State-Sponsored Visa Pilot Program Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill creates a brand-new visa category letting individual states sponsor foreign workers, investors, and entrepreneurs to help their local economies, instead of the federal government setting all the rules.
• States must apply to join the program, and once approved, they set their own rules for employment and residency, but they also have to track workers, assess wages, and investigate complaints that American workers are being displaced.
• Some undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US since before 2017 could apply for this visa if a state sponsors them, they pass a security background check, and they pay a $1,000 penalty on top of fees.
• States can require these workers to post a bond of at least $4,000, refundable only when the person leaves the country, gets a green card, or dies; states with high visa violation rates are forced to raise required bond amounts.
• Workers admitted under this program cannot receive federal benefits like Medicaid or SNAP, and their employers must still pay the federal government an amount equal to the payroll taxes owed for a US citizen employee.
• Each participating state starts with 5,000 visas a year plus a population-based share of 245,000 more, and that number goes up 10 percent for states with low violation rates or drops by half for states with high violation rates.