Bill changes how the U.S. picks immigrants and limits family sponsorship.
H.R. 10400 — SMARTER Act · Filed by David Schweikert (R-AZ) · Introduced Sep 15, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill replaces family-based immigration with a points system. It favors education, English skills, age, and salary. Adults can no longer sponsor parents, siblings, or adult children. Only spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens stay eligible. A new federal board sets how many work-based immigrants enter each year. The board bases decisions on job market needs.
Who it affects
Citizens who want to bring parents, siblings, or adult children lose that option. High-skilled workers and their employers may benefit. Immigrants and their families face stricter rules about government help.
One thing to notice
The new board makes decisions in closed meetings. Courts cannot review those choices.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 15, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- points system — A way to rank immigrants by education, skills, age, and salary.
- work-based immigrants — People hired to work in the U.S., often for jobs needing special skills.
- federal board — A government group that decides how many work-based immigrants enter each year.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,094 characters) on Sep 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,785 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-24.
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