HR 1220 — FIRM Act of 2025

Summary

Authorizes the Secretary of State to increase visa application fees for nationals of countries that meet specified criteria related to immigration cooperation, terrorism designation, or human trafficking.
Increases fees by at least 50 percent if one criterion is met, at least 100 percent if two criteria are met, and at least 150 percent if all three criteria are met.
Applies fee increases to countries that have denied or unreasonably delayed accepting their own nationals, countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism, and countries ranked as tier 3 in human trafficking reports.
Requires the Secretary of State to review fee determinations monthly to assess whether increases should be modified or applied to additional countries.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Rep. Wagner, Ann (R-MO) [#2]

2 cosponsors

Rep. Brecheen, Josh (R-OK) [#2]
Rep. Gill, Brandon (R-TX) [#26]

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Ann Wagner’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

Employer not reported $52,564
EDWARD JONES $37,450
STIFEL $21,900
BARTLETT AND COMPANY $13,200
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY $13,200

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Ann Wagner → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

Feb 11, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
Feb 11, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Text versions (1)

Introduced in House · Feb 11, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 11, 2025

Mrs. Wagner (for herself and Mr. Gill of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Secretary of State to increase the fee imposed on aliens filing an application abroad for a visa authorizing admission to the United States as a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(B) who are nationals of certain countries, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Fee Increases for Reckless Mismanagement Act of 2025” or “FIRM Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. FEE INCREASE FOR CERTAIN NONIMMIGRANT VISA APPLICANTS.

(a) In General.—The Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 281 the following:

“SEC. 281A. FEE INCREASE FOR CERTAIN NONIMMIGRANT VISA APPLICANTS.

“(a) Fee Increase.—The Secretary of State shall increase the fee imposed under section 281 on an alien filing an application abroad for a visa authorizing admission to the United States as a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(B) in accordance with subsection (b) for any alien who is a national of a country with respect to which the Secretary determines any of the following:

“(1) The Secretary of Homeland Security has reported to the Secretary of State under section 243(d) that the government of the country has denied or unreasonably delayed accepting an alien who is a citizen, subject, national, or resident of that country after the Secretary of Homeland Security asked whether the government would accept the alien.

“(2) The Secretary of State has designated the country as a state sponsor of international terrorism (as such term is defined in section 214(c)(4)(F)(ii)).

“(3) The country is listed as a tier 3 country in the most recent Trafficking in Persons report of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the Department of State.

“(b) Amount of Increase.—The Secretary shall increase the fee described in subsection (a) as follows:

“(1) If the Secretary determines that the country meets one of the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), the Secretary shall increase such fee by not less than 50 percent.

“(2) If the Secretary determines that the country meets two of the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), the Secretary shall increase such fee by not less than 100 percent.

“(3) If the Secretary determines that the country meets three of the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (a), the Secretary shall increase such fee by not less than 150 percent.

“(c) Periodic Review.—On the first day of each month, the Secretary shall review the determinations under subsection (a), to determine whether any increase imposed should be reduced, or whether an increase should be imposed on nationals of any additional countries.”.

(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of contents for the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by inserting after the item related to section 281 the following:

“281A. Fee increase for certain nonimmigrant visa applicants.”. <all>

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