I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4427 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the diversity 

immigrant program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2017 

Ms. MCSALLY (for herself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, and Mr. 

JENKINS of West Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate 

the diversity immigrant program, 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 ‘‘Protecting America 

5 and American Workers Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REDUCTION OF DIVERSITY VISAS TO LEVEL NEC2 ESSARY FOR NACARA; PARTIAL REALLOCA3 TION OF VISAS TO BENEFIT CERTAIN EM4 PLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS. 

5 (a) REDUCTION OF DIVERSITY VISAS TO LEVEL FOR

6 NACARA.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 201(e) of the Immi8 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) is 

9 amended by striking ‘‘55,000’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘5,000’’. 

11 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE; SUNSET.—The amend12 ment made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on Oc13 tober 1, 2018, and shall cease to be effective on the 

14 effective date described in section 3(d)(2). 

15 (b) PARTIAL REALLOCATION OF VISAS TO BENEFIT

16 CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS.— 

17 (1) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF IMMIGRATION.— 

18 Section 201(d) of the Immigration and Nationality 

19 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(d)) is amended by adding at the 

20 end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) Beginning with fiscal year 2019, in addition to 

22 the worldwide level of employment-based immigrants com23 puted under paragraphs (1) and (2), there shall be avail24 able for issuance in each fiscal year— 

25 ‘‘(A) 8,000 visas, to be allotted to qualified im26 migrants who are the beneficiary of a petition apVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Nov 22, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4427.IH H4427

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1 proved under subparagraph (E) or (F) of section 

2 204(a)(1) for classification under section 203(b)(1); 

3 ‘‘(B) 8,000 visas, to be allotted to qualified im4 migrants who are the beneficiary of a petition ap5 proved under section 204(a)(1)(F) for classification 

6 under section 203(b)(2); and 

7 ‘‘(C) 8,000 visas, to be allotted to qualified im8 migrants who are the beneficiary of a petition ap9 proved under section 204(a)(1)(F) for classification 

10 under section 203(b)(3).’’. 

11 (2) ALLOCATION OF IMMIGRANT VISAS.—Sec12 tion 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre15 ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, and 

16 plus the number of visas specified in section 

17 201(d)(3)(A),’’ after ‘‘(4) and (5),’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 

19 and plus the number of visas specified in sec20 tion 201(d)(3)(B),’’ after ‘‘(1),’’; and 

21 (C) in paragraph (3)(A), in the matter 

22 preceding clause (i), by inserting ‘‘, and plus 

23 the number of visas specified in section 

24 201(d)(3)(C),’’ after ‘‘(1) and (2),’’. 


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1 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this subsection shall take effect on October 1, 

3 2018. 

4 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT PRO5 GRAM. 

6 (a) WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF IMMIGRATION.—Section 

7 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

8 1151) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of para11 graph (1); 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of para13 graph (2) and inserting a period; and 

14 (C) by striking paragraph (3); and 

15 (2) by striking subsection (e). 

16 (b) ALLOCATION OF IMMIGRANT VISAS.—Section 203 

17 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking subsection (c); 

19 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 

20 (c),’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b),’’; 

21 (3) in subsection (e), by striking paragraph (2) 

22 and redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); 

23 (4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 

24 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b)’’; and 


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1 (5) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), and 

2 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) and (b)’’. 

3 (c) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STA4 TUS.—Section 204 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) by striking subsection (a)(1)(I); and 

7 (2) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘(a), (b), or 

8 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) or (b)’’. 

9 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

10 (1) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary of State 

11 and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall jointly 

12 determine when visa numbers made available under 

13 section 201(e) of the Immigration and Nationality 

14 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) (relating to the worldwide 

15 level of diversity immigrants) are no longer nec16 essary to offset adjustments of status under section 

17 309 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immi18 grant Responsibility (8 U.S.C. 1101 note), as re19 quired by section 203(d) of the Nicaraguan Adjust20 ment and Central American Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 

21 1151 note). Such Secretaries shall publish a notice 

22 in the Federal Register of such determination. 

23 (2) AMENDMENTS.—The amendments made by 

24 this section shall take effect on the first day of the 

25 first fiscal year that begins after the date on which 


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1 the determination under paragraph (1) is published 

2 in the Federal Register. 

Æ 


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