Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB414 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. 414
5	5	To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to strengthen student visa
6	6	background checks and improve the monitoring of foreign students in
7	7	the United States, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY15, 2025
10	10	Mr. B
11	11	ILIRAKISintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on the Judiciary
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to strengthen
15	15	student visa background checks and improve the moni-
16	16	toring of foreign students in the United States, and
17	17	for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Visa Security 4
22	22	Improvement Act’’. 5
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25	25	•HR 414 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. ENHANCED STUDENT VISA BACKGROUND CHECKS. 1
27	27	(a) I
28	28	NGENERAL.—Section 428(e) of the Homeland 2
29	29	Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 236(e)) is amended by 3
30	30	adding at the end the following: 4
31	31	‘‘(9) S
32	32	TUDENT VISAS.—In administering the 5
33	33	program under this subsection, the Secretary, not 6
34	34	later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 7
35	35	of the Student Visa Security Improvement Act— 8
36	36	‘‘(A) shall prescribe regulations to require 9
37	37	employees assigned under paragraph (1) to re-10
38	38	view the applications of all applicants rec-11
39	39	ommended by Department of State personnel 12
40	40	for visas under subparagraph (F), (J), or (M) 13
41	41	of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and 14
42	42	Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)), and 15
43	43	conduct in-person interviews where appropriate, 16
44	44	prior to final adjudication, with special empha-17
45	45	sis on determining whether applicants are inad-18
46	46	missible under section 212(a)(3)(B) of such Act 19
47	47	(8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(B)) (relating to terrorist 20
48	48	activities); 21
49	49	‘‘(B) shall ensure that employees assigned 22
50	50	under paragraph (1) conduct on-site reviews of 23
51	51	any applications and supporting documentation 24
52	52	for visas under subparagraph (F), (J), or (M) 25
53	53	of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and 26
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56	56	•HR 414 IH
57	57	Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) that 1
58	58	they deem appropriate prior to final adjudica-2
59	59	tion; and 3
60	60	‘‘(C) shall update, in consultation with the 4
61	61	Secretary of State, the memorandum of under-5
62	62	standing between the Department of Homeland 6
63	63	Security and the Department of State regard-7
64	64	ing implementation of this section to clarify the 8
65	65	roles and responsibilities of employees assigned 9
66	66	under paragraph (1) specifically with regard to 10
67	67	the duties prescribed by this paragraph.’’. 11
68	68	SEC. 3. STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM. 12
69	69	(a) I
70	70	NGENERAL.—Section 442 of the Homeland Se-13
71	71	curity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 252) is amended— 14
72	72	(1) in subsection (a)— 15
73	73	(A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 16
74	74	paragraph (11); and 17
75	75	(B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 18
76	76	following: 19
77	77	‘‘(5) S
78	78	TUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR PRO -20
79	79	GRAM.—In administering the program under para-21
80	80	graph (4), the Secretary shall, not later than one 22
81	81	year after the date of the enactment of the Student 23
82	82	Visa Security Improvement Act— 24
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85	85	•HR 414 IH
86	86	‘‘(A) prescribe regulations to require an in-1
87	87	stitution or exchange visitor program sponsor 2
88	88	participating in the Student and Exchange Vis-3
89	89	itor Program to ensure that each covered stu-4
90	90	dent or exchange visitor enrolled at the institu-5
91	91	tion or attending the exchange visitor pro-6
92	92	gram— 7
93	93	‘‘(i) is an active participant in the 8
94	94	program for which the covered student or 9
95	95	exchange visitor was issued a visa to enter 10
96	96	the United States; 11
97	97	‘‘(ii) is not unobserved for any pe-12
98	98	riod— 13
99	99	‘‘(I) exceeding 30 days during 14
100	100	any academic term or program in 15
101	101	which the covered student or exchange 16
102	102	visitor is enrolled; or 17
103	103	‘‘(II) exceeding 60 days during 18
104	104	any period not described in subclause 19
105	105	(I); and 20
106	106	‘‘(iii) is reported to the Department 21
107	107	within 10 days of— 22
108	108	‘‘(I) transferring to another insti-23
109	109	tution or program; 24
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112	112	•HR 414 IH
113	113	‘‘(II) changing academic majors; 1
114	114	or 2
115	115	‘‘(III) any other changes to infor-3
116	116	mation required to be maintained in 4
117	117	the system described in paragraph 5
118	118	(4); 6
119	119	‘‘(B) notwithstanding subparagraph (A), 7
120	120	require each covered student or exchange visitor 8
121	121	to be observed at least once every 60 days; and 9
122	122	‘‘(C) prescribe regulations defining what 10
123	123	constitutes the commencement of participation 11
124	124	of a covered student in a designated exchange 12
125	125	visitor program (as defined in section 641(h) of 13
126	126	the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 14
