8 U.S.C. § 1184 — Admission of nonimmigrants

This section uses the terms "alien^*", "nonimmigrant", "immigrant^*", "status", "petition", "admission^*", and "employer". This section does not define those terms.

(a) Regulations

(1) The Attorney General^* may set by regulation how long a person may be admitted^* as a nonimmigrant and what conditions apply. When necessary, the Attorney General may require a bond with enough security, in an amount and with conditions the Attorney General sets. The bond must ensure that the person leaves the United States when the authorized time ends, or when the person fails to keep the status in which the person was admitted or a later status obtained under section 1258.

A person admitted to Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa under section 1182(l) may not be authorized to enter or stay anywhere other than Guam or the Northern Mariana Islands. That person may not stay in either place for more than 45 days after admission there. A person admitted to the United States without a visa under section 1187 may not be authorized to stay as a nonimmigrant visitor for more than 90 days after admission.

(2)(A) A person admitted under section 1101(a)(15)(O) may keep nonimmigrant status for the period the Attorney General specifies to cover the event or events for which the person was admitted.

(B) A person admitted under section 1101(a)(15)(P) may keep nonimmigrant status for the period the Attorney General specifies to cover the competition, event, or performance for which the person was admitted. An individual athlete admitted under that section may receive an initial period of up to 5 years to perform as an athlete. The Attorney General may extend that period for up to another 5 years.

(b) Presumption of status; written waiver

Every person is presumed to be an immigrant unless the person is an L or V nonimmigrant under section 1101(a)(15), or is an H(i) nonimmigrant under that section other than the H(i)(b1) category. The person must prove to the consular officer^* when applying for a visa, and to immigration officers when applying for admission, that the person qualifies for a nonimmigrant status under section 1101(a)(15).

An officer or employee of a foreign government or of an international organization^* covered by the International Organizations Immunities Act [22 U.S.C. 288 et seq.] may not apply for or receive an immigrant visa or enter as an immigrant unless the person signs a written waiver in the form and with the substance required by section 1257(b). The same rule applies to that person’s attendant, servant, employee, or immediate family member.

(c) Petition of importing employer

(1) In a particular case, the Attorney General decides whether to bring in a person as an H, L, O, or P(i) nonimmigrant under section 1101(a)(15), except for an H(i)(b1) nonimmigrant. The decision is made after consultation with appropriate government agencies and after the importing employer files a petition. The petition must be filed and approved before the visa is granted. It must use the form and include the information the Attorney General requires. Approval alone does not establish that the person is a nonimmigrant.

For H(ii)(a) nonimmigrants, "appropriate agencies of Government" means the Department of Labor and includes the Department of Agriculture. Section 1188 applies to importing a person in that category.

(2)(A) The Attorney General must create a procedure allowing a qualifying importing employer to file one blanket petition for L nonimmigrants instead of separate petitions under paragraph (1). The procedure must allow expedited visa processing for people covered by the blanket petition.

(B) For section 1101(a)(15)(L), a person has specialized knowledge about a company if the person has special knowledge of the company’s product and its use in international markets, or has advanced knowledge of the company’s processes and procedures.

(C) The Attorney General must provide a way to review and decide L petitions under this subsection within 30 days after a complete petition is filed.

(D) Authorized admission may last no more than 7 years for an L person providing managerial or executive services, and no more than 5 years for an L person providing services requiring specialized knowledge.

(E) The Attorney General must authorize an L spouse who accompanies or later joins the principal L person to work in the United States. The Attorney General must give the spouse an "employment authorized" endorsement or another suitable work permit.

(F) A person who will use specialized knowledge for an employer and will work mainly at the worksite of an employer other than the petitioning employer or its affiliate, subsidiary, or parent does not qualify for L classification if either condition applies: (i) the unaffiliated employer will principally control and supervise the person; or (ii) placing the person there is essentially an arrangement to supply labor for hire to the unaffiliated employer, rather than a placement connected with providing a product or service^* that needs specialized knowledge specific to the petitioning employer.

