Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB362 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. 362
5	5	To establish the Virgin Islands visa waiver program.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	JANUARY13, 2025
8	8	Ms. P
9	9	LASKETTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
10	10	Committee on the Judiciary
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To establish the Virgin Islands visa waiver program.
13	13	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
14	14	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
15	15	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
16	16	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Virgin Islands Visa 4
17	17	Waiver Act of 2025’’. 5
18	18	SEC. 2. ADDITION OF VIRGIN ISLANDS VISA WAIVER TO 6
19	19	GUAM AND NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 7
20	20	VISA WAIVER. 8
21	21	(a) I
22	22	NGENERAL.—Section 212(l) of the Immigration 9
23	23	and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(l)) is amended to read 10
24	24	as follows: 11
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27	27	•HR 362 IH
28	28	‘‘(l) GUAM ANDNORTHERNMARIANAISLANDSVISA 1
29	29	W
30	30	AIVERPROGRAM; VIRGINISLANDSVISAWAIVERPRO-2
31	31	GRAM.— 3
32	32	‘‘(1) I
33	33	N GENERAL.—The requirement of sub-4
34	34	section (a)(7)(B)(i) may be waived by the Secretary 5
35	35	of Homeland Security, in the case of an alien apply-6
36	36	ing for admission as a nonimmigrant visitor for busi-7
37	37	ness or pleasure and solely for entry into and stay 8
38	38	in Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern 9
39	39	Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands of the United 10
40	40	States, for a period not to exceed 45 days, if the 11
41	41	Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation 12
42	42	with the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 13
43	43	State, and the Governor of Guam and the Governor 14
44	44	of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-15
45	45	lands, or the Governor of the Virgin Islands of the 16
46	46	United States, as the case may be, determines 17
47	47	that— 18
48	48	‘‘(A) an adequate arrival and departure 19
49	49	control system has been developed in Guam and 20
50	50	the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-21
51	51	lands, or the Virgin Islands of the United 22
52	52	States; and 23
53	53	‘‘(B) such a waiver does not represent a 24
54	54	threat to the welfare, safety, or security of the 25
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57	57	•HR 362 IH
58	58	United States or its territories and common-1
59	59	wealths. 2
60	60	‘‘(2) A
61	61	LIEN WAIVER OF RIGHTS .—An alien may 3
62	62	not be provided a waiver under this subsection un-4
63	63	less the alien has waived any right— 5
64	64	‘‘(A) to review or appeal under this Act an 6
65	65	immigration officer’s determination as to the 7
66	66	admissibility of the alien at the port of entry 8
67	67	into Guam or the Commonwealth of the North-9
68	68	ern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands of 10
69	69	the United States; or 11
70	70	‘‘(B) to contest, other than on the basis of 12
71	71	an application for withholding of removal under 13
72	72	section 241(b)(3) of this Act or under the Con-14
73	73	vention Against Torture, or an application for 15
74	74	asylum if permitted under section 208 of this 16
75	75	Act, any action for removal of the alien. 17
76	76	‘‘(3) R
77	77	EGULATIONS.—All necessary regulations 18
78	78	to implement this subsection shall be promulgated 19
79	79	by the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consulta-20
80	80	tion with the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec-21
81	81	retary of State. The promulgation of such regula-22
82	82	tions shall be considered a foreign affairs function 23
83	83	for purposes of section 553(a) of title 5, United 24
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86	86	•HR 362 IH
87	87	States Code. At a minimum, such regulations should 1
88	88	include, but not necessarily be limited to— 2
89	89	‘‘(A) a listing of all countries whose na-3
90	90	tionals may obtain the waivers provided by this 4
91	91	subsection; and 5
92	92	‘‘(B) any bonding requirements for nation-6
93	93	als of some or all of those countries who may 7
94	94	present an increased risk of overstays or other 8
95	95	potential problems, if different from such re-9
96	96	quirements otherwise provided by law for non-10
97	97	immigrant visitors. 11
98	98	‘‘(4) F
99	99	ACTORS.—In determining whether to 12
100	100	grant or continue providing the waiver under this 13
101	101	subsection to nationals of any country, the Secretary 14
102	102	of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Sec-15
103	103	retary of the Interior and the Secretary of State, 16
104	104	shall consider all factors that the Secretary deems 17
105	105	relevant, including electronic travel authorizations, 18
106	106	procedures for reporting lost and stolen passports, 19
107	107	repatriation of aliens, rates of refusal for non-20
108	108	immigrant visitor visas, overstays, exit systems, and 21
109	109	information exchange. 22
110	110	‘‘(5) S
111	111	USPENSION.—The Secretary of Home-23
112	112	land Security shall monitor the admission of non-24
113	113	immigrant visitors to Guam and the Commonwealth 25
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116	116	•HR 362 IH
117	117	of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Is-1
