I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1044 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-country 

numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, to increase the 

per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2019 

Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mr. BUCK, Mr. BACON, Mr. BARR, Mrs. BEATTY, 

Mr. BERA, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. 

BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COMER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. COX of California, Mr. CROW, Mr. CURTIS, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. 

DINGELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. EMMER, Mr. 

ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. ESTES, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. 

FOSTER, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N

of Puerto Rico, Mr. GUEST, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HARDER of California, 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. HILL of Arkansas, 

Mr. HURD of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Ohio, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KATKO, Mr. 

KHANNA, Mr. KIND, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. KINZINGER, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 

LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. LONG, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. MASSIE, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, 

Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. 

MORELLE, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, 

Mr. PERRY, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RASKIN, 

Miss RICE of New York, Mr. RIGGLEMAN, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 

SHALALA, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPEIER, 

Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. STEWART, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES of California, 

Mr. UPTON, Mrs. WAGNER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. 

WESTERMAN, Ms. WILD, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. 

NEWHOUSE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. AGUILAR, and Mrs. MURPHY) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 


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A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for High5 Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN 

7 STATE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immi9 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is 

10 amended— 

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

12 EMPLOYMENT-BASED’’; 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘(3), (4), and (5),’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘(3) and (4),’’; 

15 (3) by striking ‘‘subsections (a) and (b) of sec16 tion 203’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

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

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

19 ‘‘such section’’. 


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•HR 1044 IH

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

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

3 amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘both sub5 sections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

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

8 (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol9 lows: 

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

11 If it is determined that the total number of immigrant 

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

13 any single foreign state or dependent area will exceed the 

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

15 fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa 

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

17 with respect to natives of that state or area shall be allo18 cated (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent 

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

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

21 the visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs 

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

23 the total number of visas made available under the respec24 tive paragraph to the total number of visas made available 

25 under section 203(a).’’. 


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

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

3 note) is amended— 

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

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

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

7 subsection (e) as subsection (d). 

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

9 this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 

10 30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 

11 fiscal year 2020. 

12 (e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED

13 IMMIGRANTS.— 

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

15 paragraphs of this subsection and notwithstanding 

16 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

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

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

19 immigrant visas made available under each of 

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

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

22 to immigrants who are natives of a foreign 

23 state or dependent area that is not one of the 

24 two states with the largest aggregate numbers 

25 of natives who are beneficiaries of approved peVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1044.IH H1044

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1 titions for immigrant status under such para2 graphs. 

3 (B) For fiscal year 2021, 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 (C) For fiscal year 2022, 10 percent of the 

12 immigrant visas made available under each of 

13 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 

14 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 

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

16 largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 

17 beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi18 grant status under such paragraphs. 

19 (2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 

20 (A) RESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

21 the visas reserved under each of subparagraphs 

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

23 of such visas made available to natives of any 

24 single foreign state or dependent area in the ap25 propriate fiscal year may not exceed 25 percent 


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1 (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 per2 cent (in the case of a dependent area) of the 

3 total number of such visas. 

4 (B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

5 the immigrant visas made available under each 

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

7 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not 

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

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

10 percent shall be allotted to immigrants who are 

11 natives of any single foreign state. 

12 (3) SPECIAL RULE TO PREVENT UNUSED

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

14 2022, the operation of paragraphs (1) and (2) of 

15 this subsection would prevent the total number of 

16 immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) 

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

18 1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may be 

19 issued during the remainder of such fiscal year with20 out regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this sub21 section. 

22 (4) TRANSITION RULE FOR CURRENTLY AP23 PROVED BENEFICIARIES.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec25 tion 202 of the Immigration and Nationality 


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1 Act, as amended by this Act, immigrant visas 

2 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 

3 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be al4 located such that no alien described in subpara5 graph (B) receives a visa later than the alien 

6 otherwise would have received said visa had this 

7 Act not been enacted. 

8 (B) ALIEN DESCRIBED.—An alien is de9 scribed in this subparagraph if the alien is the 

10 beneficiary of a petition for an immigrant visa 

11 under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 

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

13 approved prior to the date of enactment of this 

14 Act. 

15 (5) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 

16 202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 

17 in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 

18 chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 

Æ 


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