IB 

Union Calendar No. 430 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3120 

[Report No. 112–595] 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2011 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

JULY 12, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on October 6, 2011] 


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A BILL 

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. 


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•HR 3120 RH

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 ‘‘Student Visa Reform 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENT FOR COLLEGES 

7 AND UNIVERSITIES. 

8 Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 

9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (15)(F)(i)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘section 214(l) at an estab12 lished college, university, seminary, conservatory, 

13 academic high school, elementary school, or other 

14 academic institution or in an accredited lan15 guage training program in the United States’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘section 214(m) at an accredited 

17 college, university, or language training pro18 gram, or at an established seminary, conserv19 atory, academic high school, elementary school, 

20 or other academic institution in the United 

21 States’’; and 

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

23 place such term appears and inserting ‘‘Sec24 retary of Homeland Security’’; and 


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1 (2) by amending paragraph (52) to read as fol2 lows: 

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

4 term ‘accredited college, university, or language training 

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

6 program that is accredited by an accrediting agency recog7 nized by the Secretary of Education.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR ACADEMIC INSTITU9 TIONS. 

10 Section 214(m) of the Immigration and Nationality 

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

12 the following: 

13 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in the Sec14 retary’s discretion, may require accreditation of an aca15 demic institution (except for seminaries or other religious 

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

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

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

19 ‘‘(B) an appropriate accrediting agency recog20 nized by the Secretary of Education is able to provide 

21 such accreditation; and 

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

23 alien students accorded status as nonimmigrants 

24 under clause (i) or (iii) of section 101(a)(15)(F) pur25 suing a course of study at that institution. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Homeland Security, in the Sec2 retary’s discretion, may waive the accreditation require3 ment in section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) with respect to an estab4 lished college, university, or language training program if 

5 the academic institution— 

6 ‘‘(A) is otherwise in compliance with the require7 ments of such section; and 

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

9 accreditation requirement. 

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

11 in subparagraph (B) shall be permitted by any academic 

12 institution having authorization for attendance by non13 immigrant students under section 101(a)(15)(F)(i) to be in14 volved with the institution as its principal, owner, officer, 

15 board member, general partner, or other similar position 

16 of substantive authority for the operations or management 

17 of the institution, including serving as an individual des18 ignated by the institution to maintain records required by 

19 the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System es20 tablished under section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Re21 form and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 

22 1372). 

23 ‘‘(B) An offense referred to in this subparagraph in24 cludes a violation, punishable by a term of imprisonment 

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


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

2 (relating to peonage, slavery and trafficking in per3 sons). 

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

5 (relating to transportation for illegal sexual activity 

6 and related crimes). 

7 ‘‘(iii) Section 274 of the Immigration and Na8 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324) (relating to unlawful 

9 bringing of aliens into the United States). 

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

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

12 and other documents) relating to an academic institu13 tion’s participation in the Student and Exchange 

14 Visitor Program.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

16 Section 212(a)(6)(G) of the Immigration and Nation17 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(G)) is amended by striking 

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

19 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

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

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

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

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

24 (2) shall apply with respect to applications for 

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


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

2 1101(a)(15)(F)(i)) that are filed on or after the effec3 tive date described in paragraph (1). 

4 (b) TEMPORARY EXCEPTION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 3-year period be6 ginning on the date of enactment of this Act, an alien 

7 seeking to enter the United States to pursue a course 

8 of study at a college or university that has been cer9 tified by the Secretary of Homeland Security may be 

10 granted a nonimmigrant visa under clause (i) or 

11 clause (iii) of section 101(a)(15)(F) of the Immigra12 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(F)) 

13 without regard to whether or not that college or uni14 versity has been accredited or been denied accredita15 tion by an entity described in section 101(a)(52) of 

16 such Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(52)), as amended by sec17 tion 2(2) of this Act. 

18 (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—An alien may 

19 not be granted a nonimmigrant visa under paragraph 

20 (1) if the college or university to which the alien seeks 

21 to enroll does not— 

22 (A) submit an application for the accredita23 tion of such institution to a regional or national 

24 accrediting agency recognized by the Secretary of 

25 Education on or before the date that is 1 year 


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1 after the effective date described in subsection 

2 (a)(1); and 

3 (B) comply with the applicable accrediting 

4 requirements of such agency. 


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Union Calendar No. 430 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3120 

[Report No. 112–595] 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to 

visa, and for other purposes. tutions for purposes of a nonimmigrant student require accreditation of certain educational instiJULY 12, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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