(3) The Attorney General must approve a petition for an O(i) person only after the consultation required by paragraph (6). For an O(i) person seeking entry for a motion picture or television production, consultation may instead be with the appropriate union representing the person’s occupational peers and a management organization in the person’s area of ability. The Attorney General must approve a petition for an O(ii) person only after paragraph (6) consultation. For an O(ii) person seeking entry for a motion picture or television production, consultation may instead be with the relevant labor organization and a management organization in the person’s area of ability.

For a motion picture or television production, the opinion is advisory only. An opinion recommending denial must be written. The Attorney General must consider the production’s urgent needs and schedule and must attach the opinion to the decision. Regulations must allow the paragraph (3)(A) consultation to be waived for a person previously admitted as an O(i) nonimmigrant because of extraordinary ability in the arts who seeks readmission to provide similar services within 2 years after the earlier consultation. Within 5 days after granting that waiver, the Attorney General must send the petition and all supporting documents to the national office of an appropriate labor organization.

(4)(A) For P(i)(a), a person qualifies if the person meets one of these descriptions: (i)(I) performs alone or with a group or team at an internationally recognized level; (II) is a professional athlete as defined in section 1154(i)(2); (III) performs as an athlete or coach for a United States team or franchise that belongs to a foreign league or association of at least 15 amateur sports teams, and the league or association is the highest amateur level of that sport in the relevant country, participation makes players ineligible temporarily or permanently for a scholarship in or participation in that sport at a United States college or university under National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, and a significant number of its players are drafted by a major sports league or its minor-league affiliate; or (IV) is a professional or amateur athlete who performs alone or with a group in a theatrical ice-skating production.

The person must seek temporary entry solely to perform as that athlete in a specific athletic competition or, for a person described in (IV), in a specific theatrical ice-skating production or tour.

(B)(i) For P(i)(b), a person qualifies if the person performs with, or is an integral and essential part of, an entertainment group that has been internationally recognized as outstanding in its field for a sustained and substantial period, unless clause (ii) applies. A performer or entertainer, unless clause (iii) applies, must also have had a sustained and substantial relationship with the group, ordinarily for at least 1 year, and must perform functions integral to the group’s performance. The person must seek temporary entry solely to perform as that performer or entertainer, or as an integral and essential part of a performance.

(ii) If an entertainment group has been nationally recognized as outstanding in its field for a sustained and substantial period, the Attorney General may waive the international-recognition requirement because of special circumstances.

(iii)(I) The 1-year relationship requirement does not apply to 25 percent of the group’s performers and entertainers. (II) The Attorney General may waive that requirement for a person who replaces an essential member because of illness or unexpected, urgent circumstances, or who adds a critical role to the group.

(iv) Requirements (i)(I) and (i)(II) do not apply to circus personnel who perform as part of a circus or circus group or who are an integral and essential part of its performance, but only if they enter to join a circus that has been nationally recognized as outstanding for a sustained and substantial period or enter as part of that circus.

(C) A person may petition the Attorney General to classify another person as a P nonimmigrant.

(D) The Attorney General must approve a petition for a P(i) or P(iii) nonimmigrant only after paragraph (6) consultation.

(E) The Attorney General must approve a P(ii) petition only after consulting labor organizations representing United States artists and entertainers.

(F)(i) A P(i)(a) visa may not be issued to a national of a country that is a "state^* sponsor of international terrorism" unless the Secretary of State, after consulting the Secretary of Homeland Security and other appropriate United States agency heads, decides that the person does not threaten United States safety, national security, or national interest. The Secretary of State must use standards developed after those consultations and applicable to nationals of those countries.

(ii) "State sponsor of international terrorism" means a country whose government the Secretary of State has determined under one of the laws in clause (iii) has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism. This section does not otherwise define the term. (iii) The listed laws are section 4605(j)(1)(A) of title 50, or a successor statute; section 2780(d) of title 22; and section 2371(a) of title 22.

(G) The Secretary of Homeland Security must allow one petition to request P(i)(a) classification for more than one person.

(H) The Secretary must allow an athlete, or the athlete’s employer, to seek admission under another provision of this chapter if the athlete qualifies under that provision.

