New Senate Bill Seeks Major US Green Card Shake-Up
Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville has introduced a sweeping proposal to reshape the U.S. legal immigration system, eliminating the Diversity Visa Lottery, restricting several family-based pathways to permanent residence, and replacing existing employment-based green card categories with a points system.
The Americans First Immigration Act would make some of the most significant changes to legal immigration contemplated in the legislation by ending green card routes for parents of U.S. citizens and several other family categories while creating a new system for employment-based immigrants based on factors including salary, education, English proficiency, age, military service, and extraordinary achievement.
The Senate legislation, introduced by Tuberville of Alabama, follows a House version introduced in April by Republican Representative Barry Moore of Alabama and co-sponsored by Republican Representatives Glenn Grothman, Wesley Hunt and Troy Nehls. The Senate version retains the core structure of the House proposal but makes several substantive changes, including expanded immigration attestations, tougher penalties for some employer violations and revised transition rules for people already in the immigration system.
The proposal would make green cards harder to obtain for many immigrants by eliminating several existing family- and employment-based pathways and requiring employment applicants to meet new thresholds for factors including salary, English proficiency, and age.
"Our current immigration system does little to evaluate the type of people we let inβitβs a free-for-all," Tuberville said in a news release. "Coming to the United States is a privilege, and we need to ensure that anyone immigrating to our country is willing to go by our laws and contribute to our society. We canβt allow this current system to continue prioritizing foreign workers who arenβt willing to assimilate to our values."
Tuberville is also the Republican nominee for Alabama governor, having won the GOP primary in May, and will face former Democratic Senator Doug Jones in the November 3 election.
The bill would eliminate the Diversity Visa Lottery and establish an annual allocation of 3,000 immigrant visas for religious workers. It would bar diversity visas from being issued after enactment.
The legislation would remove parents from the immediate-relative category for U.S. citizens, leaving spouses and children, and eliminate several existing family-preference categories. Its remaining family-sponsored category would cover spouses and children of lawful permanent residents.
The changes would also reach people already in the immigration system. Pending petitions in the affected family categories could not be approved, while people with petitions approved before enactment would be subject to a transition provision limiting the number of visas that could still be issued.
Under current law, parents of U.S. citizens who are at least 21 are classified as immediate relatives and are not subject to the annual numerical limits that apply to family-preference categories.
The bill would replace existing employment-based green card categories with a competitive points system beginning with an annual worldwide level of 192,000 visas. That number would be reduced based on the number of people who were not detained or were released in the previous fiscal year despite being subject to mandatory detention under provisions specified in the bill.
Applicants would need a U.S. job offer, at least 16 points, an English proficiency score in at least the fifth decile and would have to be between 18 and 51 when they applied.
The minimum salary would generally be 200 percent of the median wage in the state where the applicant would work, or 150 percent for applicants who have received or will soon receive a specified degree from a U.S. institution.
DHS would rank eligible applicants by their points. Higher salaries could earn up to 35 points, as could certain U.S. STEM doctorates or medical degrees. The system would also award points for English proficiency, age, and qualifying military service, as well as extraordinary achievement.
Employers would have to show they had first sought U.S. workers and offer the job to an American applicant who was equally or better qualified. They would also face restrictions on laying off U.S. workers in essentially equivalent positions.
Civil penalties could reach $25,000 for a willful violation and $50,000 when a willful violation resulted in a U.S. worker being laid off. A pattern or practice of noncompliance could result in a fine of at least $250,000, up to six months in prison, or both.
Immigrants selected through the points system and qualifying spouses and children would initially receive conditional permanent residence. During the two-year conditional period, the principal immigrant could lose that status for reasons including receiving a means-tested public benefit, specified criminal convictions or failing to maintain the qualifying level of employment. The loss of status could also affect dependent spouses and children.
The legislation would also require covered immigrants to sign what the bill calls a "Protection of American Values" attestation affirming attachment to constitutional principles and addressing involvement in a list of specified conduct that includes genocide, persecution, honor killing, sexual assault, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.
The Senate version is broader than the House bill, which ties the attestation to the points-based petitioner and does not include sexual assault or domestic violence in its list.
The Senate proposal makes several other changes to the House legislation. It raises the maximum penalty for a willful employer-attestation violation from $15,000 to $25,000 and adds the criminal penalty for a pattern or practice of noncompliance. The House bill allows between 10 and 50 points for extraordinary ability at DHS' discretion, while the Senate version fixes the award at 25 points.
The Senate bill also removes an explicit House provision allowing DHS to waive some interviews required to remove conditions on permanent residence. It generally delays the replacement of the existing employment-based categories until the first day of the first fiscal year after enactment, while the House version generally makes those changes effective upon enactment.
The Senate legislation would also require immigrants who are not lawful permanent residents to pay postsecondary institutions at least what comparable out-of-state students pay in tuition, fees, and other costs. Institutions that violate the requirement could lose approval for covered foreign students seeking to enter the United States for a full course of study for five years, an enforcement provision not included in the House bill.
The proposal comes as the Trump administration has separately moved to tighten legal and humanitarian immigration, including suspending most refugee admissions and reducing the refugee ceiling, while imposing tougher scrutiny on some green card applicants. The administration has also rescinded the Biden-era public charge regulation and expanded the factors immigration officers may consider when determining whether certain applicants are likely to become dependent on government benefits, potentially affecting eligibility for permanent residence.
"My bill draws a hard lineβthe days of putting illegals, random diversity lotteries, and foreign labor ahead of American workers are over," Representative Barry Moore, who sponsored the House bill, said in a press release. "Our immigration system should serve the American people, not undercut them, and that means selecting individuals who will strengthen our economy, respect our laws, and share our values. If you want to come to the United States, you should earn it through merit, not diversity lotteries or loopholes."
The legislation faces an uncertain path in Congress. The House left Washington earlier than scheduled on September 16 for its preelection recess and is not expected to resume regular legislative business until after the November 3 midterm elections.
Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both chambers: 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, and one independent in the House, with two vacant seats, while the Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two independents who caucus with Democrats.
