S 4165 — Educational Visa Transparency Act of 2026

Summary

The bill requires institutions of higher education that receive federal funding to submit information to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) regarding their foreign nationals. Within 60 days of enactment and then 30 days after each academic term's class registration deadline, each institution must electronically submit a complete list of all students, faculty members, and administrators who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, organized by visa type. The information submitted will be accessible to officials from the Departments of Education, Justice, Homeland Security, and State for carrying out their respective duties. This reporting requirement applies to all institutions of higher education that receive any federal funding or benefits.

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. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)

Money behind the sponsor

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

NULL $80,461
APOLLO MANAGEMENT $25,600
APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT $19,800
BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS $13,200
APOLLO $11,600

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

Actions (2)

Mar 24, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
Mar 24, 2026 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

March 24, 2026

Mr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To require all institutions of higher education receiving Federal assistance to regularly submit information to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System regarding students, faculty, and administrators who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents.

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 “Educational Visa Transparency Act of 2026”.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY REPORTING OF ALIENS AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

(a) In General.—Section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1372) is amended—

(1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and

(2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:

“(h) SEVIS Expansion.—

“(1) In general.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Educational Visa Transparency Act of 2026, and not later than 30 days after each subsequent deadline for class registration for an academic term, each institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) that receives funding or benefits from the Federal Government shall electronically submit to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System a complete and accurate list of all students, faculty members, and administrators enrolled at or employed by such institution who are not United States citizens or lawful permanent residents, disaggregated by the type of visa held.

“(2) Access to information.—Officials of the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State shall have access to the information submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) for the purpose of carrying out the duties of their respective offices.”. <all>

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