(5)(A) If an H(i)(b) or H(ii)(b) person is dismissed by the employer before the authorized admission period ends, the employer must pay the reasonable cost of transporting the person abroad.

(B) If an O or P person’s employment ends for a reason other than voluntary resignation, the employer whose offer supported the status and the petitioner are each responsible for the reasonable cost of transporting the person abroad. The petitioner must give the Attorney General satisfactory assurance that the cost will be paid.

(6)(A)(i) For an O(i) petition, other than a motion-picture or television-production petition, the petitioner must submit an advisory opinion from a peer group, or another person or persons chosen by the petitioner and possibly including a labor organization, with expertise in the specific field. (ii) For an O(ii) petition, other than such a production petition, the petitioner must submit an advisory opinion from a labor organization with expertise in the skill area. (iii) For a P(i) or P(iii) petition, the petitioner must submit an advisory opinion from a labor organization with expertise in the relevant athletics or entertainment field.

(B) Unless the petitioner submits an opinion from an appropriate labor organization, the Attorney General must send the petition and supporting documents to the national office of an appropriate labor organization within 5 days after receiving the petition. If the employer’s employees in the relevant job classification have a collective-bargaining representative, that representative is the appropriate labor organization.

(C) If the petitioner proves that no appropriate peer group, including a labor organization, exists, the Attorney General must decide the petition without requiring an advisory opinion.

(D) A person or organization receiving the petition and supporting documents may submit a written opinion or comment, or a letter of no objection, within 15 days after receiving them. After those 15 days and any opportunity for rebuttal evidence, the Attorney General must decide the petition within 14 days. The Attorney General may shorten a deadline for an emergency if doing so would not impose an unreasonable burden on anyone involved.

(E)(i) Regulations must establish expedited consultation for O or P artists and entertainers when needed for a production or event’s urgent needs and schedule. (ii) Regulations must establish expedited consultation for O(i) or P(i) athletes in emergencies, including trades during a season.

(F) Consultation with a nongovernmental organization does not allow the Attorney General to delegate authority under this subsection to that organization. The Attorney General alone decides how much weight to give an advisory opinion.

(7) If a petition is denied, the Attorney General must tell the petitioner the decision, the reasons, and how to appeal.

(8) Each year the Attorney General must report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, for each H, O, P, and Q subcategory under section 1101(a)(15), the number of petitions filed; the number approved and the occupations and number of workers in them; the number denied and the occupations and number of workers requested; the number withdrawn; and the number awaiting final action.

(9)(A) The Attorney General must charge a fee to an employer filing a paragraph (1) petition to initially grant H(i)(b) status, extend the stay of an H(i)(b) person unless that employer already obtained an extension for that person, or authorize an H(i)(b) person to change employers. The fee does not apply to a primary or secondary school, an institution of higher education as defined in section 1001(a) of title 20, a nonprofit related to or affiliated with such an institution, a nonprofit providing established curriculum-related clinical training to its students, a nonprofit research organization, or a government research organization.

(B) The fee is $1,500 per petition, or half that amount for an employer with no more than 25 full-time-equivalent employees in the United States, counting affiliates and subsidiaries. (C) The money goes into the Treasury under section 1356(s).

(10) An amended H-1B petition is not required for a corporate restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, or consolidation, if a new corporation succeeds to the original petitioner’s interests and obligations and employment terms stay the same except for the petitioner’s identity.

(11)(A) The Secretary of Homeland Security or Secretary of State, as appropriate, must charge an employer that filed an attestation under section 1182(t) when it is filed to initially grant H(i)(b1) status or to satisfy the second sentence of subsection (g)(8)(C) for certain extensions. (B) The fee equals the paragraph (9) fee, but no fee is charged if that paragraph authorizes none. (C) The money goes into the Treasury under section 1356(s).

