H-1B: Bills introduced in House, Senate to ax per-country green card limits

H-1B: Bills introduced in House, Senate to ax per-country green card limits

Bay Area politicians Lofgren, Harris part of bipartisan legislation push

https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-conte...1800.jpg?w=582

MERCURY NEWS FILE PHOTO BY MERI SIMON 7/18/2000

H-1B application documents (Meri Simon/Bay Area News Group)

By ETHAN BARON | ebaron@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: February 7, 2019 at 5:57 pm | UPDATED: February 8, 2019 at 9:45 am


Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday introduced matching bills that would throw out per-country limits on employment-based green cards.

Current law caps the annual percentage of green card recipients from any one country at 7 percent.

That restriction hits Indian citizens hardest, because of the high numbers of Indians in the U.S. who are eligible for green cards. Indian citizens on the H-1B visa and other visas can wait years or even decades for a green card. Chinese citizens also face long delays.

The “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act” bills from the House and Senate would also adjust per-country limits for family-based green cards.

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The House bill was introduced by Democrat Bay Area Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and 113 other representatives, both Democrat and Republican. The Senate bill was introduced by Democrat California Sen. Kamala Harris and 14 other senators from both parties.Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said in a press release that the Senate bill’s supporters include Google, Walmart and the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents major Silicon Valley tech companies and also outsourcing firms that receive vast numbers of H-1B visas.

Lofgren said the U.S. immigration system has been broken for decades. “At the heart of this broken system are the outdated employment- and family-based immigration systems, which suffer under decades-long backlogs,” Lofgren said in a statement. “In combination with the per-country limits, these backlogs keep nuclear families apart for decades, while preventing U.S. employers from accessing and retaining the employees they need to stay competitive.”

John Miano, a lawyer for the Center for Immigration Studies, which pushes for reduced immigration to the U.S., said the proposed legislation, if passed, would bring about “the most massive change in the history in immigration policy” and create a “train wreck” in America’s immigration system.

“The effect of the bill is to replace America’s system of diversity immigration with an India-first system,” Miano said in an email Friday. “Because India has monopolized the H-1B system, it would take over the employment-based green card system as well. The long-term effect is that about 75 percent to 80 percent of employment-based green cards would go to India.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/...n-card-limits/

Feb 15 deadline: Amnesty vote likely within 7 days!

Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Eliminate Arbitrary Per-Country Limits to Employment-Based Visas


Februar7, 2019



WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), and 112 bipartisan members today introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 1044) – a bill to reform the legal immigration system by eliminating per-country percentage limits that cause backlogs in the employment-based green card system. The bill would also ease backlogs for certain family-sponsored immigrants by modifying the per-country limits in the family-sponsored green card system. Lofgren and Buck are the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.


The United States makes 140,000 green cards available every year to employment-based immigrants, including many who first come here on temporary H-1B or L visas. Current law, however, provides that no more than 7% of these green cards can go to nationals of any one country—even though some countries are more populous than others. Because of this 7% limit, for example, a Chinese or Indian post-graduate at the top of her class at MIT may have to wait half a decade or more for a green card, much longer than a student from a less-populated country.


The bipartisan Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act alters the per-country limits for employment-based immigrants so that all are treated equally regardless of their country of birth.


“We all know that our immigration system is severely broken, and it has been broken for decades,” said Lofgren. “At the heart of this broken system are the outdated employment- and family-based immigration systems, which suffer under decades-long backlogs. In combination with the per country limits, these backlogs keep nuclear families apart for decades, while preventing U.S. employers from accessing and retaining the employees they need to stay competitive. The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act begins to address these problems and makes the immigration system somewhat more rational. It is a small, but good step forward.”


“Our current immigration is broken and is in dire need of reform and repair.” said Buck. “Year after year, I have met with constituents who come here legally on work visas from India or China and face decades-long wait times for obtaining permanent residence. If we want to ensure America remains globally competitive, we need to ease the backlogs and leverage the talent and expertise of our high-skilled immigrants who help strengthen the U.S. economy and fill knowledge gaps in certain fields. These are people who have helped America grow and thrive as a nation of immigrants and we need to make sure our system continues to value those who are following our laws and doing the right thing.”


“The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act is a win-win for the American people,” said Aman Kapoor, Co-Founder and President of Immigration Voice. “It would help to grow our economy by allowing highly skilled immigrants to start their own companies and hire American workers. And, it will finally remove the last vestiges of discrimination from our high-skilled immigration system. We are incredibly grateful Chairwoman Lofgren and Ranking Member Buck for their leadership and are confident that this will be the year the bill will pass.”

Click here for the full text of the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act.

# # #



https://buck.house.gov/media-center/...itrary-country

Immigration Voice continues to lobby against the American people and for increased foreign workers. Read their celebration of this legislation and their efforts.


