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HR10460119th CongressWALLET

SMARTER Act

Sponsored By: Representative Schweikert, David [R-AZ-1]

Introduced

Summary

This bill would create a national, skills- and industry-based immigration regime that replaces the H‑1B framework and the Diversity Visa program while adding a presidentially appointed SMART Board to set annual visa limits and industry shares. It would also move employment-based green cards to a points system and create a high-fee Gold-Card immigrant visa.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 3 mixed.

Gold-Card investor green card program

If enacted, the bill would offer 25,000 Gold-Card immigrant visas per year for each fiscal year 2026 through 2035. Applicants could get one by paying $1,000,000 plus a $15,000 processing fee, or a company could pay $2,000,000 plus $15,000 on their behalf. DHS would screen applicants for admissibility. Gold-Card holders would get work authorization and their visas would not count against worldwide limits.

Tighter family green card rules

If enacted, the bill would narrow family-based green cards to only the spouse or child of a lawful permanent resident and make many older family-preference petitions filed after the bill's introduction invalid. The worldwide family green-card total would be set at 88,000 minus a counted group of parolees, which could reduce slots. The Diversity Visa lottery would be ended. The bill would also block naturalization for people whose affidavit-of-support sponsor has not repaid means-tested benefits the sponsored person received.

Points system for employment green cards

If enacted, USCIS would use a national points system to allocate many employment-based green cards. Applicants would get points for age, education, English test rank, job salary compared to state median, and special achievements. You would pay a $160 electronic application fee (adjusted every two years) and must be at least 18 to apply. A principal's spouse and minor children would get visas that do not count against the employment-based limit, but people given employment-based green cards and their household members would be barred from Federal means-tested benefits.

AI system to find visa overstays

If enacted, the Secretary of Homeland Security would build and use an artificial-intelligence process to analyze immigration and travel records to identify nonimmigrant visa holders who remained after their authorized stay ended. The system would aim to find more overstays. This would raise enforcement risk for visa holders, depending on how accurate DHS's AI is and how it is implemented.

Federal board sets skilled worker visas

If enacted, a five-member federal Board at Commerce would set annual limits for employment green cards and the new SMARTER worker visas. The Board could also split numbers by industry starting in the second year, but changes to totals and industry caps would be limited year-to-year. The bill would replace H-1B references with a SMARTER nonimmigrant category and reform prevailing wages to the median pay of comparable U.S. workers. Employers would face new wage and attestation rules tied to these visa programs.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Schweikert, David [R-AZ-1]

AZ • R

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
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