118	118	lands of the United States, under this subsection. If 2
119	119	the Secretary determines that such admissions have 3
120	120	resulted in an unacceptable number of visitors from 4
121	121	a country remaining unlawfully in Guam or the 5
122	122	Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or 6
123	123	the Virgin Islands of the United States, unlawfully 7
124	124	obtaining entry to other parts of the United States, 8
125	125	or seeking withholding of removal or asylum, or that 9
126	126	visitors from a country pose a risk to law enforce-10
127	127	ment or security interests of Guam or the Common-11
128	128	wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or of the 12
129	129	Virgin Islands of the United States, or of the United 13
130	130	States (including the interest in the enforcement of 14
131	131	the immigration laws of the United States), the Sec-15
132	132	retary shall suspend the admission of nationals of 16
133	133	such country under this subsection. The Secretary of 17
134	134	Homeland Security may in the Secretary’s discretion 18
135	135	suspend the Guam and Northern Mariana Islands 19
136	136	visa waiver program, or the Virgin Islands visa waiv-20
137	137	er program, at any time, on a country-by-country 21
138	138	basis, for other good cause. 22
139	139	‘‘(6) A
140	140	DDITION OF COUNTRIES .—The Governor 23
141	141	of Guam and the Governor of the Commonwealth of 24
142	142	the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Governor of 25
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145	145	•HR 362 IH
146	146	the Virgin Islands of the United States, may request 1
147	147	the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 2
148	148	Homeland Security to add a particular country to 3
149	149	the list of countries whose nationals may obtain the 4
150	150	waiver provided by this subsection, and the Sec-5
151	151	retary of Homeland Security may grant such request 6
152	152	after consultation with the Secretary of the Interior 7
153	153	and the Secretary of State, and may promulgate reg-8
154	154	ulations with respect to the inclusion of that country 9
155	155	and any special requirements the Secretary of 10
156	156	Homeland Security, in the Secretary’s sole discre-11
157	157	tion, may impose prior to allowing nationals of that 12
158	158	country to obtain the waiver provided by this sub-13
159	159	section.’’. 14
160	160	(b) R
161	161	EGULATIONSDEADLINE.—Not later than one 15
162	162	year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 16
163	163	of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary 17
164	164	of the Interior and the Secretary of State, shall promul-18
165	165	gate any necessary regulations to implement the waiver 19
166	166	provided in the amendment made by subsection (a) for the 20
167	167	Virgin Islands of the United States. 21
168	168	(c) W
169	169	AIVERCOUNTRIES.—The regulations described 22
170	170	in subsection (b) shall include a listing of all member or 23
171	171	associate member countries of the Caribbean Community 24
172	172	whose nationals may obtain, on a country-by-country 25
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175	175	•HR 362 IH
176	176	basis, the waiver provided by this section, except that such 1
177	177	regulations shall not provide for a listing of any country 2
178	178	if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that 3
179	179	such country’s inclusion on such list would represent a 4
180	180	threat to the welfare, safety, or security of the United 5
181	181	States or its territories and commonwealths, or would in-6
182	182	crease fraud or abuse of the nonimmigrant visa system. 7
183	183	(d) C
184	184	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 8
185	185	(1) D
186	186	OCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS .—Section 9
187	187	212(a)(7)(B)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality 10
188	188	Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(7)(B)(iii)) is amended to 11
189	189	read as follows: 12
190	190	‘‘(iii) S
191	191	PECIAL VISA WAIVER PRO -13
192	192	GRAMS.—For a provision authorizing waiv-14
193	193	er of clause (i) in the case of visitors to 15
194	194	Guam or the Commonwealth of the North-16
195	195	ern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands 17
196	196	of the United States, see subsection (l).’’. 18
197	197	(2) A
198	198	DMISSION OF NONIMMIGRANTS .—Section 19
199	199	214(a)(1) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(a)(1)) is 20
200	200	amended by striking ‘‘Guam or the Commonwealth 21
201	201	of the Northern Mariana Islands’’ each place such 22
202	202	term appears and inserting ‘‘Guam or the Common-23
203	203	wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Vir-24
204	204	gin Islands of the United States’’. 25
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207	207	•HR 362 IH
208	208	(e) FEES.—The Secretary of Homeland Security 1
209	209	shall establish an administrative processing fee to be 2
210	210	charged and collected from individuals seeking to enter the 3
211	211	Virgin Islands of the United States in accordance with sec-4
212	212	tion 212(l) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 5
213	213	U.S.C. 1182(l)), as amended by this Act. Such fee shall 6
214	214	be set at a level that will ensure recovery of the full costs 7
215	215	of such processing and any additional costs associated 8
216	216	with the administration of the fees collected. 9
217	217	Æ
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