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119-s-3419119th Congress

Reuniting Families Act

Sponsored By: Senator Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]

Introduced

Summary

Expanded family-based immigration and formal recognition of "permanent partners." This bill would widen who counts as immediate relatives, change visa allocations and country limits, create new visa-recapture rules, ease bars and waivers, and speed refugee family reunification so more families can join in the United States.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

7 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Bigger family visa numbers and limits

This bill would raise and recast family and diversity visa limits. It would raise the Diversity Visa cap to 80,000 and increase per-country caps to 20% and 5%. It would set larger family-preference allocations (127,200; 80,640 plus unused; 80,640; 191,520) and let some long-waiting beneficiaries (priority date >10 years) be exempt from country limits. The bill would also preserve some visas for Filipino-veteran descendants.

Protections while petitions and visas pending

This bill would stop removal of certain people while their immigrant or other listed petitions or applications are pending or on appeal. It would let some people whose qualifying U.S. relative died file a petition within two years and seek parole or reopen visas without fees. The bill would also extend the 245(i) adjustment window to up to five years after enactment and direct certain fees into the immigration fee account.

Recognize permanent partners and families

This bill would create a legal definition of “permanent partner” and treat permanent partners like spouses across immigration law. It would let permanent partners get nonimmigrant and conditional permanent resident status and apply spouse-based naturalization rules to permanent partners. The bill would expand who counts as a child for permanent partners and update parent-child nationality rules.

Refugee family reunification and processing

This bill would expand and speed refugee family reunification through a Priority 3 process. More people (refugees, asylees, certain special immigrants, and citizens/LPRs admitted in those statuses) could file Priority 3 AORs within five years. Refugee spouses, partners, children, and some parents could come in with the same status and not count against refugee limits. The bill would set a one-year goal for required screenings and add embassy referral and interview protections.

Work and age protections for dependents

This bill would let certain H-dependent spouses or children over 16 get work authorization with an employment endorsement or permit. It would protect dependent children from 'aging out' by measuring age from the petition or labor certification filing date and let some children keep extended nonimmigrant status even if they are over 18. The bill would also protect fiancée-visa children by measuring age at petition filing and allow conditional adjustment in narrow cases, and it would remove an old timing rule for stepchildren.

New inadmissibility rules and waivers

This bill would replace some old mandatory bars with new multi-year inadmissibility periods for removals and departures (5, 10, 20 years or permanent for aggravated felonies). It would add broad discretionary waivers for humanitarian or family-unity reasons and a youth exception for misrepresenting citizenship under age 21. At the same time, it would add criminal penalties for fraudulent marriages or partnerships (up to 5 years in prison and fines up to $250,000).

More family and employment visas

This bill would raise the yearly totals for immigrant visas. It would set family-sponsored visas at 480,000 plus two yearly adjustments. It would set employment-based visas at 140,000 plus two yearly adjustments. One adjustment would add any prior-year shortfall. The other adjustment would recapture unused visas from fiscal years 1992–2025, with limits for visas issued after FY2025. These changes would take effect 60 days after enactment.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]

HI • D

Cosponsors

  • Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]

    IL • D

    Sponsored 12/10/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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