I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 523 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to render overstaying a 

visa a criminal offense, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2019 

Mr. SMUCKER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to render 

overstaying a visa a criminal offense, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. VISA OVERSTAYS CRIMINALIZED. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Immigration and Nationality 

5 Act is amended by inserting after section 274D the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 274E. VISA OVERSTAYS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

9 (b), any alien who remains in the United States for any 

10 period of time after the date on which any visa or status 


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1 under which the alien is lawfully present has expired 

2 shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) for the first commission of any such of4 fense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, 

5 or imprisoned no more than 6 months, or both; and 

6 ‘‘(2) for a subsequent commission of any such 

7 offense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, 

8 or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both. 

9 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—If the Secretary of Homeland Se10 curity determines on an individual case-by-case basis that, 

11 because of reasons of a medical necessity, public safety, 

12 or national security, the alien violated subsection (a), the 

13 alien shall not be subject to the penalties under subsection 

14 (a). 

15 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON REENTRY.— 

16 ‘‘(1) FIRST OFFENDERS.—Subject to section 

17 222(g)(2), any alien convicted of a violation of sub18 section (a)(1)— 

19 ‘‘(A) may not be admitted to the United 

20 States for a period of 5 years, beginning on the 

21 date of the conviction; and 

22 ‘‘(B) may not be granted a visa for a pe23 riod of 10 years, beginning on the date of the 

24 conviction. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT OFFENSES.—Notwithstand2 ing section 222(g)(2), any alien convicted of a viola3 tion of subsection (a)(2)— 

4 ‘‘(A) may not be admitted to the United 

5 States; and 

6 ‘‘(B) may not be granted a visa. 

7 ‘‘(d) DISCLOSURE OF PENALTIES.—In the case of 

8 any application or petition by or on behalf of an alien for 

9 admission to the United States, the Secretary of State or 

10 the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide the alien 

11 with notice of the penalties under this section and section 

12 275 on receipt of the application or petition, and again 

13 at the time of admission.’’. 

14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

15 of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by in16 serting after the item relating to section 274D the fol17 lowing: 

‘‘274E. Visa overstays.’’. 

18 SEC. 2. EFFECT OF VISA REVOCATION. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 221(i) of the Immigration 

20 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)) is amended by in21 serting before the final sentence the following: ‘‘A revoca22 tion under this subsection shall automatically cancel any 

23 other valid visa that is in the alien’s possession.’’. 

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

25 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Jan 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H523.IH H523

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1 ment of this Act and shall apply to revocations under sec2 tion 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

3 U.S.C. 1201(i)) occurring on or after such date. 

4 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF INTENT REGARDING TAXPAYER5 PROVIDED COUNSEL. 

6 Section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

7 (8 U.S.C. 1362) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘In any removal proceedings be9 fore an immigration judge and in any appeal pro10 ceedings before the Attorney General from any such 

11 removal proceedings’’ and inserting ‘‘In any removal 

12 proceedings before an immigration judge, or any 

13 other immigration proceedings before the Attorney 

14 General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or any 

15 appeal of such a proceeding’’; 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘(at no expense to the Govern17 ment)’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following ‘‘Not19 withstanding any other provision of law, in no in20 stance shall the Government bear any expense for 

21 counsel for any person in proceedings described in 

22 this section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. SHARING VISA RECORDS WITH FOREIGN GOVERN2 MENTS. 

3 Section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality 

4 Act (8 U.S.C. 1202(f)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking the period at 

6 the end and inserting a semicolon; 

7 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para8 graph (3); and 

9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(2) the Secretary of State on a case-by-case 

12 basis may provide to a foreign government copies of 

13 any record of the Department of State and of diplo14 matic and consular offices of the United States per15 taining to the issuance or refusal of visas or permits 

16 to enter the United States, or any information con17 tained in those records, if the Secretary determines 

18 that it is in the national interests of the United 

19 States; and’’. 

20 SEC. 5. ACCESS TO NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION CEN21 TER FILES FOR VISA ADJUDICATIONS RELAT22 ING TO DIPLOMATS AND OTHER GOVERN23 MENT OFFICIALS. 

24 Section 222 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

25 (8 U.S.C. 1202) is amended by adding at the end the fol26 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(i) In the case of an alien described in one of clauses 

2 (i) through (iv) of subsection (h)(2)(E) who has applied 

3 for a visa, the Attorney General and the Director of the 

4 Federal Bureau of Investigation shall provide the Sec5 retary of State with access to the criminal history record 

6 information contained in files maintained by the National 

7 Crime Information Center for the purpose of determining 

8 whether the visa should be issued.’’. 

Æ 


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