"My office has worked on numerous cases involving people who've been left heartbroken because their family members were denied non-immigrant visas to donate a matched organ to a family member, attend a funeral or visit a terminally ill relative," said Case, who introduced a similar bill in 2003.

Case cited a Honolulu Advertiser article that highlighted the case of Philippines citizen Glenn Guerrero, who has been denied a temporary visa. He was turned down despite the fact that he is a near-perfect match as a kidney donor for his father, Francisco Guerrero, a U.S. citizen who has been a dialysis patient for the past six years undergoing treatment three times a week in Honolulu.

Consulate officials say Glenn Guerrero has not demonstrated his intent to return to his country after helping his father.

The bill, known as the Compassionate Visitor Visa Act, would apply only to an applicant whose close family member has a serious illness, has died, or "faces some other family emergency that can be verified to the satisfaction of overseas consular officers," Case said.