As it stands now, the US immigration system permits only 7% of employment-based green cards to go immigrants from any one country. The system creates long wait times and hinders employers. The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, introduced in February, would remove the per-country limits in the employment-based green card system and move towards a merit-based system, something president Trump has advocated for. The Bill would also increase the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of visas available that year to 15%. The Bill provides for a transition period (FY2020-FY2022) so that those who have waited for a green card are not pushed to the back of the line.<\/p>\n
The immigration system, as is, discriminates against green card applicants from countries with large populations. In the most recent Visa Bulletin, 2nd<\/sup> preference green card applicants from India have almost a ten year wait time. (The 2nd<\/sup> preference category is for members of the professions holding advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability.) In addition, according to a National Foundation for American Policy Brief, a highly skilled Indian national could theoretically wait 70 years for a 3rd<\/sup> preference green card.<\/p>\n The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act is designed to reduce these wait times and ensure that the most skilled immigrants get green cards. Congresswoman Haley Stevens (M1-11), a co-sponsor of the Bill, argues that the wait times are hurting the economy and stifling innovation.<\/p>\n Laura D. Francis recently reported that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) teamed up to include in the legislation provisions related to the oversight and enforcement of the H-1B program, which seemed to be a step towards the Bill becoming law. However, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) then introduced an amendment to the Bill that would create a visa carve-out for nurses. The Bill in its current form would likely create long wait times for nurses to get employment-based green cards (7-8 years) and nurses are not eligible for H-1B visas while they wait. The concern is that once there is a carve out for one profession; advocacy groups and lobbyists of other professions will push for similar treatment. Therefore, the amendment will be met with contention and likely be a roadblock.<\/p>\n The senate version of the bill has 34 co-sponsors while the house version has 311 co-sponsors. Both bills have sponsors on both sides of the aisle. The House Bill does not contain any H-1B language.<\/p>\n We will keep you updated as the Bill moves through Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As it stands now, the US immigration system permits only 7% of employment-based green cards to go immigrants from any one country. The system creates long wait times and hinders employers. The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, introduced in February, would remove the per-country limits in the employment-based green card system and move towards a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138432332,"featured_media":2817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1920],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n