Partner with Korea Act

Bill: 116-hr-1762
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-VA-11]
Introduced: 2019-03-14
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Asia

Employment discrimination and employee rights

Foreign labor

South Korea

Visas and passports
Latest action: action_date: 2019-05-03
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-03-14
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Partner with Korea Act</strong> </p> <p>This bill creates an E-4 treaty trader visa category for up to 15,000 nationals of South Korea each fiscal year who are coming to the United States solely to perform specialty occupation services, subject to various requirements. The 15,000 limit shall only apply to principal aliens and not the spouses or children of such aliens.</p> <p>A specialty occupation is one that requires the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or higher.</p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1762 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 14, 2019 Mr. Connolly (for himself, Mr. Yoho , Mr. Bera , Mr. Beyer , Mr. Bishop of Georgia , Ms. Blunt Rochester , Mr. Cartwright , Mr. Case , Mr. Cohen , Mr. Cooper , Ms. DelBene , Mr. Kilmer , Mr. Kind , Mr. King of New York , Mr. Long , Mr. Mullin , Mr. Raskin , Mr. Rice of South Carolina , Mr. Shimkus , Ms. Speier , Mr. Takano , Mr. Woodall , and Mr. Womack ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide high-skilled visas for nationals of the Republic of Korea, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Partner with Korea Act . 2. Reciprocal visas for nationals of South Korea (a) In general Section 101(a)(15)(E) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(E) ) is amended— (1) in clause (ii), by striking or after capital; ; and (2) by adding at the end or (iv) solely to perform services in a specialty occupation in the United States if the alien is a national of the Republic of Korea and with respect to whom the Secretary of Labor determines and certifies to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State that the intending employer has filed with the Secretary of Labor an attestation under section 212(t)(1); . (b) Numerical limitation Section 214(g) of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1184(g) ) is amended by adding at the end the following: (12) (A) The Secretary of State may not approve a number of initial applications submitted for aliens described in section 101(a)(15)(E)(iv) that is more than the applicable numerical limitations set out in this paragraph. (B) The applicable numerical limitation referred to in subparagraph (A) is 15,000 for each fiscal year. (C) The applicable numerical limitation referred to in subparagraph (A) shall only apply to principal aliens and not the spouses or children of such aliens. . (c) Specialty occupation defined Section 214(i)(1) of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1184(i)(1) ) is amended by striking section 101(a)(15)(E)(iii), and inserting clauses (iii) and (iv) of section 101(a)(15)(E), . (d) Attestation Section 212(t) of such Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1182(t) ), as added by section 402(b)(2) of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act ( Public Law 108–77 ; 117 Stat. 941), is amended— (1) by striking or section 101(a)(15)(E)(iii) each place it appears and inserting or clause (iii) or (iv) of section 101(a)(15)(E) ; and (2) in paragraphs (3)(C)(i)(II), (3)(C)(ii)(II), and (3)(C)(iii)(II), by striking or 101(a)(15)(E)(iii) each place it appears.