IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3120 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require 

accreditation of certain educational institutions for purposes of a nonimmigrant student visa, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Visa Reform 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENT FOR COLLEGES 

5 AND UNIVERSITIES. 

6 Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

7 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (15)(F)(i)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘section 214(l) at an estab10 lished college, university, seminary, conserv11 atory, academic high school, elementary school, 

12 or other academic institution or in an accred13 ited language training program in the United 

14 States’’ and inserting ‘‘section 214(m) at an ac15 credited college, university, or language training 

16 program, or at an established seminary, con17 servatory, academic high school, elementary 

18 school, or other academic institution in the 

19 United States’’; and 

20 (B) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each 

21 place such term appears and inserting ‘‘Sec22 retary of Homeland Security’’; and 

23 (2) by amending paragraph (52) to read as fol24 lows: 

25 ‘‘(52) Except as provided in section 214(m)(4), the 

26 term ‘accredited college, university, or language training 


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1 program’ means a college, university, or language training 

2 program that is accredited by an accrediting agency recog3 nized by the Secretary of Education.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR ACADEMIC INSTITU5 TIONS. 

6 Section 214(m) of the Immigration and Nationality 

7 Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(m)) is amended by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in the Sec10 retary’s discretion, may require accreditation of an aca11 demic institution (except for seminaries or other religious 

12 institutions) for purposes of section 101(a)(15)(F) if— 

13 ‘‘(A) that institution is not already required to 

14 be accredited under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i); 

15 ‘‘(B) an appropriate accrediting agency recog16 nized by the Secretary of Education is able to pro17 vide such accreditation; and 

18 ‘‘(C) the institution has or will have 25 or more 

19 alien students accorded status as nonimmigrants 

20 under clause (i) or (iii) of section 101(a)(15)(F) 

21 pursuing a course of study at that institution. 

22 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in the Sec23 retary’s discretion, may waive the accreditation require24 ment in section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) with respect to an estabVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:56 Aug 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3120.RFS H3120

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1 lished college, university, or language training program if 

2 the academic institution— 

3 ‘‘(A) is otherwise in compliance with the re4 quirements of such section; and 

5 ‘‘(B) is making a good faith effort to satisfy the 

6 accreditation requirement. 

7 ‘‘(5)(A) No person convicted of an offense referred 

8 to in subparagraph (B) shall be permitted by any aca9 demic institution having authorization for attendance by 

10 nonimmigrant students under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) to 

11 be involved with the institution as its principal, owner, of12 ficer, board member, general partner, or other similar po13 sition of substantive authority for the operations or man14 agement of the institution, including serving as an indi15 vidual designated by the institution to maintain records 

16 required by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information 

17 System established under section 641 of the Illegal Immi18 gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 

19 (8 U.S.C. 1372). 

20 ‘‘(B) An offense referred to in this subparagraph in21 cludes a violation, punishable by a term of imprisonment 

22 of more than 1 year, of any of the following: 

23 ‘‘(i) Chapter 77 of title 18, United States Code 

24 (relating to peonage, slavery and trafficking in per25 sons). 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Chapter 117 of title 18, United States 

2 Code (relating to transportation for illegal sexual ac3 tivity and related crimes). 

4 ‘‘(iii) Section 274 of the Immigration and Na5 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324) (relating to unlawful 

6 bringing of aliens into the United States). 

7 ‘‘(iv) Section 1546 of title 18, United States 

8 Code (relating to fraud and misuse of visas, permits, 

9 and other documents) relating to an academic insti10 tution’s participation in the Student and Exchange 

11 Visitor Program.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

13 Section 212(a)(6)(G) of the Immigration and Nation14 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(G)) is amended by striking 

15 ‘‘section 214(l)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 214(m)’’. 

16 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

18 (b), the amendments made by sections 2 and 3— 

19 (1) shall take effect on the date that is 180 

20 days after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

21 (2) shall apply with respect to applications for 

22 a nonimmigrant visa under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) 

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

24 1101(a)(15)(F)(i)) that are filed on or after the ef25 fective date described in paragraph (1). 


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1 (b) TEMPORARY EXCEPTION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 3-year period be3 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act, an 

4 alien seeking to enter the United States to pursue 

5 a course of study at a college or university that has 

6 been certified by the Secretary of Homeland Secu7 rity may be granted a nonimmigrant visa under 

8 clause (i) or clause (iii) of section 101(a)(15)(F) of 

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

10 1101(a)(15)(F)) without regard to whether or not 

11 that college or university has been accredited or been 

12 denied accreditation by an entity described in section 

13 101(a)(52) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(52)), as 

14 amended by section 2(2) of this Act. 

15 (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—An alien may 

16 not be granted a nonimmigrant visa under para17 graph (1) if the college or university to which the 

18 alien seeks to enroll does not— 

19 (A) submit an application for the accredi20 tation of such institution to a regional or na21 tional accrediting agency recognized by the Sec22 retary of Education on or before the date that 

23 is 1 year after the effective date described in 

24 subsection (a)(1); and 


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1 (B) comply with the applicable accrediting 

2 requirements of such agency. 

Passed the House of Representatives August 1, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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