I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1044 
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 
FEBRUARY 7, 2019 
Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mr. BUCK, Mr. BACON, Mr. BARR, Mrs. BEATTY, 
Mr. BERA, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. 
BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COMER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. COURT-
NEY, Mr. COX of California, Mr. CROW, Mr. CURTIS, Ms. DAVIDS of Kan-
sas, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. 
DINGELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. EMMER, Mr. 
ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. ESTES, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. 
FOSTER, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N 
of Puerto Rico, Mr. GUEST, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HARDER of California, 
Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. HILL of Arkansas, 
Mr. HURD of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of 
Ohio, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KATKO, Mr. 
KHANNA, Mr. KIND, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. KINZINGER, Mr. 
KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 
LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. LONG, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. MASSIE, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, 
Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. 
MORELLE, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PASCRELL, 
Mr. PERRY, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. RASKIN, 
Miss RICE of New York, Mr. RIGGLEMAN, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Ten-
nessee, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 
SHALALA, Mr. SIRES, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPEIER, 
Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. STEWART, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. SWALWELL of Cali-
fornia, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES of California, 
Mr. UPTON, Mrs. WAGNER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. 
WESTERMAN, Ms. WILD, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. 
NEWHOUSE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. AGUILAR, and Mrs. MURPHY) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
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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, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness for High- 
Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019’’. 
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’’. 
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(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: 
‘‘(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).’’. 
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(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 
30, 2019, and shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 
fiscal year 2020. 
(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 2020, 15 percent of the 
immigrant visas made available under each of 
paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) 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 is not one of the 
two states with the largest aggregate numbers 
of natives who are beneficiaries of approved pe-
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titions for immigrant status under such para-
graphs. 
(B) For fiscal year 2021, 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 is not one of the two states with the 
largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 
beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi-
grant status under such paragraphs. 
(C) For fiscal year 2022, 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 is not one of the two states with the 
largest aggregate numbers of natives who are 
beneficiaries of approved petitions for immi-
grant status under such paragraphs. 
(2) PER-COUNTRY LEVELS.— 
(A) RESERVED
VISAS.—With respect to 
the visas reserved under each of subparagraphs 
(A) through (C) of paragraph (1), the number 
of such visas made available to natives of any 
single foreign state or dependent area in the ap-
propriate fiscal year may not exceed 25 percent 
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(in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 per-
cent (in the case of a dependent area) of the 
total number of such visas. 
(B) UNRESERVED VISAS.—With respect to 
the immigrant visas made available under each 
of paragraphs (2), (3), and (5) of section 
203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) and not 
reserved under paragraph (1), for each of fiscal 
years 2020, 2021, and 2022, not more than 85 
percent shall be allotted to immigrants who are 
natives of any single foreign state. 
(3) SPECIAL
RULE
TO
PREVENT
UNUSED 
VISAS.—If, with respect to fiscal year 2020, 2021, or 
2022, the operation of paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
this subsection would prevent the total number of 
immigrant visas made available under paragraph (2) 
or (3) of section 203(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 
1153(b)) from being issued, such visas may be 
issued during the remainder of such fiscal year with-
out regard to paragraphs (1) and (2) of this sub-
section. 
(4) TRANSITION
RULE
FOR
CURRENTLY
AP-
PROVED BENEFICIARIES.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 202 of the Immigration and Nationality 
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Act, as amended by this Act, immigrant visas 
under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) shall be al-
located such that no alien described in subpara-
graph (B) receives a visa later than the alien 
otherwise would have received said visa had this 
Act not been enacted. 
(B) ALIEN DESCRIBED.—An alien is de-
scribed in this subparagraph if the alien is the 
beneficiary of a petition for an immigrant visa 
under section 203(b) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) that was 
approved prior to the date of enactment of this 
Act. 
(5) 
RULES
FOR
CHARGEABILITY.—Section 
202(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)) shall apply 
in determining the foreign state to which an alien is 
chargeable for purposes of this subsection. 
Æ 
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