| Sponsor | Rep. Berman, Howard L. |
| Committee | Judiciary |
| Date | March 20, 2012 (112th Congress, 2nd Session) |
| Staff Contact | Sarah Makin |
On Monday, March 19, 2012, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 3992 under a suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) on February 9, 2012 and referred to the Committees on the Judiciary.
H.R. 3992 would make Israeli nationals eligible to enter the U.S. temporarily under the E-2 visa program (nonimmigrant investors) if Israel provides reciprocal nonimmigrant treatment to U.S. nationals.
The E-2 visa allows nonimmigrant investors to enter the United States temporarily to oversee a business in which they have made a significant investment. Under the bill, if an Israeli national applied for the E-2 visa, the Department of State would charge a $390 fee to cover the cost of adjudicating the application and processing the visa. Israeli nationals are already eligible for a similar visa category—the E-1 visa for nonimmigrant traders.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), enacting H.R. 3992 would affect direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that the net effects would be insignificant for each year and over the 2012-2022 period. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
Based on information from the Department of State about the number of Israeli citizens who received E-1 visas and the ratio of E-2 to E-1 visas in countries comparable to Israel, CBO expects that under the bill the department would issue about 500 additional E-2 visas each year and collect about $200,000 in additional fees annually. The department is authorized to collect and spend such fees without further appropriation, so the net impact on federal spending would not be significant.