Summary#
This bill creates a new short-term nonimmigrant visa category for relatives of citizens and lawful permanent residents to visit for "family purposes." It adds "family purposes" to the existing B visa category and defines both "family purposes" (social visits, major life events, religious events, and similar reasons) and "relative" (spouse, child, son, daughter, grandchild, parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew).
Key requirements in the bill:
- A petitioner or additional sponsor must submit a declaration of financial support (an undertaking under section 213).
- The visiting relative must have short-term travel medical insurance or an existing policy covering international medical expenses for their stay.
- The visitor must express intent to leave at the end of the authorized stay.
- The stay is limited to 90 days per calendar year.
Other provisions:
- A person may be barred from petitioning if a previously admitted relative they sponsored overstayed; petitioners must certify past compliance or explain extraordinary circumstances (subject to 18 U.S.C. 1001 for false statements).
- The Secretary of Homeland Security may waive certain inadmissibility bars for overstays when overstays were due to extraordinary circumstances.
- The new visa category is subject to a restriction on changing to many other nonimmigrant statuses.
- People who already have an approved immigrant classification but are waiting for a visa number may be admitted under this family-purpose visa, but such admission does not count toward adjustment-of-status eligibility under section 245(a).
- The bill states that immigration officers still may refuse admission if applicants do not meet requirements or are inadmissible under existing grounds.
What it means for you#
- If you are a citizen or lawful permanent resident: you could petition for more relatives to visit temporarily for family reasons. You must sign a financial support declaration and may need to certify past visitors did not overstay.
- If you are a qualifying relative: you would need a family-purpose visa, travel medical insurance for the visit, and you would be limited to 90 days of authorized stay per calendar year. You must show intent to leave when the visit ends.
- If you are a visa applicant already classified as an immigrant but waiting for a visa number: you may be able to enter with this family-purpose visa but that entry would not count for adjustment-of-status under section 245(a).
- Immigration officers keep the authority to deny admission if requirements are not met or if the person is otherwise inadmissible.
Expenses#
No publicly available information on estimated federal costs or budget effects is included in the bill text. The bill does require visitors to obtain short-term travel medical insurance and requires a petitioner to submit a declaration of financial support.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.