The Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709)
Protecting Family Unity in Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Imagine being separated from your spouse, minor children, sisters and brothers for years, even decades, due to bureaucratic delays from massive backlogs, insufficient staffing, and visa quotas.
I have introduced legislation in the 111th Congress called the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709) to ensure that our efforts on immigration reform are truly comprehensive and support the core value of keeping families together – all families.
Family members have waited too long to be reunited with their spouses, children, and other loved ones overseas, and this legislation reflects our family values and reunites families to strengthen our communities and our economy.
Additional Resources
Need for Legislation
The current family-based immigration system has not been updated in 20 years – keeping spouses, children and their parents separated for years and often decades, despite the fact that the family has played by the rules. There are currently 5.8 million people in the family immigration backlog waiting unconscionable periods of time to reunite with their family members. This bill takes important steps toward fixing our broken family immigration system by reducing the waiting times for legal immigrants.
The bill contains practical solutions for reducing family immigration visa backlogs and promoting humane and timely reunification of immigrant families. Specifically, the bill includes provisions that would ensure that visas are allocated efficiently; alleviate lengthy wait times that keep legal immigrants and their overseas loved ones separated for years, and decrease measures that prevent family members from obtaining visas. The bill also eliminates discrimination in immigration law against same-sex, permanent partners and their families who are seeking to reunite.
Efficient, fair and effective avenues for legal, family-based immigration are vital to keep America strong.
- Families pool resources to start and run businesses that create American jobs, purchase homes, and send their American children to college to obtain the skills they need to contribute to our economy and strengthen American industry;
- Families provide care for young children, the sick, and elderly, when other options remain unaffordable, so that breadwinners can contribute to our nation’s economy; and
- Families provide security for aging workforces, which is particularly important for America given the jeopardized social security system.
Family members have waited too long to be reunited with their spouses, children, and other loved ones overseas. This legislation reflects our family values and reunites families to strengthen our communities and our economy.
Bill Summary
- Recapturing family and work visas that have gone unused and unclaimed due to bureaucratic delay;
- Reduces the long backlog for families trying to reunite with their loved ones by classifying lawful permanent resident spouses and children as “immediate relatives” and exempting them from numerical caps on family immigration;
- Increases per country limits from 7% to 10% so that nations with a higher demand for workers can better equip the American economy with talent;
- Allows families to reunite in the face of numerous hardships, including family separation and death of a petitioner;
- Equal treatment for all stepchildren and biological children under immigration laws
- Recognizes the sacrifices of our military by exempting children of World War II Filipino veterans from numerical caps; and
- Allows family members to reunite despite bars to reentry.
List of Endorsements
To become a congressional cosponsor of this legislation, or to endorse this legislation as an organization, please contact Cara Huang at
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Press and Statements of Support
Media
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