(12)(A) The Secretary of Homeland Security must charge an employer a $500 fraud-prevention and detection fee for a paragraph (1) petition to initially grant H(i)(b) or L status or to let such a person change employers. (B) The Secretary of State must charge an alien a $500 fee for an overseas L-visa application when the person is covered by a blanket petition. (C) Each fee is $500. (D) These fees apply only to principal persons, not accompanying or joining spouses or children. (E) The money goes into the Treasury under section 1356(v).

(13) The Secretary of Homeland Security must charge an employer a $150 fraud-prevention and detection fee for a paragraph (1) petition for an H(ii)(b) worker.

(14)(A) After notice and a chance for a hearing, if the Secretary finds a substantial failure to meet a petition condition or a willful material misrepresentation in an H(ii)(b) petition, the Secretary may impose appropriate administrative remedies, including a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. The Secretary may also deny that employer’s section 1154 and paragraph (1) petitions for at least 1 year and no more than 5 years for workers the employer would employ. (B) With the Labor Secretary’s agreement, the Homeland Security Secretary may delegate the penalty authority to the Labor Secretary. (C) The highest penalties must be reserved for willful failures that harm United States workers. (D) "Substantial failure" means a willful failure to follow this section that significantly departs from a petition’s terms and conditions. This section does not otherwise define the term.

(d) Issuance of visa to fiancée or fiancé of citizen

(1) A K(i) visa may not be issued until the consular officer receives a petition filed in the United States by the United States-citizen fiancée or fiancé and approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security. The petition must use the form and information required by regulation, including the petitioner’s convictions for specified crimes and any permanent^* protection or restraining order related to a specified crime.

The Secretary may approve the petition only after the petitioner provides satisfactory evidence that the parties met in person during the 2 years before filing, genuinely intend to marry, and are legally able and actually willing to marry validly in the United States within 90 days after arrival. The Secretary may waive the in-person-meeting requirement. If the marriage does not occur within 3 months after the person and minor children are admitted, they must leave. If they do not, they must be removed under sections 1229a and 1231.

(2)(A) Subject to (B) and (C), the Secretary may not approve the petition unless the Secretary verifies that the petitioner previously filed fewer than two such petitions for other applicants and, if one was previously approved, at least 2 years have passed since it was filed.

(B) The Secretary may waive these limits when justification exists. Except in extraordinary circumstances and subject to (C), the waiver may not be granted if the petitioner has a record of violent crimes against a person.

(C)(i) The Secretary is not limited to the criminal court record and must waive the condition in the second sentence of (B) for a petitioner described in (ii). (ii) That petitioner was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty and was not the primary perpetrator of violence in the relationship, because the petitioner acted in self-defense, violated a protection order intended to protect the petitioner, or committed, was arrested for, was convicted of, or pleaded guilty to a crime that did not cause serious bodily injury and was connected to the battering or extreme cruelty. (iii) The Secretary must consider any credible evidence. The Secretary alone decides what is credible and how much weight it receives.

(3) "Domestic violence", "sexual assault", "child abuse and neglect", "dating violence", "elder abuse", and "stalking" have the meanings given in section 3 of the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. This section does not define them. "Specified crime" means: (i) any of those crimes or an attempt; (ii) homicide, murder, manslaughter, rape, abusive sexual contact, sexual exploitation, incest, torture, trafficking, peonage, holding hostage, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction, unlawful criminal restraint, false imprisonment, or an attempt; or (iii) at least three convictions for crimes involving a controlled substance or alcohol that did not arise from one act.

(e) Nonimmigrant professionals and annual numerical limit

(1) A Canadian or Mexican citizen, and an accompanying or joining spouse or child, who seeks entry under Section D of Annex 16-A of the USMCA to conduct professional-level business activities described there may be admitted under Attorney General regulations issued after consultation with the Secretaries of State and Labor. For this chapter, including entry documents and subsection (b), that person is treated as seeking or qualifying for nonimmigrant classification under section 1101(a)(15). "Citizen of Mexico" means "citizen" as defined in USMCA article 16.1.

(2) The Attorney General must authorize an E spouse accompanying or joining the principal E person to work in the United States and must provide an employment-authorized endorsement or other work permit.

