Title 46, ShippingRelease 119-102

§8704 Alien Deemed to Be Employed in the United States

Title 46 › Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen › Part F — Manning of Vessels › CHAPTER 87 — UNLICENSED PERSONNEL › § 8704

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

An unlicensed noncitizen counts as employed under section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) if they work on a U.S. fishing, fish‑processing, or fish‑tender vessel that operates in U.S. navigable waters or the EEZ and is not fishing only for highly migratory species (16 U.S.C. 1802).

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §8704

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An alien is deemed to be employed in the United States for purposes of section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) if the alien is an unlicensed individual employed on a fishing, fish processing, or fish tender vessel that—
(1)is a vessel of the United States engaged in the fisheries in the navigable waters of the United States or the exclusive economic zone; and
(2)is not engaged in fishing exclusively for highly migratory species (as that term is defined in section 3 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1802).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Par. (2). Pub. L. 104–208 substituted “Magnuson-Stevens Fishery” for “Magnuson Fishery”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1996 Amendment Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(a) [title II, § 211(b)], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009–41, provided that the amendment made by that section is effective 15 days after Oct. 11, 1996.

Construction

Pub. L. 100–239, § 5(f)(3), Jan. 11, 1988, 101 Stat. 1781, provided that: “With respect to an alien who is deemed to be employed in the United States under section 8704 of title 46, United States Code (as amended by this subsection), the term ‘date of the enactment of this section’ [translated as “November 6, 1986”] as used in section 274A(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act [former 8 U.S.C. 1324a(i)] means the date 180 days after the enactment of this section [Jan. 11, 1988].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 8704

Title 46, Shipping

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102