Sponsors (40)
Official title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make changes related to family-sponsored immigrants and to reduce the number of such immigrants, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 8, 2025 by Eli Crane · Last progress April 8, 2025
The bill aims to simplify and prioritize certain family‑based visa categories and speed processing for spouses/children (and applicants from oversubscribed countries) at the cost of eliminating or narrowing pathways for parents and other relatives, increasing sponsor burdens, and creating administrative and legal disruption that will delay or reduce family reunification for many.
Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents will generally face a narrower, clearer priority allocation and may see faster visa processing.
Federal visa authorities (DOS/DHS/consulates) get simpler, clearer allocation rules and an explicit effective date, improving operational planning and reducing some regulatory ambiguity.
Sets the annual worldwide family‑sponsored cap at a fixed level (88,000 minus a computed offset), increasing predictability in the number of family‑sponsored visas available each year.
Parents of U.S. citizens lose immediate‑relative status and many eliminated family categories reduce or eliminate pathways, meaning parents and other relatives face longer waits or become ineligible.
U.S. citizens—especially older, single, or geographically distant adults—will face greater obstacles reuniting with elderly parents, increasing caregiving responsibilities and potential financial strain on families.
Parents admitted under the new temporary classification are barred from employment and ineligible for federal, state, or local public benefits, placing financial and welfare burdens on families and leaving parents without safety‑net access.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Removes parents from immediate‑relative status, collapses family preference categories to spouses/children of LPRs, and creates a restrictive temporary parent (W) visa.
Makes major cuts to family‑based immigration by removing parents from the list of “immediate relatives,” collapsing multiple family‑preference categories into a single narrower preference class (spouses and children of lawful permanent residents), and tightening the worldwide and per‑country visa calculations. Creates a new temporary nonimmigrant classification for parents of U.S. citizens age 21+ with strict conditions (five‑year renewable stay, no work authorization, no public benefits, dependent child financially responsible, required private health insurance). The changes phase in beginning the first day of the second fiscal year after enactment and invalidate certain petitions filed after the bill’s introduction.