(f) Denial of crewmember status in case of certain labor disputes

(1) Except under paragraph (3), a person may not receive D nonimmigrant status if the person intends to land to work on a United States vessel or an air carrier’s aircraft during a labor dispute involving a strike or lockout in the employer’s bargaining unit where the person would work.

(2) Such a person may not be paroled under section 1182(d)(5) unless the Attorney General finds parole necessary to protect national security. The person is not considered a bona fide crewman^* under section 1282(b).

(3) Paragraph (1) does not apply if the air carrier or vessel owner or operator gives documentation satisfying the Attorney General that the person worked for that employer for at least 1 year before the strike or lawful lockout, served as a qualified crewman for that employer at least once in each of 3 months during the prior 12 months, and will continue providing the same crewman services.

(g) Temporary workers and trainees; limitation on numbers

(1) In each fiscal year beginning with 1992, no more than 65,000 H(i)(b) people may receive visas or status before fiscal year 1999; 115,000 in 1999; 115,000 in 2000; 195,000 in each of 2001, 2002, and 2003; and 65,000 in each later year. No more than 66,000 H(ii)(b) people may receive visas or status.

(2) These limits apply only to principal people, not spouses or children. (3) Subject people are counted in the order petitions are filed. If a counted visa or status is revoked because it was obtained by fraud or willful material misrepresentation, one number is restored in the fiscal year of revocation, regardless of approval year.

(4) H(i)(b) admission may last no more than 6 years. (5) The H(i)(b) limit does not apply to a person employed or offered employment by an institution of higher education or its related nonprofit, a nonprofit or government research organization, or a person with a master’s or higher degree from a United States higher-education institution, until more than 20,000 people are exempted in that year.

(6) A person first employed outside those exempt employers must be counted if the person stopped working for an exempt higher-education employer and had not previously been counted. (7) A person counted during the prior 6 years is not counted again unless the person would qualify for a full 6 years of admission when the petition is filed. Multiple approved petitions for one person count once.

(8)(A) The agreements for H(i)(b1) are the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement and the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. (B) The Secretary of Homeland Security sets annual limits for initial applications: no more than 1,400 Chilean nationals and 5,400 Singaporean nationals in each fiscal year. The limits apply only to principals. The H(i)(b) annual limit is reduced by those amounts. If either limit is not used, the H(i)(b) limit is increased by the unused amount for that year, and those visas may be issued during the first 45 days of the next fiscal year to people who applied during the adjusted year. (C) H(i)(b1) admission lasts 1 year and may be extended only in 1-year increments. After every second extension, the next extension requires the Labor Secretary to determine and certify to Homeland Security and State that the employer filed the section 1182(t)(1) attestation for that extension. (D) The H(i)(b) limit is reduced by one for each person extended under (C) who already had at least five consecutive extensions.

(9)(A) A person counted against the H(ii)(b) limit in fiscal year 2013, 2014, or 2015 is not counted again in fiscal year 2016, subject to (B) and (C), and is a "returning worker". This section does not otherwise define that term. (B) A petition for such a person must include the required H(ii)(b) information and evidence, the person’s full name, and a certification to Homeland Security that the person is returning. (C) The visa or status may be approved only after State, or Homeland Security for a visa-exempt person or a person changing to H(ii)(b) status, confirms the person is returning.

(10) The H(ii)(b) limit must be allocated so no more than 33,000 people subject to it enter or receive status during the first 6 months of a fiscal year.

(11)(A) The Secretary of State may not approve more initial E(iii) applications than the applicable limit. (B) The limit is 10,500 each fiscal year. (C) It applies only to principals, not spouses or children.

(h) Intention to abandon foreign residence^*

Being the beneficiary of a preference petition under section 1154, or otherwise seeking permanent residence, is not evidence that a person intends to abandon a foreign residence when seeking or keeping H(i)(b) or H(i)(c), L, or V nonimmigrant status, if the person changed to that classification under section 1258 before the person’s most recent departure from the United States.

