I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1149 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes related 

to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immigrants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 

FARENTHOLD, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. JONES, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. BRAT, and Mr. MARCHANT) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make 

changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to 

reduce the number of such 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 ‘‘Nuclear Family Pri5 ority Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMMEDIATE RELATIVE DEFINITION. 

2 Section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Immigration and Na3 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘children, spouses, and parents’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘children and spouses’’; and 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘States, except that’’ and all 

7 that follows through ‘‘of age.’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘States.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. CHANGE IN FAMILY-SPONSORED IMMIGRANT CAT10 EGORIES. 

11 Section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

12 Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)) is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE ALLOCATION FOR SPOUSES AND

14 CHILDREN OF PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIENS.—Quali15 fied immigrants who are the spouses or children of an 

16 alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence shall be 

17 allotted visas in a number not to exceed the worldwide 

18 level specified in section 201(c).’’. 

19 SEC. 4. CHANGE IN WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF FAMILY-SPON20 SORED IMMIGRANTS. 

21 Section 201(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 

22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(c)) is amended— 

23 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(1) The worldwide level of family-sponsored 

25 immigrants under this subsection for a fiscal year is 

26 equal to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) 88,000; minus 

2 ‘‘(B) the number computed under para3 graph (2).’’; 

4 (2) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and (5); 

5 and 

6 (3) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para7 graph (2). 

8 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

9 (a) NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOR10 EIGN STATE.—Section 202 of the Immigration and Na11 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)(4)— 

13 (A) by amending subparagraphs (A) and 

14 (B) to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(A) 75 PERCENT OF FAMILY-SPONSORED

16 IMMIGRANTS NOT SUBJECT TO PER COUNTRY

17 LIMITATION.—Of the visa numbers made avail18 able under section 203(a) in any fiscal year, 75 

19 percent shall be issued without regard to the 

20 numerical limitation under paragraph (2). 

21 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF REMAINING 25 PER22 CENT FOR COUNTRIES SUBJECT TO SUB23 SECTION (e).— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Of the visa num25 bers made available under section 203(a) 


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1 in any fiscal year, the remaining 25 per2 cent shall be available, in the case of a for3 eign state or dependent area that is sub4 ject to subsection (e) only to the extent 

5 that the total number of visas issued in ac6 cordance with subsection (A) to natives of 

7 the foreign state or dependent area is less 

8 than the subsection (e) ceiling (as defined 

9 in clause (ii)). 

10 ‘‘(ii) SUBSECTION (e) CEILING DE11 FINED.—In clause (i), the term ‘subsection 

12 (e) ceiling’ means, for a foreign state or 

13 dependent area, 77 percent of the max14 imum number of visas that may be made 

15 available under section 203(a) to immi16 grants who are natives of the state or area 

17 consistent with subsection (e).’’; and 

18 (B) by striking subparagraphs (C) and 

19 (D); and 

20 (2) in subsection (e)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

22 the end; 

23 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and redesig24 nating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and 


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1 (C) in the final sentence, by striking ‘‘re2 spectively,’’ and all that follows through the pe3 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘respectively.’’. 

4 (b) RULES FOR DETERMINING WHETHER CERTAIN

5 ALIENS ARE CHILDREN.—Section 203(h) of the Immigra6 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(h)) is amended 

7 by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(A)’’ each place such term appears and 

8 inserting ‘‘(a)’’. 

9 (c) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STA10 TUS.—Section 204 of the Immigration and Nationality 

11 Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

13 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘to 

14 classification by reason of a relationship de15 scribed in paragraph (1), (3), or (4) of section 

16 203(a) or’’; 

17 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

18 ‘‘203(a)(2)(A)’’ and ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ each place 

19 such terms appear and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’; and 

20 (C) in subparagraph (D)(i)(I), by striking 

21 ‘‘a petitioner for preference status under para22 graph (1), (2), or (3)’’ and all that follows 

23 through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘an 

24 individual under 21 years of age for purposes of 

25 adjudicating such petition and for purposes of 


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1 admission as an immediate relative under sec2 tion 201(b)(2)(A)(i) or a family-sponsored im3 migrant under section 203(a), as appropriate, 

4 notwithstanding the actual age of the indi5 vidual.’’; 

6 (2) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘201(b), 

7 203(a)(1), or 203(a)(3), as appropriate.’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘201(b).’’; and 

9 (3) by striking subsection (k). 

10 (d) WAIVERS OF INADMISSIBILITY.—Section 

11 212(d)(11) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

12 U.S.C. 1182(d)(11)) is amended by striking ‘‘(other than 

13 paragraph (4) thereof)’’. 

14 (e) CONDITIONAL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS

15 FOR CERTAIN ALIEN SPOUSES AND SONS AND DAUGH16 TERS.—Section 216(h)(1)(C) of the Immigration and Na17 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1186a(h)(1)(C)) is amended by 

18 striking ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’. 

19 (f) CLASSES OF DEPORTABLE ALIENS.—Section 

20 237(a)(1)(E)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

21 (8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(1)(E)(ii)) is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘203(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘203(a)’’. 


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1 SEC. 6. NONIMMIGRANT STATUS FOR ALIEN PARENT OF 

2 ADULT UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(a)(15) of the Immi4 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (U), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

7 the end; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (V), by striking the period 

9 at the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(W) Subject to section 214(s), an alien who is 

12 a parent of a citizen of the United States, if the cit13 izen is at least 21 years of age.’’. 

14 (b) CONDITIONS ON ADMISSION.—Section 214 of the 

15 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is 

16 amended by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(s)(1) The initial period of authorized admission for 

18 a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) shall 

19 be 5 years. Such period may be extended by the Secretary 

20 of Homeland Security so long as the United States citizen 

21 son or daughter of the nonimmigrant is residing in the 

22 United States. 

23 ‘‘(2) A nonimmigrant described in section 

24 101(a)(15)(W) is not authorized to be employed in the 

25 United States and is not eligible, notwithstanding any 

26 other provision of law, for any Federal, State, or local pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:48 Feb 24, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1149.IH H1149

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1 lic benefit. In the case of such a nonimmigrant, the United 

2 States citizen son or daughter shall be responsible for the 

3 support of the nonimmigrant, regardless of the resources 

4 of the nonimmigrant. 

5 ‘‘(3) An alien is ineligible to receive a visa and ineli6 gible to be admitted into the United States as a non7 immigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) unless the 

8 alien provides satisfactory proof that the United States 

9 citizen son or daughter has arranged for the provision to 

10 the alien, at no cost to the alien, of health insurance cov11 erage applicable during the period of the alien’s presence 

12 in the United States.’’. 

13 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 

14 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

15 on the first day of the second fiscal year that begins after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, except that the fol17 lowing shall be considered invalid: 

18 (1) Any petition under section 204 of the Immi19 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) seeking 

20 classification of an alien under a family-sponsored 

21 immigrant category eliminated by the amendments 

22 made by this Act that is filed after the date of the 

23 introduction of this Act. 


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1 (2) Any application for an immigrant visa based 

2 on a petition described in paragraph (1). 

Æ 


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