I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5982 

To provide visa availability for the Government Employee Immigrant Visa 

program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 18, 2023 

Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE (for herself and Ms. SALAZAR) introduced the following 

bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide visa availability for the Government Employee 

Immigrant Visa 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 ‘‘Granting Recognition 

5 to Accomplished Talented Employees For Unwavering 

6 Loyalty Act’’ or the ‘‘GRATEFUL Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find9 ings: 


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1 (1) In 1952, with the enactment of the Immi2 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), 

3 Congress established an immigrant visa program to 

4 reward foreign nationals who are United States Gov5 ernment employees for their service to the United 

6 States (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Government 

7 Employee Immigrant Visa program’’). 

8 (2) For 71 years, the Government Employee 

9 Immigrant Visa program has allowed foreign nation10 als with at least 15 years of exceptional service to 

11 the United States to immigrate to the United States 

12 with their families. 

13 (3) Such foreign national employees of the 

14 United States Government are the bulwark of 

15 United States foreign policy, risking their lives year 

16 after year through civil unrest, terrorism, natural 

17 disasters, and war. 

18 (4) The work of such foreign nationals— 

19 (A) ensures the safety and well-being of 

20 United States citizens; 

21 (B) provides security and logistics for vis22 iting delegations; and 

23 (C) supports United States Government 

24 operations abroad. 


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1 (5) Such foreign nationals include employees of 

2 the Department of State, the United States Agency 

3 for International Development, the Department of 

4 Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the 

5 Department of Justice, the Department of Com6 merce, and the Department of Agriculture. 

7 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con8 gress that the United States should preserve the immi9 grant visa program for foreign nationals who are employ10 ees of the United States Government abroad or of the 

11 American Institute in Taiwan, and who have provided ex12 ceptional service over a long term to the United States, 

13 by providing a dedicated allocation of visas for such em14 ployees and their immediate family members when visas 

15 are not immediately available in the corresponding visa 

16 category. 

17 SEC. 3. VISA AVAILABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE 

18 IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in fiscal year 2024, 

20 subject to subsection (b), visas shall be made available to 

21 a special immigrant described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of 

22 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

23 1101(a)(27)(D)) if a visa is not immediately available for 

24 issuance to the special immigrant under section 203(b)(4) 

25 of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)). 


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1 (b) NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS.— 

2 (1) FISCAL YEAR 2024.—For fiscal year 2024, 

3 not more than 3,500 visas shall be made available 

4 under subsection (a). 

5 (2) SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.—For fiscal 

6 year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter, not more 

7 than 3,000 visas shall be made available under sub8 section (a). 

9 (c) TEMPORARY REDUCTION IN DIVERSITY VISAS.— 

10 Section 203(d)(2) of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Cen11 tral America Relief Act (8 U.S.C. 1151 note; Public Law 

12 105–100) is amended— 

13 (1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(2) In no case shall the reduction under paragraph 

16 (1) for a fiscal year exceed the amount by which— 

17 ‘‘(A) the sum of— 

18 ‘‘(i) one-half of the total number of individ19 uals described in subclauses (I), (II), (III), and 

20 (IV) of section 309(c)(5)(C)(i) of the Illegal Im21 migration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 

22 Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1101 note; Public Law 

23 104–208) who have adjusted their status to 

24 that of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent 

25 residence under section 202 of the Nicaraguan 


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1 Adjustment and Central American Relief Act 

2 (Public Law 105–100; 8 U.S.C. 1255 note) as 

3 of the end of the previous fiscal year; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the total number of individuals de5 scribed in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi6 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

7 1101(a)(27)(D)) for whom visas shall be made 

8 available for the applicable fiscal year under 

9 section 3(b) of the Granting Recognition to Ac10 complished Talented Employees For Unwaver11 ing Loyalty Act; exceeds 

12 ‘‘(B) the total of the reductions in available 

13 visas under this subsection for all previous fiscal 

14 years.’’; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(3)(A) Paragraph (1) shall not apply in a fiscal year 

17 following a fiscal year for which the total number of aliens 

18 described in subparagraph (B) is zero. 

19 ‘‘(B) For a fiscal year, the total number of aliens de20 scribed in this subparagraph is the total number of indi21 viduals described in section 101(a)(27)(D) of the Immi22 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(27)(D)) 

23 who have been issued visas during the previous fiscal year 

24 under the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Talented 

25 Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed— 

2 ‘‘(i) to repeal, modify, or render permanently 

3 inapplicable paragraph (1); or 

4 ‘‘(ii) to prevent the offsetting of the number of 

5 visas described in that paragraph for the purpose of 

6 providing visa availability for aliens described in sub7 paragraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(4) In the event that the number of visas available 

9 for a fiscal year under section 201(e) of the Immigration 

10 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(e)) is reduced to a 

11 number fewer than 50,000, not fewer than 3,000 visas 

12 shall be made available for individuals described in section 

13 3(a) of the Granting Recognition to Accomplished Tal14 ented Employees For Unwavering Loyalty Act.’’. 

15 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec16 tion or the amendments made by this section may be con17 strued to modify the number of visas available under sec18 tion 203(b)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

19 U.S.C. 1153(b)(4)) to special immigrants described in sec20 tion 101(a)(27)(D) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 

21 1101(a)(27)(D)). 

Æ 


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