(i) "Specialty occupation" defined

(1) Except under paragraph (3), for H(i)(b), E(iii), and paragraph (2), "specialty occupation" means an occupation requiring both: (A) theoretical and practical use of a body of highly specialized knowledge; and (B) at least a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, as the minimum United States entry requirement.

(2) For H(i)(b), the requirements for a specialty occupation are: (A) a full state license if the occupation requires one; (B) completion of the degree in paragraph (1)(B); or (C) both experience in the specialty equivalent to that degree and recognized expertise shown through progressively responsible specialty positions.

(3) For H(i)(b1), "specialty occupation" means an occupation requiring theoretical and practical use of specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, as the minimum United States entry requirement.

(j) Labor disputes

(1) Despite other provisions, a Canadian or Mexican citizen seeking entry under USMCA Annex 16-A Section B, C, or D may not be classified under those provisions if a strike or lockout is in progress in the job classification at the intended workplace. The person may qualify if, under Attorney General regulations, the person proves entry will not harm settlement of the strike or lockout or the employment of anyone involved. Notice must be given as required by USMCA article 16.4(3). "Citizen of Mexico" has the article 16.1 meaning.

(2) Despite other provisions except section 1182(t)(1), and subject to Homeland Security regulations, a person entering under an agreement listed in (g)(8)(A), and an accompanying or joining spouse or child, may be denied E, L, or H(i)(b1) admission if a strike or lockout is in progress in the relevant job classification. The person may qualify by proving under Homeland Security regulations, issued after consulting Labor, that entry will not harm settlement or anyone’s employment. Notice must be given as the agreement requires.

(k) Numerical limitations; period of admission; conditions for admission and stay; annual report

(1) No more than 200 S(i) people and 50 S(ii) people may receive visas in a fiscal year. (2) S admission may last no more than 3 years and may not be extended by the Attorney General.

(3) As a condition of admission and continued lawful status, an S person must report whereabouts and activities to the Attorney General at least quarterly as required; may not be convicted after admission of an offense punishable by 1 year or more in prison; must sign a form waiving the right to contest removal, except through a withholding-of-removal application, when the removal action began before lawful permanent residence; and must follow every other condition, limit, or restriction the Attorney General imposes.

(4) Each year the Attorney General must report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees the number admitted; successful criminal prosecutions or investigations resulting from their cooperation; terrorist acts prevented or stopped because of their cooperation; those whose admission or cooperation did not produce a successful prosecution, investigation, or prevention or stopping of terrorism; and those who failed quarterly reporting or were convicted of a United States crime after admission.

(l) Restrictions on waiver

(1) For a State or Federal agency’s request to waive the 2-year foreign-residence requirement in section 1182(e) for a person described in that section’s clause (iii), the Attorney General may not grant the waiver unless all applicable conditions below are met. (A) If the person is contractually required to return abroad, that country’s government gives the Director of the United States Information Agency a written statement of no objection. (B) A State request does not exceed 30 waivers allotted to that State for the fiscal year.

(C) For a Federal or State request, the person shows a genuine full-time job offer at a health facility or health-care organization that the Attorney General finds serves the public interest. The person agrees to start within 90 days after the waiver and work there for at least 3 years. If the facility closes or hardship or another extenuating circumstance justifies less time, the Attorney General may accept less, but the person must show another genuine health-care offer for the rest of the 3 years.

(D) For a Federal request other than one to employ the person full-time in medical research or training, or for a State request, the person must agree to practice primary or specialty medicine under paragraph (2) for at least 3 years only in areas the Health and Human Services Secretary designates as having a shortage of health professionals. This does not require a Veterans Affairs request to use a designated area. For a State request, the State agency head must find that the person will practice at a facility serving patients who live in one or more designated areas, whether or not the facility is in one, and the State may not receive more than 10 such waivers in the fiscal year under this subparagraph. For a Federal or State specialty-medicine request, the request must show under that agency’s criteria a shortage of professionals able to provide the needed specialty to the patients.

