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Visa Overstay Penalties Act of 2025
To amend section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand penalties for illegal entry and unlawful presence.
Summary
This bill amends immigration law to establish new criminal penalties for visa overstays and increases civil penalties for illegal entry. It defines visa overstays as failing to maintain nonimmigrant status or comply with conditions of status for an aggregate of 10 days or more. First-time violators face up to six months imprisonment and $500-$1,000 in fines, while repeat violators face up to two years imprisonment and fines. The bill also increases civil penalties for illegal entry from $50-$250 to $500-$1,000 and adds separate civil penalties of $500-$1,000 per visa overstay violation.
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)
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
Actions (2)
- Jun 3, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Jun 3, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 3, 2025
Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand penalties for illegal entry and unlawful presence.
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 “Visa Overstay Penalties Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. EXPANDED PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY OR PRESENCE.
Section 275 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1325) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting “or if the alien was previously convicted of an offense under subsection (e)(2)(A)” after “for a subsequent commission of any such offense”;
(2) in subsection (b)—
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking “at least $50 and not more than $250” and inserting “not less than $500 and not more than $1,000”; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting “or subsection
(e)(2)(B)” after “in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(e) Visa Overstays.—
“(1) In general.—An alien who was admitted as a nonimmigrant has violated this paragraph if the alien, for an aggregate of 10 days or more, has failed—
“(A) to maintain the nonimmigrant status in which the alien was admitted, or to which it was changed under section 248, including complying with the period of stay authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security in connection with such status; or
“(B) to comply otherwise with the conditions of such nonimmigrant status.
“(2) Penalties.—An alien who has violated paragraph (1)—
“(A) shall—
“(i) for the first commission of such a violation, be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both; and
“(ii) for a subsequent commission of such a violation, or if the alien was previously convicted of an offense under subsection (a), be fined under such title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both; and
“(B) in addition to, and not in lieu of, any penalty under subparagraph (A) and any other criminal or civil penalties that may be imposed, shall be subject to a civil penalty of—
“(i) not less than $500 and not more than $1,000 for each violation; or
“(ii) twice the amount specified in clause
(i), in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subparagraph or subsection (b).”. <all>
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