Title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to render overstaying a visa a criminal offense, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
This bill makes it a criminal offense to overstay a visa. For the first offense, the overstaying alien shall be fined or imprisoned up to six months, or both. For each subsequent offense, the alien shall be fined or imprisoned up to two years, or both. The Department of Homeland Security may make case-by-case exceptions for medical necessity, public safety, or national security.
Aliens who overstay a visa shall be barred from admission into the United States and may not be granted a visa. For the first offense, the overstaying alien shall be barred from admission for 5 years and barred from receiving a visa for 10 years. For a subsequent offense, the alien shall be permanently barred from admission and from getting a visa.
If an alien's visa is revoked, all valid visas in that alien's possession are automatically cancelled.
The bill expands the types of removal proceedings where an alien shall have the right to counsel. The government shall not bear the expense for such counsel.
The Department of State may share visa and entry permit-related records with foreign governments on a case-by-case basis, if it is in the interests of the United States to do so. The State Department shall have access to National Crime Information Center files for determining whether visas for certain applicants should be granted.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 523 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 523

 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to render overstaying a 
            visa a criminal offense, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2019

 Mr. Smucker introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to render overstaying a 
            visa a criminal offense, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. VISA OVERSTAYS CRIMINALIZED.

    (a) In General.--The Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by 
inserting after section 274D the following:

``SEC. 274E. VISA OVERSTAYS.

    ``(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), any alien 
who remains in the United States for any period of time after the date 
on which any visa or status under which the alien is lawfully present 
has expired shall--
            ``(1) for the first commission of any such offense, be 
        fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned no more 
        than 6 months, or both; and
            ``(2) for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be 
        fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not 
        more than 2 years, or both.
    ``(b) Exception.--If the Secretary of Homeland Security determines 
on an individual case-by-case basis that, because of reasons of a 
medical necessity, public safety, or national security, the alien 
violated subsection (a), the alien shall not be subject to the 
penalties under subsection (a).
    ``(c) Limitation on Reentry.--
            ``(1) First offenders.--Subject to section 222(g)(2), any 
        alien convicted of a violation of subsection (a)(1)--
                    ``(A) may not be admitted to the United States for 
                a period of 5 years, beginning on the date of the 
                conviction; and
                    ``(B) may not be granted a visa for a period of 10 
                years, beginning on the date of the conviction.
            ``(2) Subsequent offenses.--Notwithstanding section 
        222(g)(2), any alien convicted of a violation of subsection 
        (a)(2)--
                    ``(A) may not be admitted to the United States; and
                    ``(B) may not be granted a visa.
    ``(d) Disclosure of Penalties.--In the case of any application or 
petition by or on behalf of an alien for admission to the United 
States, the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall provide the alien with notice of the penalties under this section 
and section 275 on receipt of the application or petition, and again at 
the time of admission.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 274D the following:

``274E. Visa overstays.''.

SEC. 2. EFFECT OF VISA REVOCATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)) is amended by inserting before the final 
sentence the following: ``A revocation under this subsection shall 
automatically cancel any other valid visa that is in the alien's 
possession.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to 
revocations under section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1201(i)) occurring on or after such date.

SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF INTENT REGARDING TAXPAYER-PROVIDED COUNSEL.

    Section 292 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1362) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``In any removal proceedings before an 
        immigration judge and in any appeal proceedings before the 
        Attorney General from any such removal proceedings'' and 
        inserting ``In any removal proceedings before an immigration 
        judge, or any other immigration proceedings before the Attorney 
        General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or any appeal of 
        such a proceeding'';
            (2) by striking ``(at no expense to the Government)''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following ``Notwithstanding 
        any other provision of law, in no instance shall the Government 
        bear any expense for counsel for any person in proceedings 
        described in this section.''.

SEC. 4. SHARING VISA RECORDS WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.

    Section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1202(f)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting a semicolon;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) the Secretary of State on a case-by-case basis may 
        provide to a foreign government copies of any record of the 
        Department of State and of diplomatic and consular offices of 
        the United States pertaining to the issuance or refusal of 
        visas or permits to enter the United States, or any information 
        contained in those records, if the Secretary determines that it 
        is in the national interests of the United States; and''.

SEC. 5. ACCESS TO NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION CENTER FILES FOR VISA 
              ADJUDICATIONS RELATING TO DIPLOMATS AND OTHER GOVERNMENT 
              OFFICIALS.

    Section 222 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1202) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) In the case of an alien described in one of clauses (i) 
through (iv) of subsection (h)(2)(E) who has applied for a visa, the 
Attorney General and the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation shall provide the Secretary of State with access to the 
criminal history record information contained in files maintained by 
the National Crime Information Center for the purpose of determining 
whether the visa should be issued.''.
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