(2)(A) Despite section 1258(a)(2), the Attorney General may change a qualifying person’s status to H(i)(b) status. The H(i)(b) limit in (g)(1)(A) does not apply if the person obtained the waiver at a Federal or State agency’s request. (B) A person who makes that change but does not fulfill the contract with the named health facility or organization may not seek an immigrant visa, permanent residence, or another nonimmigrant-status change until, after leaving, the person has lived and been physically present in the country of nationality or last residence for a total of at least 2 years.

(3) The 2-year requirement still applies to a person in clause (iii) of section 1182(e) who has not otherwise received section 1101(a)(27)(H) status if the person stops complying with a paragraph (1)(C) or (D) agreement, or if the employment stops serving the public interest during the 3-year period in (1)(C).

(m) Nonimmigrant elementary and secondary school students

(1) A person may not receive F(i) or F(iii) nonimmigrant status to study at a public elementary school or publicly funded adult-education program. A person may study at a public secondary school only if the total status at that school is no more than 12 months and the person proves payment to the local educational agency of the school’s full, unsubsidized per-student education cost for the attendance period.

(2) A person who receives F(i) or F(iii) status to study at a private elementary or secondary school, or in a language program that is not publicly funded, violates that status and has a void F visa if the person ends or abandons that study and studies at a public elementary school, publicly funded adult education or language training, or public secondary school. The public-secondary-school exception applies only when paragraph (1)(B) is satisfied.

(n) Increased portability of H-1B status

(1) An eligible H(i)(b) person who previously received a visa or status may accept new employment when the prospective employer files a new petition under subsection (a). Work authorization continues until the new petition is decided. If it is denied, authorization ends.

(2) The person must have been lawfully admitted, an employer must have filed a nonfrivolous new-employment petition before the authorized stay expired, and after lawful admission the person must not have worked without authorization before that petition was filed.

(o) Nonimmigrants guilty of trafficking in persons

(1) A person may not be admitted under T status if there is substantial reason to believe the person committed an act of a severe form of trafficking in persons, as defined in section 7102 of title 22. (2) No more than 5,000 people may receive T visas or status in a fiscal year. (3) The limit applies only to principals, not their spouses, sons, daughters, siblings, or parents.

(4) An unmarried person seeking to accompany or join a parent with T(i) status remains a child for T(ii) purposes if the person was under 21 when the parent applied and turns 21 while the application was pending. (5) A T(i) person remains treated as a T(ii)(I) person if the person turns 21 while the application is pending.

(6) In deciding whether a person satisfies section 1101(a)(15)(T)(i)(III)(aa), statements by State or local law-enforcement officials must be considered when they say the person complied with a reasonable request to help investigate or prosecute kidnapping, rape, slavery, or other forced-labor crimes in which severe trafficking appears to have been involved.

(7)(A) T status may last no more than 4 years. (B) It may last longer if a Federal, State, or local law-enforcement official, prosecutor, judge, or other authority investigating or prosecuting human-trafficking activity certifies that the person’s presence is needed to help; the person qualifies for section 1255(l) relief but cannot obtain it because implementing regulations do not exist; or the Secretary of Homeland Security finds an extension warranted by exceptional circumstances. (C) T status must be extended while a section 1255(l) adjustment application is pending.

(p) Requirements applicable to section 1101(a)(15)(U) visas

(1) A U(i) petition must include a certification from a Federal, State, or local law-enforcement official, prosecutor, judge, or other authority investigating the criminal activity described in section 1101(a)(15)(U)(iii). An eligible Service official may also certify, if the official’s authority is not limited to immigration-violation information. The certification must say the person "has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful" in the investigation or prosecution. This section does not define that quoted phrase.

(2)(A) No more than 10,000 people may receive U visas or status in a fiscal year. (B) The limit applies only to U(i) principals, not spouses, children, or, for a child principal, the child’s parents.

(3) For U nonimmigrants, the Attorney General and other officials, when appropriate, must refer them to nongovernmental organizations that can explain their options and available resources. During lawful temporary-resident status under section 1101(a)(15)(U), the Attorney General must provide work authorization.

(4) When deciding a petition, the consular officer or Attorney General must consider any credible evidence relevant to it. (5) This subsection does not prevent a qualifying person from seeking another immigration benefit or status for which the person may qualify.