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...43363639063201

Immigration Voice Retweeted


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Amazon Policy



@amazon_policy



Amazon applauds @SenMikeLee
@SenKamalaHarris
@RepKenBuck
@RepZoeLofgren
for intro'ing the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, which includes reforms to the per-country cap and is vital to Amazon & our employees. We stand with them & will work to see this bill become law.

1:57 PM · Feb 7, 2019 from Washington, DC · Twitter Web Client
1.3K

Sens. Lee and Harris Introduce Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act

February 7, 2019

WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act Wednesday, a bill that would remove per-country caps for employment-based green cards.

“Immigrants should not be penalized due to their country of origin,” Sen. Lee said. “Treating people fairly and equally is part of our founding creed and the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act reflects that belief. Immigration is often a contentious issue, but we should not delay progress in areas where there is bipartisan consensus just because we have differences in a other areas."

“Ours is a nation of immigrants, and our strength has always come from our diversity and our unity,” Sen. Harris said. “We must do more to eliminate discriminatory backlogs and facilitate family unity so that high-skilled immigrants are not vulnerable to exploitation and can stay in the U.S. and continue to contribute to the economy. I’m proud to join with Senator Lee on this bipartisan legislation to ensure that our country remains vibrant and dynamic.”

The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act also increases the per-country caps for family-sponsored green cards from 7 percent to 15 percent. Without adding any new green cards, S. 386 creates a “first-come, first-served” system that alleviates the backlogs and allows green cards to be awarded more efficiently.

The bill has broad bipartisan support and is additionally cosponsored by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jim Moran (R-KS), Tom Carper (D-DE), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell D-WA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ).

The bill has also been endorsed by Immigration Voice, Compete America Coalition, the Information Technology Industry Council, Google, Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Heritage Foundation, La Raza, and many others.

The full bill text can be found below.


https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/in...8-8E92B2B9220E

Though republican Kevin Yoder is no longer in Congress his disastrous efforts to pass this legislation and to work with Immigration Voice live on.

FWD.US Statement on this legislation

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheToddSc...953600/photo/1

Leon Fresco




@FrescoLeon




Now that I have corrected the record, there is another immigration group who should correct what they are saying about #greencardequality This study clearly shows that #greencardequality means an average wage increase per green card recipient of $11,592!


https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/10904...g&name=900x900





cato.org





4:48 PM · Feb 7, 2019 ·

(From 2018 with mention of Kevin Yoder)


Bill Summary: Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, H.R. 392

July 10, 2018



The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, H.R. 392, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas, and to increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrant visas. The bill is aimed at clearing backlogs for skilled workers from large countries, allowing them to come to the United States to work and obtain permanent residence, along with their spouses and children. It was introduced in January 2017, and the main co-sponsor is Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas). The bill has extensive bipartisan support, with 325 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.


What Would the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act Do?

• Remove per-country caps for employment-based visas, instead issuing them on a first-come, first-serve basis. Moving to a first-come, first-served process would give every immigrant an equal chance at obtaining permanent residency by issuing green cards by application date rather than country of origin.

• Increase the per-country numerical limitation from 7 percent to 15 percent of the total number of employment-based visas and visas for those in the family-based preference categories.
• 
  
  • Raising this limit would allow families some of whom have been waiting decades to reunite more quickly. For some countries, waits have exceeded two decades. For example, an application filed 22 years ago by a U.S. citizen to sponsor an unmarried adult child from Mexico is potentially just now being processed in 2018. Similarly, an application filed 24 years ago by a U.S. citizen sponsoring a sibling from the Philippines is only now being processed.

Impact

• Significantly reduce visa backlogs — estimated to be about 4.1 million — enabling many immigrants to gain permanent residence faster and more easily.
• 
  
  • Reducing the backlogs would allow spouses and children of H-1B visa holders to become permanent residents, reducing the number of children on H-4 dependent visas “aging out” and getting sent back to their home countries because they are unable to obtain their own H-1B visas in a timely manner.
  
  
• Increase wait times for people from lower-demand countries.
  
  • Removing per country caps for employment-based visas would result in people from countries with low demand waiting longer, as those who are capped out under the current system would then be ahead of them in the line.

The National Immigration Forum would like to thank Sydney Cerza, policy intern, for her extensive contributions to this bill summary.


https://immigrationforum.org/article...s-act-h-r-392/

(For Alipac archives.)

December 16, 2011


NEWS

Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012) Passed in House

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Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012) passed in the US House of Representatives November 29, 2011, by a vote of 389 to 15, with considerable bipartisan support. The Act would eliminate the US employment-based per-country cap on green cards entirely by fiscal year 2015, and it also raises the family-sponsored per-country green card cap from 7% to 15%. After it passed, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act then moved to the US Senate, where it was immediately halted the following day, November 30, 2011, by Senator Grassley (R-IA), who placed a hold on it.http://immigration-lawyer.com/newp/w.../img/trans.gif


Senator Grassley Hold on Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012)


Senator Grassley explained his hold on Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act as follows: “I am placing a hold on HR 3012, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act. This bill would eliminate the per-country numerical limitations for employment-based visas and increase the numerical cap for family-based immigrants. I have concerns about the impact of this bill on future immigration flows, and am concerned that it does nothing to better protect Americans at home who seek high-skilled jobs during this time of record high unemployment.”

