SMART Act

Parents of adult citizens would lose the green card path. They could stay on a new five-year visa, but could not work — the citizen child would owe their full support and health insurance.

Anyone entering the points pool would pay $160 with the online application. Those invited to file the full petition would pay another $345, and both fees would rise with inflation every two years.

People who get a points-based visa, and everyone in their household, could not receive federal benefits that are based on income for five years. That covers the main programs, such as food aid and Medicaid.

The H-1B cap would float with demand instead of sitting at one fixed number. It could not fall below 115,000 or rise above 195,000, moving by 5,000 to 20,000 based on how fast the prior year filled.

H-1B visas would be handed out in order of the pay listed on each petition, starting with the highest. Lower-paid jobs would only be filled if visas remain.

When an employer backs a points-based applicant, it must state the pay being offered. It must also state that the job is new or vacant and does not push out a U.S. worker.

A points-based petition would not be approved without proof of health insurance. The U.S. employer must secure it, or the applicant must post a bond to pay for it.

Parents, adult sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters would all lose their green card categories. The age limit for a qualifying child would drop from under 21 to under 18.

The yearly worldwide number of family-sponsored green cards would be set at 88,000. That number would shrink further by the count of people paroled into the country two years earlier who stayed.

Congress would fix the refugee ceiling in law at 50,000 a year. The President could no longer set a different number each year after consulting Congress.

The diversity visa gives green cards to people from countries that send few immigrants to the United States. That program would be repealed starting with the next fiscal year.

Petitions in the family categories this bill removes would be treated as invalid if they were filed after the bill's introduction date. People already scheduled for a visa within a year of enactment could still come.

Homeland Security would build a system that uses artificial intelligence to comb through immigration and travel records. Its job is to flag people whose visas ran out but who stayed.

A green card holder could not become a citizen if the person who signed their support affidavit never repaid the government. The debt covers income-based benefits the immigrant used in their first five years.

A school could not stay in the student visa program unless it requires foreign students to attend class in person at least three days a week.

A job offer worth at least three times the state's median household income earns the top 13 points. Applicants without a graduate degree cannot enter the pool at all unless a high-paying offer earns them points.

Investing $1.35 million in a new U.S. business earns 6 points, and $1.8 million earns 12. The money must stay in for three years, and the applicant must run the business as their main job.

A new visa would go to people who invest at least $5 million in a business that creates 10 U.S. jobs. It runs for fiscal years 2026 through 2035 and sits outside every other visa cap.

Homeland Security would report to Congress every year on who applies and who gets in. The report lists applicants' states, degrees, English scores, employers, and average starting pay.

Four agencies would review the points table together and send changes to four congressional committees. The stated goals include protecting or raising the wages of working Americans.