- What is the policy?
- Under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (also known as LPRs or green card holders), can sponsor certain family members for a visa, which allows a foreign national to enter the U.S., subject to approval from a Customs and Border Protection officer. The first category of family-based immigrant visas is for immediate relatives, which includes spouses, children, and parents. There is no annual cap for the number of immigrants in this category. The second category of family-based immigrant visas is known as family preference, which is for more distant relatives, and there is an annual limit for immigrants that fall under this category. U.S. citizens can sponsor family visas for their spouses, children, parents, and siblings, but LPRs can only sponsor their spouses and unmarried children.
- What are recent changes?
- The Nuclear Family Priority Act was introduced by Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Rep. Elijah Crane (R-AZ) in April 2025. The bill limits family-sponsored visas to nuclear family members only, meaning that an adult child’s parents would no longer be eligible to immigrate to the US through family sponsorship. It also reduces baseline caps on family-sponsored visas from 226,000 to 80,000 per year.
- How does it impact South Asians?
- In 2023, 71% of Pakistani-born LPRs, 60% of Indian-born LPRs, and 39% of Nepali-born LPRs immigrated to the U.S. through family sponsorship. Removing parents from the definition of immediate relatives would significantly decrease the number of South Asians who are able to immigrate to the U.S. and make it more difficult for families to stay together. This bill fails to acknowledge that joint family households are deeply ingrained in South Asian culture and hold the same level of importance as the western concept of a nuclear family.