IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1044 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate 

the per-country numerical limitation for employmentbased immigrants, to increase the per-country numerical 

limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for High3 Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN 

5 STATE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immi7 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘AND

10 EMPLOYMENT-BASED’’; 

11 (2) by striking ‘‘(3), (4), and (5),’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘(3) and (4),’’; 

13 (3) by striking ‘‘subsections (a) and (b) of sec14 tion 203’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

15 (4) by striking ‘‘7’’ and inserting ‘‘15’’; and 

16 (5) by striking ‘‘such subsections’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘such section’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 202 of the 

19 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is 

20 amended— 

21 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘both sub22 sections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

24 (2) by striking subsection (a)(5); and 

25 (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol26 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR COUNTRIES AT CEILING.— 

2 If it is determined that the total number of immigrant 

3 visas made available under section 203(a) to natives of 

4 any single foreign state or dependent area will exceed the 

5 numerical limitation specified in subsection (a)(2) in any 

6 fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa 

7 numbers to natives under section 203(a), visa numbers 

8 with respect to natives of that state or area shall be allo9 cated (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent 

10 with this section and section 203) in a manner so that, 

11 except as provided in subsection (a)(4), the proportion of 

12 the visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs 

13 (1) through (4) of section 203(a) is equal to the ratio of 

14 the total number of visas made available under the respec15 tive paragraph to the total number of visas made available 

16 under section 203(a).’’. 

17 (c) COUNTRY-SPECIFIC OFFSET.—Section 2 of the 

18 Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (8 U.S.C. 1255 

19 note) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection 

21 (e))’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d))’’; and 

22 (2) by striking subsection (d) and redesignating 

23 subsection (e) as subsection (d). 

24 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 


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1 30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 

2 fiscal year 2020. 

3 (e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED

4 IMMIGRANTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the succeeding 

6 paragraphs of this subsection and notwithstanding 

7 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

8 U.S.C. 1151 et seq.), the following rules shall apply: 

9 (A) For fiscal year 2020, 15 percent of the 

10 immigrant visas made available under each of 

11 paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) of section 203(b) 

12 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted 

13 to immigrants who are natives of a foreign 

14 state or dependent area that is not one of the 

15 two states with the largest aggregate numbers 

16 of natives who are beneficiaries of approved pe17 titions for immigrant status under such para18 graphs. 

19 (B) For fiscal year 2021, 10 percent of the 

20 immigrant visas made available under each of 

21 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 

22 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 

23 area that is not one of the two states with the 

24 largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 


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1 beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi2 grant status under such paragraphs. 

3 (C) For fiscal year 2022, 10 percent of the 

4 immigrant visas made available under each of 

5 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 

6 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 

7 area that is not one of the two states with the 

8 largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 

9 beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi10 grant status under such paragraphs. 

11 (2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 

12 (A) RESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

13 the visas reserved under each of subparagraphs 

14 (A) through (C) of paragraph (1), the number 

15 of such visas made available to natives of any 

16 single foreign state or dependent area in the ap17 propriate fiscal year may not exceed 25 percent 

18 (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 per19 cent (in the case of a dependent area) of the 

20 total number of such visas. 

21 (B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

22 the immigrant visas made available under each 

23 of paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) of section 

24 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not 

25 reserved under paragraph (1), for each of fiscal 


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1 years 2020, 2021, and 2022, not more than 85 

2 percent shall be allotted to immigrants who are 

3 natives of any single foreign state. 

4 (3) SPECIAL RULE TO PREVENT UNUSED

5 VISAS.—If, with respect to fiscal year 2020, 2021, or 

6 2022, the operation of paragraphs (1) and (2) of 

7 this subsection would prevent the total number of 

8 immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) 

9 or (3) of section 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 

10 1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may be 

11 issued during the remainder of such fiscal year with12 out regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this sub13 section. 

14 (4) TRANSITION RULE FOR CURRENTLY AP15 PROVED BENEFICIARIES.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec17 tion 202 of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act, as amended by this Act, immigrant visas 

19 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 

20 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be al21 located such that no alien described in subpara22 graph (B) receives a visa later than the alien 

23 otherwise would have received said visa had this 

24 Act not been enacted. 


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1 (B) ALIEN DESCRIBED.—An alien is de2 scribed in this subparagraph if the alien is the 

3 beneficiary of a petition for an immigrant visa 

4 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 

5 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) that was 

6 approved prior to the date of enactment of this 

7 Act. 

8 (5) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 

9 202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 

10 in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 

11 chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 

12 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

13 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

14 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

15 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

16 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

17 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

18 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro19 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

20 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 10, 2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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