Bill > S3419

This bill, the Reuniting Families Act, aims to promote family unity within the U.S. immigration system by making several key changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act. It seeks to recapture unused immigrant visas lost to bureaucratic delays, reclassifies spouses, permanent partners, and minor children of legal permanent residents as immediate relatives, and adjusts country-specific visa limits to allow for greater flexibility. The bill also addresses issues related to previous removals, misrepresentations of citizenship, and expands waivers of inadmissibility and deportability for humanitarian reasons or to ensure family unity. Furthermore, it provides relief for orphans, widows, and widowers, exempts certain Filipino veterans from immigrant visa limits, protects the status of children of fiancés, ensures equal treatment for stepchildren, and allows for the retention of priority dates for family-based immigration. The bill also introduces provisions for work authorization for certain spouses and children on other visas, extends the application period for adjustment of status for some aliens, expands the criteria for cancellation of removal, and prohibits the removal of aliens with pending applications. A significant aspect of the bill is the establishment of a definition for "permanent partner" and "permanent partnership," extending immigration benefits to these relationships, and ensuring their inclusion in various immigration categories, including those for children, refugees, and asylum seekers. Finally, it increases the number of diversity visas and addresses the impact of past travel bans, while also prioritizing family reunification in refugee resettlement and ensuring timely adjudication of refugee applications.

Justice

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3419/all-info