I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1024 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate discrimination 
in the immigration laws by permitting permanent partners of United 
States citizens and lawful permanent residents to obtain lawful perma-
nent resident status in the same manner as spouses of citizens and 
lawful permanent residents and to penalize immigration fraud in connec-
tion with permanent partnerships. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2009 
Mr. NADLER of New York (for himself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACKERMAN, 
Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. 
COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali-
fornia, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. 
ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, 
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. LEE of 
California, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. 
MALONEY, Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCCARTHY 
of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. 
MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 
NEAL of Massachusetts, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. 
PAYNE, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Mr. ROTHMAN 
of New Jersey, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of Cali-
fornia, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SUTTON, 
Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. TIERNEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WEINER, Mr. 
WEXLER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, Mr. HARE, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SCHIFF, and Mr. STARK) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
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PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
A BILL 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate 
discrimination in the immigration laws by permitting per-
manent partners of United States citizens and lawful 
permanent residents to obtain lawful permanent resident 
status in the same manner as spouses of citizens and 
lawful permanent residents and to penalize immigration 
fraud in connection with permanent partnerships. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; AMENDMENTS TO IMMIGRATION 
AND NATIONALITY ACT; TABLE OF CON-
TENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Uniting American Families Act of 2009’’. 
(b) AMENDMENTS TO IMMIGRATION AND NATION-
ALITY ACT.—Except as otherwise specifically provided 
whenever in this Act, an amendment or repeal is expressed 
as the amendment or repeal of a section or other provision, 
the reference shall be considered to be made to that sec-
tion or provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; amendments to Immigration and Nationality Act; table of 
contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions of permanent partner and permanent partnership. 
Sec. 3. Worldwide level of immigration. 
Sec. 4. Numerical limitations on individual foreign states. 
Sec. 5. Allocation of immigrant visas. 
Sec. 6. Procedure for granting immigrant status. 
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Sec. 7. Annual admission of refugees and admission of emergency situation ref-
ugees. 
Sec. 8. Asylum. 
Sec. 9. Adjustment of status of refugees. 
Sec. 10. Inadmissible aliens. 
Sec. 11. Nonimmigrant status for permanent partners awaiting the availability 
of an immigrant visa. 
Sec. 12. Conditional permanent resident status for certain alien spouses, per-
manent partners, and sons and daughters. 
Sec. 13. Conditional permanent resident status for certain alien entrepreneurs, 
spouses, permanent partners, and children. 
Sec. 14. Deportable aliens. 
Sec. 15. Removal proceedings. 
Sec. 16. Cancellation of removal; adjustment of status. 
Sec. 17. Adjustment of status of nonimmigrant to that of person admitted for 
permanent residence. 
Sec. 18. Application of criminal penalties to for misrepresentation and conceal-
ment of facts regarding permanent partnerships. 
Sec. 19. Requirements as to residence, good moral character, attachment to the 
principles of the constitution. 
Sec. 20. Application of family unity provisions to permanent partners of certain 
LIFE Act beneficiaries. 
Sec. 21. Application to Cuban Adjustment Act. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS OF PERMANENT PARTNER AND PER-
MANENT PARTNERSHIP. 
Section 101(a) (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (15)(K)(ii), by inserting ‘‘or 
permanent partnership’’ after ‘‘marriage’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(52) The term ‘permanent partner’ means an 
individual 18 years of age or older who— 
‘‘(A) is in a committed, intimate relation-
ship with another individual 18 years of age or 
older in which both parties intend a lifelong 
commitment; 
‘‘(B) is financially interdependent with 
that other individual; 
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‘‘(C) is not married to or in a permanent 
partnership with anyone other than that other 
individual; 
‘‘(D) is unable to contract with that other 
individual a marriage cognizable under this Act; 
and 
‘‘(E) is not a first, second, or third degree 
blood relation of that other individual. 
‘‘(53) The term ‘permanent partnership’ means 
the relationship that exists between two permanent 
partners.’’. 
SEC. 3. WORLDWIDE LEVEL OF IMMIGRATION. 
Section 201(b)(2)(A)(i) (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(2)(A)(i)) 
is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘permanent partners,’’ after 
‘‘spouses,’’; 
(2) by inserting ‘‘or permanent partner’’ after 
‘‘spouse’’ each place it appears; 
(3) by inserting ‘‘(or, in the case of a perma-
nent partnership, whose permanent partnership was 
not terminated)’’ after ‘‘was not legally separated 
from the citizen’’; and 
(4) by striking ‘‘remarries.’’ and inserting ‘‘re-
marries or enters a permanent partnership with an-
other person.’’. 
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SEC. 4. NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS ON INDIVIDUAL FOR-
EIGN STATES. 
(a) PER COUNTRY LEVELS.—Section 202(a)(4) (8 
U.S.C. 1152(a)(4)) is amended— 
(1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘, PERMANENT 
PARTNERS,’’ after ‘‘SPOUSES’’; 
(2) in the heading of subparagraph (A), by in-
serting 
‘‘, 
PERMANENT
PARTNERS,’’ 
after 
‘‘SPOUSES’’; and 
(3) in the heading of subparagraph (C), by 
striking ‘‘AND
DAUGHTERS’’ inserting ‘‘WITHOUT 
PERMANENT
PARTNERS
AND
UNMARRIED
DAUGH-
TERS WITHOUT PERMANENT PARTNERS’’. 
(b) RULES FOR CHARGEABILITY.—Section 202(b)(2) 
(8 U.S.C. 1152(b)(2)) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘or permanent partner’’ after 
‘‘spouse’’ each place it appears; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘or permanent partners’’ after 
‘‘husband and wife’’. 
SEC. 5. ALLOCATION OF IMMIGRANT VISAS. 
(a) PREFERENCE ALLOCATION FOR FAMILY MEM-
BERS
OF
PERMANENT
RESIDENT
ALIENS.—Section 
203(a)(2) (8 U.S.C. 1153(a)(2)) is amended— 
(1) in the heading— 
(A) by striking ‘‘AND’’ after ‘‘SPOUSES’’ 
and inserting ‘‘, PERMANENT PARTNERS,’’; and 
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(B) by inserting ‘‘WITHOUT
PERMANENT 
PARTNERS’’ after ‘‘SONS’’ and after ‘‘DAUGH-
TERS’’; 
(2) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, perma-
nent partners,’’ after ‘‘spouses’’; and 
(3) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘without 
permanent partners’’ after ‘‘sons’’ and after ‘‘daugh-
ters’’. 
(b) PREFERENCE
ALLOCATION
FOR
SONS
AND 
DAUGHTERS OF CITIZENS.—Section 203(a)(3) (8 U.S.C. 
1153(a)(3)) is amended— 
(1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND DAUGH-
TERS AND SONS WITH PERMANENT PARTNERS’’ after 
‘‘DAUGHTERS’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘, or daughters or sons with 
permanent partners,’’ after ‘‘daughters’’. 
(c) 
EMPLOYMENT
CREATION.—Section 
203(b)(5)(A)(ii) (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(A)(ii)) is amended 
by inserting ‘‘permanent partner,’’ after ‘‘spouse,’’. 
(d) TREATMENT
OF FAMILY MEMBERS.—Section 
203(d) (8 U.S.C. 1153(d)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, per-
manent partner,’’ after ‘‘spouse’’ each place it appears. 
SEC. 6. PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STATUS. 
(a) CLASSIFICATION PETITIONS.—Section 204(a)(1) 
(8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)) is amended— 
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