree in a STEM 17
79	79	field at the master’s level or higher while 18
80	80	physically present in the United States 19
81	81	from a United States institution of higher 20
82	82	education (as defined in section 101(a) of 21
83	83	the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 22
84	84	U.S.C. 1001(a))) accredited by an accred-23
85	85	iting entity recognized by the Department 24
86	86	of Education; 25
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89	89	•HR 2627 IH
90	90	‘‘(II) have an offer of employment 1
91	91	from, or are employed by, a United States 2
92	92	employer to perform work that is directly 3
93	93	related to such degree at a rate of pay that 4
94	94	is higher than the median wage level for 5
95	95	the occupational classification in the area 6
96	96	of employment, as determined by the Sec-7
97	97	retary of Labor; and 8
98	98	‘‘(III) have an approved labor certifi-9
99	99	cation under section 212(a)(5)(A)(i); or 10
100	100	‘‘(IV) are the spouses and children of 11
101	101	aliens described in subclauses (I) through 12
102	102	(III) who are accompanying or following to 13
103	103	join such aliens. 14
104	104	‘‘(ii) In this subparagraph, the term 15
105	105	‘STEM field’ means a field of science, 16
106	106	technology, engineering, or mathematics 17
107	107	described in the most recent version of the 18
108	108	Classification of Instructional Programs of 19
109	109	the Department of Education taxonomy 20
110	110	under the summary group of— 21
111	111	‘‘(I) computer and information 22
112	112	sciences and support services; 23
113	113	‘‘(II) engineering; 24
114	114	‘‘(III) mathematics and statistics; 25
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117	117	•HR 2627 IH
118	118	‘‘(IV) biological and biomedical 1
119	119	sciences; 2
120	120	‘‘(V) physical sciences; 3
121	121	‘‘(VI) agriculture sciences; or 4
122	122	‘‘(VII) natural resources and con-5
123	123	servation sciences.’’. 6
124	124	(b) P
125	125	ROCEDURE FOR GRANTINGIMMIGRATIONSTA-7
126	126	TUS.—Section 204(a)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Na-8
127	127	tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(F)) is amended— 9
128	128	(1) by striking ‘‘203(b)(2)’’ and all that follows 10
129	129	through ‘‘Attorney General’’; and 11
130	130	(2) by inserting ‘‘203(b)(2), 203(b)(3), or 12
131	131	201(b)(1)(F) may file a petition with the Secretary 13
132	132	of Homeland Security’’. 14
133	133	(c) L
134	134	ABORCERTIFICATION.—Section 212(a)(5)(D) 15
135	135	of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 16
136	136	1182(a)(5)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘section 17
137	137	201(b)(1)(F) or under’’ after ‘‘adjustment of status 18
138	138	under’’. 19
139	139	(d) D
140	140	UALINTENT FORF NONIMMIGRANTSSEEKING 20
141	141	A
142	142	DVANCEDSTEM DEGREES ATUNITEDSTATESINSTI-21
143	143	TUTIONS OFHIGHEREDUCATION.—Notwithstanding sec-22
144	144	tions 101(a)(15)(F)(i) and 214(b) of the Immigration and 23
145	145	Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(F)(i) and 24
146	146	1184(b)), an alien who is a bona fide student admitted 25
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149	149	•HR 2627 IH
150	150	to a program in a STEM field (as defined in subparagraph 1
151	151	(F)(ii) of section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and Na-2
152	152	tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1))) for a degree at the 3
153	153	master’s level or higher at a United States institution of 4
154	154	higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High-5
155	155	er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) accredited 6
156	156	by an accrediting entity recognized by the Department of 7
157	157	Education may obtain a student visa, be admitted to the 8
158	158	United States as a nonimmigrant student, or extend or 9
159	159	change nonimmigrant status to pursue such degree even 10
160	160	if such alien seeks lawful permanent resident status in the 11
161	161	United States. Nothing in this subsection may be con-12
162	162	strued to modify or amend section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 13
163	163	214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 14
164	164	1101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 1184(b)), or any regulation inter-15
165	165	preting these authorities for an alien who is not described 16
166	166	in this subsection. 17
167	167	Æ
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