II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1233
To provide lawful permanent resident status for certain advanced STEM
degree holders, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Mr. D
URBIN(for himself, Mr. ROUNDS, and Mr. KING) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and 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
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•S 1233 IS
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
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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
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‘‘(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; 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
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‘‘(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 by 9
striking ‘‘203(b)(2)’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Attor-10
ney General’’ and inserting ‘‘203(b)(2), 203(b)(3), or 11
201(b)(1)(F) may file a petition with the Secretary of 12
Homeland Security’’. 13
(c) L
ABORCERTIFICATION.—Section 212(a)(5)(D) 14
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 15
1182(a)(5)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘section 16
201(b)(1)(F) or under’’ after ‘‘adjustment of status 17
under’’. 18
(d) D
UALINTENT FORF NONIMMIGRANTSSEEKING 19
A
DVANCEDSTEM DEGREES ATUNITEDSTATESINSTI-20
TUTIONS OFHIGHEREDUCATION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 22
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 admit-25
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ted to a program in a STEM field (as defined in 1
subparagraph (F)(ii) of section 201(b)(1) of the Im-2
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 3
1151(b)(1))) for a degree at the master’s level or 4
higher at a United States institution of higher edu-5
cation (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 6
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) accred-7
ited by an accrediting entity recognized by the De-8
partment of Education may obtain a student visa, be 9
admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant 10
student, or extend or change nonimmigrant status to 11
pursue such degree even if such alien seeks lawful 12
permanent resident status in the United States. 13
(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in this 14
subsection may be construed to modify or amend 15
section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 214(b) of the Immigra-16
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 17
1101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 1184(b)), or any regulation in-18
terpreting such authorities for an alien who is not 19
described in this subsection. 20
Æ
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