High Skilled Immigrants Act
Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act[1][edit]
The High Skilled Immigrant Act aka Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act , is a United States legislative proposal to remove the discriminatory country caps that deter High Skilled immigrants who have been living in the USA and working in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine from a path to getting a permanent residency in the United States.
Background[edit]
The US admits immigrants into the country on various visa categories. If these people wish to stay in the country on a permanent basis they need to apply for permanent residency aka Green Card. DHS provides GreenCards to 1 Million immigrants annually of which 14% is offered via Employment Based Categories. The allocation of the green cards are capped at 7% for each country. This means on a given year not more than 5,600 green cards will be issued to a country in a given year and this number includes spouses of the primary green card applicant. This means effectively not more than 2800 legal immigrant families ( assuming each primary applicant has at least 1 dependent spouse ) will be able to get a green card each year. Every year there are ~50,000 legal immigrants who apply for a green card and are vetted to be eligible by Department of Labor and Department of HomeLand Security of which only the above said 2800 people are eligible to complete Adjustment of Status and receive a green card. This arbitrary country cap creates a backlog for countries like China, India, Philippines and Mexico who have a higher population of skilled workers coming into the United States and applying for a Green Card. Based on the pending inventory data from USCIS backlog is currently estimated to be over 150 years for some of the above mentioned countries.
History[edit]
The high skilled immigrants Act has been introduced through multiple versions by various law makers as part of Bi-Partisan immigration reform including Representative Zoe Lofgren Senator Chuck Grassley , Senator Dick Durbin , Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Mike Lee
The following table gives an idea of how many previous bills have been created for this same topic
| Year | Congress | House Bill | Author / Co-sponsor | Status | Senate | Co-Sponsor | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-2010 | 111th Congress | ||||||||
| 2011-2012 | 112th Congress | ||||||||
| 2013-2014 | 113th Congress | ||||||||
| 2015-2016 | 114th Congress | ||||||||
| 2017 -2018 | 115th Congress | ||||||||
| 2019-2020 | 116th Congress | HR.1044 | Passed floor vote 365 :65 | S.386 | Mike Lee / Kamala Harris | Held by Senator Durbin |
Green-Card Backlog[edit]
Green Card Backlog is the stagnation of Green Card issuance to people in a certain category. The current system of issuing Employment Based Green Cards is capped at 7% and this
Impact of the Backlog[edit]
Demographics of people Impacted by Backlog[edit]
Countries impact
People Impacted
Solution for clearing the backlog[edit]
- Remove Country Caps - Remove the country cap numbers
- Reform H1B - Make sure there are policies to scrutinize program
- Increase Green Card Numbers - Increase GreenCard numbers
Benefits[edit]
- Economic Impact
References[edit]
- ↑ Lofgren, Zoe (2019-09-17). "Text - H.R.1044 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
Adding AILA Information[edit]
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