The Careworker Visa Act of 2026 creates a new "W" nonimmigrant visa category to allow up to 100,000 foreign workers annually to enter the United States temporarily as childcare providers, eldercare workers, and in-home personal support workers, with initial visas valid for three years and renewable for additional three-year periods. Employers—individuals, families, or small caregiving businesses with fewer than 25 employees—must sponsor workers through the Department of Homeland Security, obtain Labor Department certification that no U.S. workers are available, attest to paying prevailing wages, and undergo background checks and financial vetting. The bill allows spouses and unmarried children under 21 to accompany visa holders and permits certain careworkers already in the United States as of January 1, 2024, including undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients, to adjust to W status if they meet eligibility requirements and lack serious criminal convictions. Worker protections include prevailing wage requirements, a 90-day grace period to change jobs, Department of Labor investigation of wage theft complaints, and anti-retaliation provisions preventing employers from using immigration status as coercion. The Department of Homeland Security must submit annual reports to Congress beginning two years after enactment documenting petition statistics, visa issuance numbers, wage complaints, and recommendations for program improvements.
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