(6) U status may last no more than 4 years, but must be extended when an appropriate law-enforcement official, prosecutor, judge, or authority certifies that the person’s presence is required to help investigate or prosecute the specified criminal activity. The Homeland Security Secretary may extend it beyond 4 years for exceptional circumstances. It must be extended beyond 4 years if the person qualifies for section 1255(m) relief but cannot obtain it because regulations have not been issued, and while a section 1255(m) adjustment application is pending. The Secretary may authorize work for a person with a pending, genuine U application.

(7)(A) An unmarried person seeking to accompany or join a parent with U(i) status remains a child for U(ii) purposes if under 21 when the parent petitioned and turning 21 while the petition was pending. (B) A U(i) principal remains treated as a U(ii)(I) person if the person turns 21 while the application is pending.

(q) Employment of nonimmigrants described in section 1101(a)(15)(V)

(1) The Attorney General must authorize a V person to work during authorized admission and provide an employment-authorized endorsement or other document. The admission period ends 30 days after denial of any of these: (i) the section 1154 petition seeking the principal’s section 1153(a)(2)(A) status, or, for a child whose V status is based on eligibility for a section 1153(d) visa, the petition seeking that status for the child’s parent; (ii) the person’s immigrant-visa application based on the approved petition; or (iii) the person’s adjustment application under section 1255 based on the approved petition.

(2) The section 1182(a)(9)(B) inadmissibility grounds do not apply when deciding V admission.

(3) The Attorney General may, in the Attorney General’s discretion and under regulations, change the status of a person physically present in the United States to V status if the person applies, satisfies V requirements, and is eligible for admission. In deciding eligibility, sections 1182(a)(6)(A), (7), and (9)(B) do not apply.

(r) Visas of nonimmigrants described in section 1101(a)(15)(K)(ii)

(1) A K(ii) visa may not be issued until the consular officer receives a United States petition filed by the applying person’s spouse and approved by the Attorney General. The petition must use the form and information required by regulation. It must include the petitioner’s convictions for a specified crime in paragraph (5)(B) and any permanent protection or restraining order against the petitioner related to a specified crime in subsection (5)(B)(i).

(2) A person seeking K(ii) admission after marrying a United States citizen outside the United States is inadmissible under section 1182(a)(7)(B) if, when applying for admission, the person does not possess a valid nonimmigrant visa issued by a consular officer in the foreign country where the marriage occurred.

(3) For a K(ii) person and a child admitted to accompany or join that person, authorized admission ends 30 days after denial of any of these: (A) the section 1154 petition seeking the principal person’s section 1151(b)(2)(A)(i) status; (B) the principal person’s immigrant-visa application based on that petition; or (C) the principal person’s section 1255 adjustment application based on that petition.

(4)(A) The Homeland Security Secretary must create a database tracking multiple visa petitions for fiancées, fiancés, and spouses under K(i) and K(ii). When a second petition under those provisions for a fiancée, fiancé, or spouse by the same United States-citizen petitioner is approved, the Secretary must notify the petitioner that information has been entered. Every later petition by that petitioner must also be entered.

(B)(i) After two such petitions have been approved, if another is filed less than 10 years after the first was filed, the Secretary must tell the petitioner and beneficiary how many earlier approved petitions are in the database. (ii) The Secretary must send the beneficiary’s notice to the Secretary of State so it can be included in the mailing described in section 1375a(a)(5)(A)(i).

(5)(A) "Domestic violence", "sexual assault", "child abuse and neglect", "dating violence", "elder abuse", and "stalking" have the meanings given in section 3 of the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. This section does not define them. (B) "Specified crime" means: (i) domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect, dating violence, elder abuse, stalking, or an attempt; (ii) homicide, murder, manslaughter, rape, abusive sexual contact, sexual exploitation, incest, torture, trafficking, peonage, holding hostage, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction, unlawful criminal restraint, false imprisonment, or an attempt; or (iii) at least three convictions for crimes related to a controlled substance or alcohol that did not arise from one act.