Nuclear Family Priority Act

The "Nuclear Family Priority Act" proposes substantial changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act, primarily aimed at reducing the number of family-sponsored immigrants . It redefines "immediate relatives" to include only children and spouses , thereby removing parents of U.S. citizens from this priority category. Furthermore, the bill eliminates most existing family-sponsored immigrant preference categories , limiting eligibility primarily to spouses and children of lawful permanent residents, and significantly reduces the worldwide annual cap for family-sponsored visas to 88,000. In addition to these reductions, the legislation creates a new nonimmigrant visa (W visa) specifically for parents of adult U.S. citizens, provided the citizen is at least 21 years old. This new visa category comes with stringent conditions, including no authorization for employment and ineligibility for any Federal, State, or local public benefits . The U.S. citizen child is made responsible for the parent's financial support and must arrange for their health insurance coverage at no cost to the parent, ensuring the parent is not a public charge. The Act also includes various conforming amendments and specifies that petitions for eliminated family-sponsored categories filed after the bill's introduction will be considered invalid.