127	127	Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1372(h))). 15
128	128	‘‘(6) E
129	129	NHANCED ACCESS.—The Secretary shall 16
130	130	provide access to the Student and Exchange Visitor 17
131	131	Information System (hereinafter in this subsection 18
132	132	referred to as the ‘SEVIS’), or other equivalent or 19
133	133	successor program or system, to appropriate employ-20
134	134	ees of an institution or exchange visitor program 21
135	135	sponsor participating in the Student and Exchange 22
136	136	Visitor Program if— 23
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139	139	•HR 414 IH
140	140	‘‘(A) at least two authorized users are 1
141	141	identified at each participating institution or 2
142	142	exchange visitor sponsor; 3
143	143	‘‘(B) at least one additional authorized 4
144	144	user is identified at each such institution or 5
145	145	sponsor for every 200 covered students or ex-6
146	146	change visitors enrolled at the institution or 7
147	147	sponsor; and 8
148	148	‘‘(C) each authorized user is certified by 9
149	149	the Secretary as having completed an appro-10
150	150	priate training course provided by the Depart-11
151	151	ment for the program or system. 12
152	152	‘‘(7) P
153	153	ROGRAM SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall 13
154	154	provide appropriate technical support options to fa-14
155	155	cilitate use of the program or system described in 15
156	156	paragraph (4) by authorized users. 16
157	157	‘‘(8) U
158	158	PGRADES TO SEVIS OR EQUIVALENT 17
159	159	DATA.—The Secretary shall update the program or 18
160	160	system described in paragraph (4) to incorporate 19
161	161	new data fields that include— 20
162	162	‘‘(A) verification that a covered student’s 21
163	163	performance meets the minimum academic 22
164	164	standards of the institution in which such stu-23
165	165	dent is enrolled; and 24
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168	168	•HR 414 IH
169	169	‘‘(B) timely entry of any information re-1
170	170	quired by paragraph (5) regarding covered stu-2
171	171	dents and exchange visitors enrolled at institu-3
172	172	tions or exchange program sponsors. 4
173	173	‘‘(9) S
174	174	AVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section 5
175	175	shall prohibit the Secretary or any institution or ex-6
176	176	change program sponsor participating in the Stu-7
177	177	dent Exchange Visitor Program from requiring more 8
178	178	frequent observations of covered students or ex-9
179	179	change visitors. 10
180	180	‘‘(10) D
181	181	ECERTIFICATION.—The Secretary is au-11
182	182	thorized, without notice, to decertify any approved 12
183	183	institution or exchange visitor program sponsor if 13
184	184	such institution or exchange visitor program sponsor 14
185	185	is engaged in egregious criminal activities or is a 15
186	186	threat to national security.’’; and 16
187	187	(2) by adding at the end the following: 17
188	188	‘‘(d) D
189	189	EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 18
190	190	‘‘(1) The term ‘covered student’ means a stu-19
191	191	dent who is a nonimmigrant pursuant to subpara-20
192	192	graph (F), (J), or (M) of section 101(a)(15) of the 21
193	193	Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 22
194	194	1101(a)(15)). 23
195	195	‘‘(2) The term ‘observed’ means positively iden-24
196	196	tified by physical or electronic means. 25
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199	199	•HR 414 IH
200	200	‘‘(3) The term ‘authorized user’ means an indi-1
201	201	vidual nominated by an institution participating in 2
202	202	the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and con-3
203	203	firmed by the Secretary as not appearing on any ter-4
204	204	rorist watch list.’’. 5
205	205	(b) C
206	206	OMPTROLLERGENERALREVIEW.—The Comp-6
207	207	troller General of the United States shall conduct a review 7
208	208	of the fees for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program 8
209	209	of the Department of Homeland Security. The Comp-9
210	210	troller General— 10
211	211	(1) shall include in such review separate anal-11
212	212	yses of— 12
213	213	(A) data from fiscal years 2017 through 13
214	214	2019; and 14
215	215	(B) data from fiscal years 2020 through 15
216	216	2023; and 16
217	217	(2) shall consider fees collected by the Depart-17
218	218	ment and all expenses associated with the review, 18
219	219	issuance, maintenance, data collection, and enforce-19
220	220	ment functions of the Student and Exchange Visitor 20
221	221	Program. 21
222	222	(c) B
223	223	IANNUALREPORT.—The Secretary of Home-22
224	224	land Security shall submit a biannual report, to the Com-23
225	225	mittee on Homeland Security of the House of Representa-24
226	226	tives and to the Committee on Homeland Security and 25
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229	229	•HR 414 IH
230	230	Governmental Affairs of the Senate, analyzing data re-1
231	231	garding— 2
232	232	(1) students that fall out of compliance with the 3
233	233	requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor 4
234	234	Program of the Department of Homeland Security 5
235	235	and lose their status; and 6
236	236	(2) the reporting, reporting compliance, and 7
237	237	timeliness of the institutions or exchange visitor pro-8
238	238	gram of students that fall out of compliance with the 9
239	239	requirements of the Student and Exchange Visitor 10
240	240	Program of the Department of Homeland Security. 11
241	241	Æ
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