II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 293 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2013 

Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

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 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN 

2 STATE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immi4 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is 

5 amended— 

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

7 EMPLOYMENT-BASED’’; 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘(3), (4), and (5),’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘(3) and (4),’’; 

10 (3) by striking ‘‘subsections (a) and (b) of sec11 tion 203’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

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

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

14 ‘‘such section’’. 

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

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

17 amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘both sub19 sections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 

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

22 (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol23 lows: 

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

25 If it is determined that the total number of immigrant 

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


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1 any single foreign state or dependent area will exceed the 

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

3 fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa 

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

5 with respect to natives of that state or area shall be allo6 cated (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent 

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

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

9 the visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs 

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

11 the total number of visas made available under the respec12 tive paragraph to the total number of visas made available 

13 under section 203(a).’’. 

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

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

16 note) is amended— 

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

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

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

20 subsection (e) as subsection (d). 

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

22 this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 

23 30, 2012, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 

24 fiscal year 2013. 


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1 (e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED

2 IMMIGRANTS.— 

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

4 paragraphs of this subsection and notwithstanding 

5 title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

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

7 (A) For fiscal year 2013, 15 percent of the 

8 immigrant visas made available under each of 

9 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 203(b) of 

10 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted to 

11 immigrants who are natives of a foreign state 

12 or dependent area that was not one of the two 

13 states with the largest aggregate numbers of 

14 natives obtaining immigrant visas during fiscal 

15 year 2011 under such paragraphs. 

16 (B) For fiscal year 2014, 10 percent of the 

17 immigrant visas made available under each of 

18 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 

19 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 

20 area that was not one of the two states with the 

21 largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining 

22 immigrant visas during fiscal year 2012 under 

23 such paragraphs. 

24 (C) For fiscal year 2015, 10 percent of the 

25 immigrant visas made available under each of 


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1 such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 

2 who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 

3 area that was not one of the two states with the 

4 largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining 

5 immigrant visas during fiscal year 2013 under 

6 such paragraphs. 

7 (2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 

8 (A) RESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

9 the visas reserved under each of subparagraphs 

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

11 of such visas made available to natives of any 

12 single foreign state or dependent area in the ap13 propriate fiscal year may not exceed 25 percent 

14 (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 per15 cent (in the case of a dependent area) of the 

16 total number of such visas. 

17 (B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 

18 the immigrant visas made available under each 

19 of paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 203(b) of 

20 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not reserved 

21 under paragraph (1), for each of fiscal years 

22 2013, 2014, and 2015, not more than 85 per23 cent shall be allotted to immigrants who are na24 tives of any single foreign state. 


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1 (3) SPECIAL RULE TO PREVENT UNUSED

2 VISAS.—If, with respect to fiscal year 2013, 2014, or 

3 2015, the operation of paragraphs (1) and (2) of 

4 this subsection would prevent the total number of 

5 immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) 

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

7 1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may be 

8 issued during the remainder of such fiscal year with9 out regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this sub10 section. 

11 (4) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 

12 202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 

13 in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 

14 chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 

Æ 


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