Immigration Visa Efficiency and Security Act of 2023
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Immigration Visa Efficiency and Security Act of 2023
This bill addresses issues concerning family- and employment-based visas.
The bill increases the annual per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available to 15% and eliminates the per-country cap for employment-based immigrant visas.
The bill establishes transition rules for employment-based visas such as (1) reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability) and EB-3 (skilled and other workers) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas, and (2) allotting a number of visas for professional nurses and physical therapists.
The bill imposes additional requirements for H-1B visas, such as prohibiting (1) an employer from advertising that a position is limited to H-1B applicants or that H-1B applicants are preferred, and (2) certain employers from having more than half of their employees as nonimmigrant visa workers.
The Department of Labor shall create a publicly available website where an employer seeking an H-1B visa must post information about the open position.
The bill also expands Labor's authority to investigate H-1B applications for fraud or misrepresentations.
The bill also prohibits H-1B or H-3 (trainee or special education exchange) visas for nationals of a foreign adversary country for employment in any matter vital to U.S. national interests.
The bill also allows certain nonimmigrant visa holders to obtain lawful permanent resident status if the individual (1) has an approved immigrant visa petition, and (2) has waited at least two years for a visa.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 1, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 1, 2023: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Richard McCormick (R-GA) introduced it on December 1, 2023, and 33 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 1, 2023, 1014 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1014 days ago, on December 1, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers