The "Reuniting Families Act" seeks to comprehensively reform the U.S. immigration system, primarily by promoting family unity and reducing extensive visa backlogs. A central provision of the bill reclassifies spouses, permanent partners, and minor children of lawful permanent residents (LPRs) as "immediate relatives," thereby exempting them from annual numerical visa limitations. This change aims to significantly shorten wait times for these close family members to join their LPR relatives in the United States. To further address visa backlogs, the bill mandates the recapture of hundreds of thousands of unused family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas from fiscal years 1992 through 2025, making them available for future use. It also establishes a mechanism for the annual recapture of any future unused visas. Additionally, the legislation increases the per-country visa limits from 7 percent to 20 percent for single foreign states and from 2 percent to 5 percent for dependent areas, which will help alleviate bottlenecks for nationals of high-demand countries. A significant aspect of the bill is the creation of a new immigration category for "permanent partners," defined as individuals in committed, intimate, financially interdependent relationships who are unable to legally marry. This definition is integrated throughout the Immigration and Nationality Act, extending eligibility for various immigration benefits—including visa allocation, refugee status, and naturalization—to permanent partners and their children. The bill also expands the definition of "child" to include certain biological or adopted children of permanent partners and ensures equal treatment for all stepchildren by removing age restrictions. The legislation introduces substantial changes to inadmissibility and deportability grounds, notably by repealing the 3-year and 10-year bars for unlawful presence and the permanent bar for certain re-entries. It also expands the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to waive grounds of inadmissibility and deportability for humanitarian purposes, to assure family unity, or when in the public interest. Furthermore, the bill prohibits the removal of aliens with pending, prima facie eligible immigrant visa petitions or certain other applications. The bill provides relief for vulnerable populations, such as orphans, widows, and widowers, by allowing their immigration processes to continue despite the death of a qualifying relative and granting parole eligibility for some previously removed individuals. It also protects children of K-1 fiancee visa applicants and H-4 nonimmigrants from "aging out" of eligibility. In an effort to promote diversity, the bill increases the annual number of diversity visas from 55,000 to 80,000 and makes diversity visas available to those affected by past travel bans or COVID-19 processing delays. Finally, the bill significantly enhances refugee family reunification efforts by prioritizing refugees seeking to join relatives in the U.S. and allowing simultaneous pursuit of refugee and other visa categories. It expands eligibility for Priority 3 (P-3) family reunification processing to all nationalities and includes spouses, permanent partners, minor children, and parents as eligible family members. The legislation also sets a one-year deadline for the adjudication of refugee applications, ensuring timely processing for families.