Two weeks after placing the hold on The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012), Senator Grassley offered to release it in exchange for an amendment making substantial changes to the bill. Grassley’s proposed amendment included elimination of the annual family-based per county limit increase, along with reduction of the annual employment-based per country limit to 15%. Grassley’s Amendment also sought to eliminate the diversity visa program (DV Lottery, or Green Card Lottery), included provisions to increase enforcement and added US worker protections to the H-1B and L-1 visa programs that would make compliance very complicated for US employers.

The Senate rejected the Grassley amendment to HR 3012, and therefore his hold on the measure remains. We do not expect Grassley to lift the hold any time in the near future, although we will post any updates to The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012), or similar legislation, as soon as information becomes available.

What Impact Would The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act Have?

The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act would have been particularly helpful to nationals of India and China with green card cases pending in the employment-based preference skilled worker categories, EB-2 and EB-3. Waiting times in the backlogged family-based preference categories would have also been reduced.

However, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012) would have only redistributed the annual number of employment-based visas, as it did not increase the overall employment-based per-country limit. This means that, should the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012) become law, nationals from countries that are not backlogged will likely face increased waiting times in both the EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based preference categories.


Extreme Backlogs and Green Card Waiting Periods for Indian and Chinese Nationals

The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 3012) was proposed in response to extreme waiting times for nationals from countries such as India and China. For example, a National Foundation for American Policy Report estimates that an Indian national in the EB-3 employment-based green card category may wait 10 to 70 years for a green card, while a Chinese national in EB-3 may wait 10 to 30 years, while nationals from all other non-backlogged countries may wait “only” 2 to 11 years. For those who qualify in the EB-2 category (which generally requires a higher level of skill than EB-3), Indian nationals may wait 5 to 9 years or longer; Chinese nationals more than 5 to 10 years, or longer; and those from non-backlogged countries generally have no wait at all.

Notably, the annual US cap on employment-based green cards is now 140,000–the same as it has been since 1990, even though the US economy has grown considerably since then, as has the US need for talent–particularly in technical fields such as math, science and engineering. Of that 140,000, each country is now allocated 7% of employment-based green cards each year.

Since an estimated 50% to 66% of science, mathematics and engineering graduates of US universities and other institutes of higher education are non-US nationals, and since a large proportion of those graduates have come from Indian or China, it is not surprising that those countries face an overwhelming backlog in the waiting time for green cards.


Why Is Reform of US Annual Green Card Quotas Important?

In short, the US is not producing enough skilled workers, particularly in fields such as mathematics, science and engineering. Therefore, US businesses must obtain such skilled workers from outside the United States. However, such extreme waiting periods for the green card provide a disincentive for foreign nationals to stay in the US to work and to live.
Current backlogs create enormous instability and uncertainty among both foreign nationals who apply for US green cards, as well as for the US companies who need them.

Green card applicants working in the US who face long waiting periods can often continue to work legally in the US while their green card cases are pending under certain provisions of US immigration law, e.g., the portability provisions of the H-1B visa category. However, many have applied for the green card while working in other temporary work visa categories such as the L-1, and thus do not have access to H-1B portability provisions. Moreover, even if H-1B portability applies, careers often stall due to a reluctance to change employers, as such changes often require them to re-start the burdensome Labor Certification (PERM) process all over again once they move to another employer. Continued H-1B renewals under portability provisions can also become very costly and create other logistical challenges to both employers and employees. Finally, the spouses of these green card applicants who hold H-1B visas generally cannot work for this lengthy period unless they have an H-1B in their own right, along with their own pending green card application.
In addition to the problems above, green card waiting periods keep entrepreneurial foreign workers from pursuing innovative ideas and opportunities by either creating or joining start-up companies, since the US immigration system offers few viable options for entrepreneurs.

If the US does not change improve Green Card waiting periods, skilled workers will inevitably leave the US to pursue options in countries that provide more career and life opportunities and stability. In fact, there is already evidence that skilled workers, including those educated in the US, are either leaving or not coming at all to work here due to restrictive US immigration policies as well as increased opportunities outside the US. Likewise, if the status quo continues, US companies will increasingly be forced to place their business operations outside of the US so that they can have access to the increasingly skilled labor force they require, depriving the US economy as well as job creation opportunities for US workers.

At least for now, however, it looks as though Congress will make no progress on US immigration reform in the near future.



http://immigration-lawyer.com/fairne...3012-in-house/





FILED DECEMBER 16, 2011 IN GREEN CARDS, PROCESSING TIMES, UNDER LEGISLATION , TAGGED BACKLOGS, CHINA, EB2, EB3, INDIA, PRIORITY DATES