I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 392 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 10, 2017 
Mr. CHAFFETZ (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Mr. COHEN, Mrs. COM-
STOCK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DEUTCH, 
Mr. FARENTHOLD, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LOVE, 
Ms. MENG, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. QUIGLEY, 
Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. STEWART, Mr. 
SWALWELL of California, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. WALZ, and 
Mr. YARMUTH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for High- 
Skilled Immigrants Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. NUMERICAL LIMITATION TO ANY SINGLE FOREIGN 
STATE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is 
amended— 
(1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘AND 
EMPLOYMENT-BASED’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘(3), (4), and (5),’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘(3) and (4),’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘subsections (a) and (b) of sec-
tion 203’’ and inserting ‘‘section 203(a)’’; 
(4) by striking ‘‘7’’ and inserting ‘‘15’’; and 
(5) by striking ‘‘such subsections’’ and inserting 
‘‘such section’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 202 of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(3), by striking ‘‘both sub-
sections (a) and (b) of section 203’’ and inserting 
‘‘section 203(a)’’; 
(2) by striking subsection (a)(5); and 
(3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol-
lows: 
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‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR COUNTRIES AT CEILING.— 
If it is determined that the total number of immigrant 
visas made available under section 203(a) to natives of 
any single foreign state or dependent area will exceed the 
numerical limitation specified in subsection (a)(2) in any 
fiscal year, in determining the allotment of immigrant visa 
numbers to natives under section 203(a), visa numbers 
with respect to natives of that state or area shall be allo-
cated (to the extent practicable and otherwise consistent 
with this section and section 203) in a manner so that, 
except as provided in subsection (a)(4), the proportion of 
the visa numbers made available under each of paragraphs 
(1) through (4) of section 203(a) is equal to the ratio of 
the total number of visas made available under the respec-
tive paragraph to the total number of visas made available 
under section 203(a).’’. 
(c) COUNTRY-SPECIFIC OFFSET.—Section 2 of the 
Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (8 U.S.C. 1255 
note) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘subsection 
(e))’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d))’’; and 
(2) by striking subsection (d) and redesignating 
subsection (e) as subsection (d). 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect as if enacted on September 
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30, 2016, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 
fiscal year 2017. 
(e) TRANSITION RULES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED 
IMMIGRANTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to the succeeding 
paragraphs of this subsection and notwithstanding 
title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1151 et seq.), the following rules shall apply: 
(A) For fiscal year 2017, 15 percent of the 
immigrant visas made available under each of 
paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 203(b) of 
such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be allotted to 
immigrants who are natives of a foreign state 
or dependent area that was not one of the two 
states with the largest aggregate numbers of 
natives obtaining immigrant visas during fiscal 
year 2011 under such paragraphs. 
(B) For fiscal year 2018, 10 percent of the 
immigrant visas made available under each of 
such paragraphs shall be allotted to immigrants 
who are natives of a foreign state or dependent 
area that was not one of the two states with the 
largest aggregate numbers of natives obtaining 
immigrant visas during fiscal year 2012 under 
such paragraphs. 
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