PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Apr 10, 2019
Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act or the RAISE Act
This bill eliminates the diversity visa program, replaces employment-based immigration programs with a points-based system, and imposes various limits on various types of immigration.
Aliens that reach the minimum number of points may apply for a points-based visa. Points are awarded for various characteristics including age, English language proficiency, education level, and investments made in the United States. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shall periodically invite the highest scoring applicants to petition for visas.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill limits eliminates various preference allocations (visa categories subject to various annual caps) for family-sponsored immigrant visas, such as those for the adult children of U.S. citizens. Only the spouses and children of U.S. citizens shall qualify as immediate relatives, whereas currently parents also qualify (visas for immediate relatives are not subject to direct numerical caps). The bill creates a nonimmigrant visa for such alien parents.
The bill reduces the baseline annual cap for family-sponsored visas from 480,000 to 88,000 and revises the methods for calculating the cap. It also imposes a limit of 50,000 refugees admitted in any fiscal year.
An alien who received needs-based public benefits shall not be naturalized as a U.S. citizen until the individual who signed the affidavit of support for the alien has reimbursed the federal government for such benefits.
The bill imposes various reporting requirements related to the points-based system.
People & committees
Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1103 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1103 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1103 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1103 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.